Police officer dies after being bitten by feral cat

Corporal Monty Platt suffered a severe allergic reaction to antibiotics after he was injured trying to capture the animal

Corporal Monty Platt suffered a severe allergic reaction to antibiotics after being bitten by a feral cat

A police officer has died of medical complications two weeks after being bitten by a feral cat.

Corporal Monty Platt, 47, suffered a severe allergic reaction to antibiotics prescribed to prevent infections after he was bitten while attempting to capture the wild animal.

He had been responding to reports of an injured feral cat in the grounds of West Texas A&M University in Canyon, where he had served on the campus police department for 21 years.

The officer received routine treatment after the cat bit through his thick rubber gloves and punctured his skin on 24 July.

He was discharged that day but began feeling ill nine days later and was admitted to intensive care at University Medical Centre. He was later transferred to a burns unit because of the severity of the reaction.

He was heavily sedated, placed on a ventilator, and treated for his wounds. But his condition rapidly deteriorated and he died on Tuesday after suffering kidney failure.

West Texas A&M University Police Department paid tribute a "remarkable police officer" after a memorial service for the married father-of-one on Friday.

"His dedication to this community will continue through the work of the officers he mentored during his time with UPD," the force added on Facebook.

About one in 15 people have some form of allergy to antibiotics, usually seeing mild reactions such as a skin rash or cough.

But in rare cases antibiotics can cause severe and life-threatening allergic reactions.