Dog Bite First Aid: What to Do in the First Hour

Bites happen in a second and the hour afterwards matters more than most people realise, for two reasons. Teeth push bacteria deep, so the infection risk is high, and rabies treatment only works before symptoms appear.

This covers both directions, a person bitten and a dog bitten, because in practice they often happen in the same few seconds and in the same panic.

If a person is bitten

1. Wash, and keep washing

Soap and running water, for a full fifteen minutes. Time it, because almost everyone stops after one or two. This single step substantially reduces the risk of rabies transmission and of ordinary infection, and it is the most effective thing available to you.

2. Antiseptic

Povidone iodine or alcohol after washing.

3. Go to a hospital

Do not decide for yourself that the wound is minor. Puncture wounds look trivial and seal over the top, trapping bacteria in deep tissue. Tetanus and rabies decisions are medical ones.

4. Do not close the wound

Bite wounds are usually left open deliberately, because stitching them traps infection. A doctor decides otherwise if appropriate.

5. Establish the animal's status

Whose dog is it, and is it vaccinated with a dated record? If it can be done safely, the animal should be confined and observed for ten days. A dog alive and well after ten days was not shedding rabies virus at the time of the bite, which genuinely changes the medical decision.

Do not kill the animal unless instructed. Observation gives more information than a dead dog does.

6. Rabies post-exposure treatment

Where indicated, this is a course of vaccine, sometimes with immunoglobulin. It is highly effective before symptoms, and useless after. This is not a decision to defer.

If your dog is bitten by another dog

The visible wound is the least of it. Teeth puncture skin and then crush and tear the tissue underneath, and the skin seals over quickly, leaving bacteria in a warm pocket. Many bite wounds abscess two to four days later, which is when owners who thought it was nothing come in.

What to do

1. Separate the dogs safely. Do not put your hands between fighting dogs; use noise, water or a barrier. A frightened dog bites whatever is closest, including you.
2. Muzzle if necessary before examining. A dog in pain may bite its own owner without meaning to.
3. Control bleeding with firm pressure using a clean cloth.
4. Clip and clean if you can, with plain water or dilute antiseptic. Do not use spirits or strong disinfectant in an open wound.
5. Go to a vet, even for punctures that look small. Most bite wounds need cleaning, flushing and antibiotics, and some need drains.

Go immediately, not tomorrow

• Bites to the neck, chest or abdomen, which can penetrate deeper structures
• Bleeding that does not stop with pressure
• A limping dog or one that will not bear weight
• Difficulty breathing after a chest bite
• Any bite to a small dog by a much larger one, where crush injury is likely even with little visible wound
• Pale gums, weakness or collapse

Rabies applies here too

If your dog is bitten by an animal of unknown vaccination status, tell your vet. A booster is usually given, and your own dog's vaccination record becomes the thing that determines what happens next. This is one of several reasons to keep the certificate somewhere findable.

Afterwards

• Finish the antibiotics, all of them, even after the wound looks healed. Abscesses come from courses stopped early.
• Check the wound daily for swelling, heat, discharge or a bad smell.
• Keep the dog from licking it, with a collar if needed.
• Expect a recheck. Bite wounds are commonly revisited after a few days for exactly this reason.

Reducing the chance

Neuter male dogs, which reduces roaming and inter-male aggression. Do not let dogs roam. Supervise introductions between unfamiliar dogs. Teach children not to approach unknown dogs, not to disturb a dog that is eating or sleeping, and not to run from one.

Most bites to children are from dogs the family knows, in ordinary situations, which is why supervision matters more than fear of strangers' dogs.

Bite wounds are the clearest example of an injury that looks cheap on day one and expensive on day four. Two small punctures do not feel like a reason to pay for a consultation, and an abscess that needs draining, flushing and a course of antibiotics is several times the cost of preventing it.

Every Skeepy Pet HMO plan includes unlimited vet consultations and covers emergencies and illness treatment within the plan's limits, at any vet clinic in Nigeria, so a bite gets cleaned properly on the day it happens.