Got bit by a dog on the morning ride. What shots should I expect at the docs

[El Chaba]

As Flashunc said, prepare yourself for a series of rabies shots if the dog can't be located, positively identified, and quarantined for observation. This is near the height of irresponsible dog ownership. Add a tetanus shot unless you had one very recently. A dog bite can very easily go septic as any puncture wound is essentially impossible to clean and the dog's teeth are likely contaminated with pathogens. I broke up a quarrel between our own dogs several years back, and one of them accidentally bit my hand. Two days after the bite, I spent the morning at work trying to decide if it was infected. By late morning, it became clear very quickly as my hand started swelling dramatically, and red stripes were running up my arm. I went to my doctor early in the afternoon expecting to leave with a prescription or possibly a shot. I thought my doctor was overreacting when he said he was checking me into the hospital for IV antibiotics to be administered every 4 hours, but as it took 5 days of those treatments for the infection to subside, he was spot on. In summary, I don't think that you can take any dog bite too seriously.

[El Chaba]

Originally Posted by OtayBW

I would report it to the Sherriff and have them contact both animal control and the homeowner.

This...x100.

[velotrack]

I think people have gone over what you should probably be doing, but man. That sucks. People need to take ownership for their pets. Too many times I've been riding trails only to have a dog off its leash chase after me or run in front of the bike.

Don't get me wrong. There are tons of good dogs and responsible owners (and those dogs should totally run free). But the bad ones ruin it for not only the other people on trail without the dogs, but also the responsible pet owners who have to leash their well behaved dogs.

[Tandem Rider]

Originally Posted by El Chaba

This...x100.

Otay and El are 100% correct. Mrs TR was bitten a few years ago, had the Sherrif make the visit and have the conversation. It works much better that way. There are likely local laws at play here you may or may not be aware of, the LEO will know them.

Here's to hoping the owners are responsible enough to have the dogs shots current and HO insurance for liability.

[45K10]

Man, that sucks I got a bit a few years back by a standard schauzner (sp). While blood was running down my calf, the dog's owner was arguing that his precious show dog could not have bitten me. The dog then ran over and bit my wife. I almost lost it.

I took a photo of the owners DL and gave him until the following morning to produce the dog's vaccination records. The dog was up to date so we just ended up having to get tetanus boosters.

Good luck, I lived in W-S, NC for a year a couple of years back. I hope the sheriffs department takes your situation seriously.

[BobC]

Went to the docs & got cleaned up. Tetanus & antibiotics. 4 punctures, only 1 required a stitch.

Animal control found the dog. Under quarantine. All shots up to date.

Off the bike for a couple days. Argh.

All in all, I take it & walk (limp) away.

[cp43]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

You should expect painful shots. A lot of them.

I had bats in my house a couple years ago. We had once in the bedroom while we were sleeping, so, we got rabies shots.

They aren't pleasant, but they aren't the old school, giant needle in the stomach anymore. It was essentially like getting 8 flu shots in one visit. Not fun, but not too bad. Also, part of the dosage is by weight, so my wife got ~1/2 the number of shots I got.

[donevwil]

Originally Posted by BobC

Went to the docs & got cleaned up. Tetanus & antibiotics. 4 punctures, only 1 required a stitch.

Animal control found the dog. Under quarantine. All shots up to date.

Off the bike for a couple days. Argh.

All in all, I take it & walk (limp) away.

Congratulations, you avoided a potential nightmare. Growing up a neighbor was bitten by a rabid dog, she went through hell!

[ripvanrando]

Maybe that's my problem.

I got bite last summer and just kept going. It was just a little into the meat.

[Tandem Rider]

Originally Posted by BobC

Went to the docs & got cleaned up. Tetanus & antibiotics. 4 punctures, only 1 required a stitch.

Animal control found the dog. Under quarantine. All shots up to date.

Off the bike for a couple days. Argh.

All in all, I take it & walk (limp) away.

That's an excellent outcome so far. Dog owner's Home Owner's Insurance should cover all the bills, missed work, etc.

[Schmed]

I'm thinking their insurance should toss you a nice 15 lb bike for your troubles. That way, you can out run the hounds next time

[dave thompson]

Originally Posted by Schmed

I'm thinking their insurance should toss you a nice 15 lb bike for your troubles. That way, you can out run the hounds next time

Post of the day!

[carpediemracing]

Originally Posted by BobC

Went to the docs & got cleaned up. Tetanus & antibiotics. 4 punctures, only 1 required a stitch.

Animal control found the dog. Under quarantine. All shots up to date.

Off the bike for a couple days. Argh.

All in all, I take it & walk (limp) away.

Good to hear. Late to the party but I got bit a few years ago. Called police but in rural Maine there's a state trooper for every 100 miles of interstate and basically zero local police (no real towns). Owner put down the dog on his own, no stitches for me (tetanus shot and I think antibiotics?), I actually rode a couple days later, not near that house.

[beeatnik]

Originally Posted by tuscanyswe

Id maybe be a little worried if i was bobC now and was getting the info about rabies posted and since worrying never helps anyone tho I'm sure one should check for all possibilities i present some "facts" from google.


"In North America and Europe together, the total number of rabies cases is less than 5 per year – and not a single one of them have been from dog bites the last 30 years!"

Yep. Now, if a f'ing squirrel bites you....

[MattTuck]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAUYZY34DhM

woof woof, not bang bang.