Dog bite not on my Xmas list

[CoCoLuna11]

So… today, while walking my Old English Sheepdog, three dogs escaped from their leashes and one of them bit my leg. They also tried to bite my dog but because most of her is fur they didn’t reach flesh. I, however, went home and did a cursory clean with hydrogen peroxide and went to urgent care. They cleaned again and gave me a first dose of augmentin. I had a tetanus shot in 2020. They did not recommend rabies treatment. I called my hematologist office and talked to the after hours doc and they didn’t think it was necessary either. There are punctures but don’t seem to be too deep. It didn’t bleed for long. There’s also a little swelling and black and blue. Just wondering what others would do in this case? I’m on acalabrutinib and I get ivig every 6 weeks.

[mdsp7]

Yikes. I'm so sorry! Were you able to confirm with the owners of the dog that it has been given all its rabies vaccines?

[CoCoLuna11 in reply to mdsp7]

It was all a bit chaotic but I did ask if the dog had been vaccinated. They were two young (20s?) girls and I just had the feeling they were telling me what I wanted to hear.

[mdsp7 in reply to CoCoLuna11]

It must have been such a shock to suddenly have 3 dogs running at you, then be bitten and have your dog attacked, too!

A dog bit me years ago when I was 7 months pregnant. I was just going down my father's driveway to get the mail and this dog charged at me out of nowhere. It was surreal. Life sometimes turns on a dime.

I was worried about infection and rabies. The dog had been vaccinated, but was due for his booster shot. The vet thought he was probably still protected. I went to the doctor's office and they washed bite (so many deep teeth marks!) with a soft brush and disinfected and bandaged it. They had me scrub it out twice a day under warm running water with soap. I put betadine on it and bandaged it up. The wound healed without a scar.

It's likely that the dogs have been vaccinated, but it would be smart to phone the owners and ask to see the vaccination records. Perhaps you can call their vet to confirm when the dog was last vaccinated.

Good luck!

[CoCoLuna11]

Good suggestions, thanks! I will try!

[Living_and_Learning]

I'm so sorry this happened to you. As others have said, you need to confirm that the dog had its rabies vaccination. It is not enough that the owner tells you this; the vet should confirm this. Animal control should handle this. It is also important for you to report this to animal control because, depending on where you live, they may make note of this, and if it happens again, the owner will be required to muzzle the dog when it is outside. This could protect someone else in the future. And it will serve as a wake-up call for the owner to be more careful about keeping the dog on a leash. Good luck.

[CoCoLuna11]

update- apparently out local police department handles dog bite cases. They check on vaccinations and quarantine if the dog is not vaccinated. I am really impressed with how thorough and quick their response was. I’m still waiting to hear back as no one was home the first time they went to the house. I have the option to have them cited on 2 accounts. Not sure what I’ll do about that but will probably follow through, certainly if the dogs aren’t vaccinated. The wound looks better todays so fingers crossed no infections.

[CycleWonder]

I was bitten before I was diagnosed with CLL by a dog on a leash! We were hiking up a trail. I saw the young woman with the large dog step off the trail. I moved my dog to my right side in response. As we walked by, I noticed she had not put the dog on a short leash and this led to disaster.

The big dog charged my dog, the young woman was dragged across the ground. I let my dog go so she wouldn’t get bit and the dog just bit me instead! My husband checked with the person and there was a recent rabies tag. It didn’t seem too bad so we finished our hike.

Later at the ER, they cleaned it out thoroughly and I was surprised they did not stitch it up. Apparently with fog bites they do not.

I recovered. But in the moment, you just aren’t thinking about rabies tags! It is a shock to be bitten and I love dogs!

Patti

[CoCoLuna11 in reply to CycleWonder]

That’s awful. It is a shock. I never thought I would be a person afraid of dogs. But, I can see how people get that way after something like this happens. I know I will never walk that same route again.

[LeoPa]

Is rabies prevalent in your area? Or is it unlikely that any wild animal might have infected those dogs?

[CoCoLuna11 in reply to LeoPa]

I live in Oregon. There was one case of rabies reported last year and it was a bat. It’s not prevalent, but I still worry a little

[kitchengardener2]

What a dreadful shock for you and your beautiful OES, I hope that you are both OK and don't suffer flashbacks. I don't understand people who cannot keep their dogs under control or if they are suspect .. muzzled! The attitude of some owners is beyond me, why would anyone want to keep such dangerous animals. We had Cavalier King Charles Spaniels for over 40 years, we showed, bred and adored life with them. OES are such gentle creatures, I judged them in the Working/Pastoral groups so knew them well. God bless you both.

[cyclist123]

I had a dog bite a couple of months ago...finally went to urgent care where they said no antibiotics needed. It's good that you were already updated on tetanus and didn't need another booster. Hoping there are no further developments. Glad they are providing followup.

[Eedew]

I’d call my PCP and get prophylactic antibiotics

[lexie]

I was out for my morning run years ago when a large male german shepherd came up stealthily from behind me and bit my hand. I was holding a cd player which took the force of the bite. I'd never seen the dog before on our sparsely populated private road. I saw a woman with the loose dog a few minutes later, she said they'd just moved in a few weeks earlier, wasn't concerned. I called the health dept to report it. The dog was quarantined tor 10 days at the home despite their providing proof of current rabies vaccine. I had no puncture but felt authorities should be notified of the dog's and irresponsible owner's behavior. Had I not been carrying the bulky cd player it would have been bad. At that time I made a living as an artist and that hand was necessary! There must have been more issues with the dog because he was gone about 3 months later.

There absolutely was rabies in our area around that time. Health dept was dropping baited vaccine packets all over our end of the township from helicopters. It was in all the newspapers. They still do drops each year but from planes now.

A dog bite is a shock no matter how minor or bad.