Carla's cat bit her finger. a few hours later, her finger starts to swell. is this normal? if not, what does the doctor diagnose?

Most animal bites to your finger won't cause symptoms other than swelling, redness, or pain. If the bite doesn't break the skin, your chances of developing serious health complications are low. Infection is more likely to happen when your skin is broken. ... pus that drains from your bite or wound.

The most common symptoms of infection from animal bites are redness, pain, swelling, and inflammation at the site of the bite. You should seek immediate medical treatment if any of these symptoms continue for more than 24 hours.

Wash the wound with soap and water under pressure from a faucet for at least five minutes, but do not scrub as this may bruise the tissue. Apply an antiseptic lotion or cream.

I hope this helps

Typically, an animal bite will not cause any sort of damage to the skin or other tissues. However, if an animal bites you and draws blood, domestic or not, even if it does not show swelling symptoms it should be checked by a doctor. However, swelling is not normal with a domestic animal bite. Thus, the doctor would most likely diagnose it as a sort of infection from the cat either having a parasite, or from getting into fights with feral cats.