Are Animal Bites an Emergency?

Bite wounds are one of the most common reasons dogs are brought to a veterinarian.

Animal bites can cause significant injury. Further, wounds might look less serious than they really are. And even a relatively small wound can cause big trouble.

There is, of course, the matter of what animal inflicted the wound. Was it a familiar or an unfamiliar dog or cat? Was it a wild animal? Large or small?

Are Animal Bites an Emergency?

What animal was it?

Naturally, when Cookie, during her hunting adventures, gets bit in a lip by a mouse, I don’t rush her to a vet. I don’t do anything other than feel bad for her. One time she had the mouse really hanging on and couldn’t shake it off.

Tiny animals such as a mice don’t have the capacity to inflict a serious injury, nor they spread rabies.

However, the larger the animal that inflicted the wound, the higher the potential of a serious injury, including:

  • eye and ear injuries
  • severe muscle injuries
  • penetration of the chest
  • damage to large blood vessels
  • nerve damage
  • damage to intestinal organs
  • injury of the esophagus or trachea

Further information: Bite Wounds in Dogs

Risk of rabies

You need to worry about potential rabies infection every time your dog gets bitten by any animal with unknown health status or vaccination history.

If something like that happens, you not only have the wound to worry about but also the potential rabies exposure. The new guidance for exposure to rabies is more reasonable now.

… guidance in this issue of the JAVMA advises that cats and dogs that are exposed to rabies and are overdue for a vaccine can have a booster shot followed by an observation period rather than be subject to quarantine or euthanasia.

JAVMA news

That aside, depending on the circumstances animal bites can be serious and even life-threatening. Just last month a friend of mine lost a dog after an attack by a larger off-leash dog. She did get immediate medical care, surgery and intensive treatment and yet she didn’t make it. That’s how bad things can get.

Even if the wound doesn’t seem major, there is often more damage under the surface where it cannot be seen.

High risk of infection

And with any animal bite, you’re looking at a high risk of serious bacterial infections. Any bite wound should be considered contaminated or infected. The resulting infections can become severe very fast.

There are some circumstances when the skin gets punctured during play, and your dog might not require medical care. But as a general rule, treat all animal bites as an emergency.

Related articles:
Canine Wound Care 101: Classification, treatment, and physical therapy

Further reading:
Pet First Aid: Treating Your Dog’s Animal Bite
Bite Wounds in Dogs

Categories: Conditions • Emergencies

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Jana Rade

I am a graphic designer, dog health advocate, writer, and author. Jasmine, the Rottweiler of my life, was the largest female from her litter. We thought we were getting a healthy dog. Getting a puppy from a backyard breeder was our first mistake. Countless veterinary visits without a diagnosis or useful treatment later, I realized that I had to take Jasmine's health care in my own hands. I learned the hard way that merely seeing a vet is not always enough. There is more to finding a good vet than finding the closest clinic down the street. And, sadly, there is more to advocating for your dog's health than visiting a veterinarian. It should be enough, but it often is not. With Jasmine, it took five years to get a diagnosis. Unfortunately, other problems had snowballed for that in the meantime. Jasmine's health challenges became a crash course in understanding dog health issues and how to go about getting a proper diagnosis and treatment. I had to learn, and I had to learn fast. Helping others through my challenges and experience has become my mission and Jasmine's legacy. I now try to help people how to recognize and understand signs of illness in their dogs, how to work with their veterinarian, and when to seek a second opinion. My goal is to save others the steep curve of having to learn things the hard way as I did. That is the mission behind my blog and behind my writing. That is why I wrote Symptoms to Watch for in Your Dog, which has turned out being an award-winning guide to dog owners. What I'm trying to share encompasses 20 years of experience.

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