Next Step: Assessing Your Dog’s Vaccinations
If there’s a silver lining in your situation, it’s that you have control over knowing your dog’s vaccination status compared to if a dog bit you on the street.
Therefore, think back or check the records of your dog’s latest vaccinations. Tetanus is the vaccine you’ll want to zero in on, as it has a five to ten-day incubation period in dogs and can transmit to humans through a bite.
You’ll also want to check that they have their rabies vaccine. If they’re not up-to-date on rabies, which needs renewing every one to three years, you should make a beeline to your doctor to get a rabies vaccination yourself.
Although tetanus and rabies are the primary initial vaccinations to concern yourself with if your dog bites you and draws blood, dogs without other vaccinations have a higher chance of introducing an array of potentially life-threatening bacteria into the wound.
“My dog bit me and drew blood” is never a term someone wants to search for. But hopefully, your wound is minor. So, should you decide that you don’t need medical attention, below are the steps I recommend for treating your dog bite wound at home.
Since moisture speeds up a wound’s recovery time, you should aim to keep minor wounds covered for one to five days, depending on their healing progress.
You’ll know your dog bite wound is on the mend when you start seeing new skin form over the collagen tissue formed by red blood cells. At this time, you’ll notice your wound beginning to crinkle as the edges move in and a scab begins to form.
Secure Your Canine After a Dog Bite
The first thing you will need to do is secure your dog to prevent any further problems.
You can put her into a crate, confine her in a separate room or tether her using a leash.
Depending on the situation, she may still be reacting aggressively, she may be frightened, or she may be worried about your emotional reaction. She could also remain highly aroused by the situation that caused her to bite in the first place.
But no matter the reason for the bite, securing her will ensure that you (and everyone else in the vicinity) remain safe.
A Vaccinated Dog Bit You
In this case, I can say that it’s not as dangerous as the following one, especially if that’s your dog who bit you. What you need to take care of, though, is preventing the bacteria from spreading inside that wound to make sure that you’re safe. So, you have to follow the procedures here:
Your main concern here would be any infection bacteria that you might have received from the bite. There is no need to panic or consult your doctor immediately if you don’t feel heat or swelling coming out of the wound. However, you would need to run to your doctor if you noticed any weird actions happening in the area of the injury like redness, swelling, fever, etc.
You don’t need to worry about taking a Rabies shot since the dog that has bitten you is vaccinated. However, I do recommend taking one if you’re not sure if the dog was vaccinated or not (please don’t leave a chance for any possible virus/disease and consult your doctor).
Here comes the main concern that should drive you crazy if ever happened to you. Now, if you happen to be bitten by a stray dog or a dog that has never taken a Rabies Vaccination, you must take a Rabies Vaccination For Humans.
However, let me calm you, Rabies isn’t popular in the Western countries anymore, according to CDC, only 1 to 3 cases are Reported Annually in the US, which gives us relief. If you do live in one of the developing countries where there’s not a great concern about health and hygiene, then chances that a dog can carry Rabies are high. As I mentioned earlier, we don’t give any virus a chance, so better take a Rabies Vaccination, which is effective for a year after following the previous steps we have mentioned.
Why My Dog Bit Me And Drew Blood? | DogVela
This article will be our first article where we combine medical and training topics on what to dow when a dog bites you, and what if he draws blood. However, a lot of times, I see posts that go like this, “Hey, my dog bit me, what should I do? Does he have Rabies? Should I put him down?” and the tremendous amount of wrong and unscientific-based answers are terrifying.
And as I will be neutral in this post, I have to say that Rabies in humans or other viruses that arises from Dog bites are common (in some countries), and they can cause severe damages to humans that might end to death.
So, our schema today is that we will have two parts of this article. The first part about the medical advice that you should follow when a dog bites you. The second one is the training you should provide to your dog (assuming that your dog is the dog who bit you)