PP is totally right. My neighbor's friend's cousin got gangrene from a cat scratch and died.

Get thee to a doctor asap. Cat scratches can be much more dangerous than you would apparently think. Best to get this looked at asap, just in case!

This is an article from the POST just this January about how serious an apparently simple cat scratch became for one lady:

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-01-21/national/36472890_1_cat-bites-cat-scratch-disease-small-cat

I have a moderately deep cat scratch on my leg (it drew blood but not enough for the blood to drip, just pooled along the surface and coagulated) that has purple bruising around it. There are no (other?) signs of infection - no puss, no redness or puffiness, and certainly no red lines or spiderweb veining.

1) Does anyone know what this bruising indicates?

2) Does anyone know if it's a problem? I'd really love to NOT have to go to the doctor if possible.