Hi I have a 9 month old male, he is vaccinated and had his booster dose of anti rabbies some time back. Today when my daughter was trying to take out something from his mouth she got a small cit on her thumb. Now she is 12 year old and has raised him equally with me from day one, infact she does more for him then me. I am worried, do I need to show her to a doctor I mean for the bite, is she at any kind of risk OR is it normal for dog owners to get bites from pets. You see this is my first dog Regards
Re: dog bite Are you worried about a rabies risk, Anils? We don't have it were I live (Australia) so I don't know much about it but I imagine that your dog's vaccination schedule should have removed any disease risk. Re. wound treatment - I'm sure you have cleaned and covered the wound. How deep/bad is it? Best to get professional advice if you are in doubt. Is your daughter's tetanus injection up to date? As far as the bite behaviour goes... Did your dog go out of his way to deliver a bite to prevent the object being taken, or did your daughter's finger get drawn into his mouth with the object and accidentally bitten? This can happen if fingers accidentally get in the way of busily chomping pre-molars, which act like heavy duty garden shears. Was your daughter able to give you more info about the exact circumstances of the bite?
Re: dog bite Generally speaking, I would think you should worry too much. I can't remember where you live anils, but I guess you are worrying about 3 things - simple infection, tetanus infection, rabies infection. As far as simple infection is concerned, just keep it clean and dry, and if it looks red or like there is yellow/green in the wound particularly if oozing, have a check with your doctor. Tetanus is pretty rare in the UK where we give vaccination - 3 to pre-schoolers, one at pre-school boosters, and one to school leavers - nowadays, 5 over a lifetime is all we give. Unless the wound is REALLY dirty, particularly with soil or manure, an early booster isn't particularly indicated. In a non-vaccinated person with a really dirty wound, then an immunoglobulin vaccination would be considered. Regarding rabies, this is rare in the UK but more common in Europe - not sure about exact risks elsewhere. Rabies vaccine, like any other, is never 100% effective, but contributes to what we call "herd immunity", reducing population risk. Unless there is a high chance your dog is infected, showing symptoms, then the risk is small. Doctors here would only give treatment to a bitten person if there was a clear suspicion of a bite coming from a dog WITH rabies, or if it showed signs of rabies within the following 10days. If in your area risk from rabies is high, the treatment would be immunoglobulin again, and a course of probably 5 rabies vaccinations. I don't know if this helps. If you are worried, then the best thing to do is put your mind at rest by asking your local doctor.
Re: dog bite Thanks Rachael (you always respond) Well the cut is not much to worry about its a teeny weeny little thing, rabies is prevalent in India where I live and touted as a serious threat. The dog is perfectly normal and loving creature, she got cut while trying to pull out something from his mouth. Anti tetanus is something I think we will give her Thanks again
Re: dog bite No worries - I think it is because we are awake at similar times! I have had the same experience as your daughter. My old Lab, gentle as a mouse, was eating a dried pig's ear one day after an obedience test at our dog club. We were suddenly told that we had to have our photo taken, so I tried to get the pig's ear out of his mouth so he'd look nice for the photo. I grabbed onto the pig's ear and he just kept chomping at it, oblivious, moving it around in his mouth to get the best angle to chew bits off. One of my fingers got in between his big cutting teeth and the last joint got munched. One of the nerves was severed and it looked a right mess, I can tell you. I had to have a tetanus shot and antibiotics (but no stitches as they prefer to keep that kind of wound open). It was all entirely my mistake. I learned myself a lesson. Hope your daughter's cut heals up quickly - glad to hear that is it only small
