A MAN died after being scratched by his pet cat, an inquest heard.

Michael Maas, 61, of Frampton Close, Eastleaze, was taken to hospital when his wife found him in the bath with his ears and lips blue and his speech slurred.

The coroner heard how Mr Maas had been scratched on his left hand as he played with the family pet days before his death.

He caught septicemia from the wound and died from the blood infection at the Great Western Hospital on December 10 last year.

Wiltshire coroner David Masters said that while the cut had come from the cat it was impossible to say if the animal had passed on the deadly bacteria or whether it had come from somewhere else.

Before his death Mr Maas, a window consultant, had hurt his shoulder lifting a piece of glass.

He went to see his GP two days before he died to get painkillers for the injury and something for the scratch which had become infected.

He was given Erythromycin tablets for his infected finger. But the next day he started vomiting and the coroner said that it was possible Mr Maas did not get the benefit of the medicine.

Speaking at the inquest his stepson Peter Whittacker said "It seemed as though the wound festered slightly and it was red.

"My mother advised him to put something on it and he made no more mention of it."

His widow Irene, a former nurse, said that he had been very fond of the cat and loved playing with it.

She had washed and dressed his wound and went with him to the doctors to make sure he mentioned it as well as his sore shoulder.

Mr Masters recorded a verdict of natural death. He said: "He had been scratched by his cat, not an unfamiliar event.

"He loved playing with his cat and his family tells me that they have also been scratched.

"Mr Maas complained about this several days later when it was seen that the wound had become infected.

"His wife advised him to wash and correctly dress the wound and that was done. It really didn't get any better. At the same time as seeing the doctor regarding the shoulder injury this was pointed out.

"The following day he was vomiting and perhaps not keeping down the medication he had been given."

Mr Masters said it was impossible to blame the cat completely.

"Cats are carriers of that bacteria," he said. "But a direct causal link between the cat's bacteria and the scratch cannot be made. The probability seems to me is that there are two stages.

"The cat scratch to the finger was not necessarily transferring the bacteria from the cat to the cut but with the damage to the tissue there was the portal for that bacteria to enter.

"There is no doubt that he died from septicemia derived from this wound, but one cannot necessarily blame the cat in the sense of the cat providing the bacteria infection.

"He didn't know that in a very short period of time he would be very seriously ill and that it would lead to his death from this minor scratch."