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Like rats, cats can carry and transmit a variety of parasites and diseases to humans and wildlife, including rabies, hookworms, cat-scratch disease, typhus and plague.

Careful when you play with a kitty; cat-scratch disease is not too pretty.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cat-scratch disease, also known as cat-scratch fever, poses higher risks than previously thought.

Researchers estimate that, based on data from health insurance claims from 2005 to 2013, 12,000 people are diagnosed with cat-scratch disease and 500 people require hospitalization for it every year.

If a person is infected with cat-scratch disease, it takes between three to 14 days before the infected area may appear swollen with raised lesions.