A New Canaan man sustained injuries that sent him to the emergency room last month from a cat with a biting history, documents show.
The South Avenue resident at about 1:42 p.m. on Oct. 1 (a Saturday) phoned police to report being bitten by a cat known to local authorities as “Link,” according to Animal Control Officer Allyson Halm.
The cat had been hanging around the man’s property for several days and “appeared affectionate,” according to an incident report obtained by NewCananite.com through a public records request.
At one point the man “began to pet the cat and the cat bit him on the right wrist,” the report continued. “[The man] then set a trap for the cat and successfully secured the cat before he went for medical treatment. [The man] indicated that he sought medical attention at the Norwalk Emergency Department at Norwalk Hospital.”
Police took custody of what was believed at the time to be a stray cat, bringing the beast to New Canaan’s Animal Control shelter, a disused incinerator building at the dump, the report said.
Halm recognized the cat as “Link,” which belongs to an Old Stamford Road woman, the incident report said. A microchip scan confirmed the cat and owner, it said.
According to Halm, the man had contacted her regarding the cat in the days prior to the biting incident, on Sept. 26, the report said. At that time, Halm told the man about Link’s biting history, it said, though based on photos he provided she couldn’t say definitively who the cat was. “I had further advised [the man] to get a spray water bottle to chase the cat away,” Halm said in the incident report.
Following the incident, Halm contacted Link’s owner. The owner agreed to have Link undergo a mandatory quarantine at Just Cats in Stamford.
“Upon releasing Link to [the woman] she indicated that she would attempt to re-home Link,” the report said. “[The woman] appeared to now understand that it was not safe to allow Link to roam freely.”
Link’s rabies vaccination was up-to-date, and the healthy cat was released Oct. 11 from quarantine, the report said.
“I then contacted [the woman] to review her plans for Link going forward, as [the woman] indicated she would rehome the cat to prevent further bite incidents,” the report said. “[She] related that her intent was to keep the cat indoors, however [the woman] further related that her housekeeper was not yet aware of keeping Link inside and let him outside.”