Domestic animals can be a pleasant inclusion at a business, like a bookstore, but they can also complicate matters. People with serious animal allergies may not feel comfortable patronizing that business. There is always the constant risk that the animal could hurt someone instead of just causing an allergic reaction.
Those small business owners worried about liability might bring a cat to their business instead of a dog in the belief that a cat would be less risky. However, cats can and do cause injuries when they bite or scratch people. Specifically, they can cause real harm if their attack leads to an infection.
Cat bites can be riskier than dog bites
Compared with the amount of force that a large dog could exert when biting, a cat bite may not seem as frightening. Cats are smaller than most of the more dangerous and aggressive breeds of dogs, so they cause less trauma when they bite.
The pressure applied during the attack is only one of several considerations. The risk of infection is also a noteworthy concern. Cat bites are more likely than dog bites to wind up infected. Half of all cat bites eventually become infected. Scratches can also lead to infection.
In either case, there could be hospital bills and missed work as a result. The business’s premises liability insurance might pay for your medical bills. The bad news is that you may struggle to make a claim if the owner didn’t inform the insurance company about their cat. If there isn’t appropriate insurance coverage, you may need to explore a civil lawsuit against the business to recover your losses.
Learning more about the rules that govern premises liability claims in Connecticut can help you seek justice when adorable shop pets turn into aggressive animals.