In a letter from another veterinarian providing a second opinion, the following was written:

1/29/99

To whom it may concern:

On January 4, 1999, "Kizz" a 13 year old neutered male, domestic short hair cat, belonging to Sheryl and Mike Anderson, was presented to me for a follow-up exam. The animal in question had been treated for an abscess at another veterinary hospital namely All-Care Veterinary Referral Center, located in Fountain Valley, California. The owners informed me that they were told at All-Care Veterinary Referral Center that the cat was "contagious" and presented a health risk to their children. On the basis of this information, the Andersons left their cat in the hospital for seven days. In over twenty years of practice, I have never seen or heard of a human being infected from having contact with a cat that had an abscess. As cat abscesses are almost invariably the result of a bit wound from another cat, the discharge form a cat abscess is no more "contagious" than the saliva of a cat. Therefore, any human health hazard from a cat with an abscess is no greater than that from a cat without an abscess, and certainly so small as to be negligible.