Loving animals is good for your health. Pets keep us happy and active. Being in nature, where we might see wild animals, is a mood booster.
But of course, whether it’s a family dog or a squirrel in the park, animals can bite. That’s why you want to give them space and teach your children how to approach pets—and not to approach wild animals at all.
If you do get bit or scratched, UNC Health family medicine physician J. Bailey Sanford, MD, explains your next steps.
First Aid for Pet Bites and Scratches
If you are bitten by a cat or a dog, your first step should be to wash the wound with soap and water.
“We recommend 20 minutes of soap and running water to decrease the risk of bacterial infection,” Dr. Sanford says.
If it’s been more than five years since you had a tetanus booster, you’ll likely need another one. Tetanus, also called lockjaw, causes painful muscle spasms throughout the body and can be life-threatening.
Confirm that the pet that bit you has been vaccinated for rabies.
If another type of pet bites you (Dr. Sanford has treated bites from pet monkeys and mules), contact your primary care provider.
“Less common pets have less common infections that you may not know about, so it’s never wrong to reach out to your doctor about any bite,” Dr. Sanford says.
Important Steps for Cat Bites and Scratches
Any time you have a cat bite, you should let your primary care provider know.
“Cats have sharper teeth, so their bites penetrate more deeply and increase the risk for infection, even if the bite looks less dramatic,” Dr. Sanford says. “Even with all of their shots, they still have all sorts of bacteria in their mouth.”
If you start experiencing symptoms rapidly, such as fever, redness, swelling or tenderness within hours of the bite, head for urgent care or the emergency room.
You may have heard of cat scratch fever, which is an infection with the bacteria Bartonella henselae. If your cat gets a bite from a flea, this bacteria can travel from the bite to your cat’s claws and then to you when you’re scratched.
It usually resolves on its own in healthy adults, but if you have redness on your skin, swollen or painful lymph nodes, a fever or feel generally unwell, you should contact your primary care provider. This is particularly a concern for young children and people who are immunocompromised.
What to Know About Dog Bites and Scratches
After washing a dog bite, assess how severe the bite is and its location.
“With dog bites, we worry less about infection if they’re vaccinated for rabies and more about whether there could be an injury to the underlying tissue or a cosmetic concern from the wound,” Dr. Sanford says.
Bites on the hands and wrists, feet and ankles, over any joint and on the face should be evaluated by a healthcare professional. They will check to make sure that the wound doesn’t impact the function of a body part.
“If the bleeding is under control, you can wait until the next day to contact your family doctor, but if there’s uncontrolled bleeding, a really deep bite or a cosmetic concern, like on the face, seek care earlier,” Dr. Sanford says.
If a bite doesn’t seem to be getting better within a few days or you notice spreading redness, swelling or red lines streaking from the wound to the center of the body, call your doctor or go to urgent care.
How to Respond to Wild Animal Bites and Scratches
If a wild animal bites or scratches you, or if you can’t verify whether a dog or cat has been vaccinated against rabies, wash the wound and then get immediate medical care if the bite or scratch broke the skin.
There’s one exception to that: Bats can leave very tiny bites, to the point that you might not notice or feel them. If you ever wake up to find out a bat has gotten in your home, or if you had any close encounter with a bat, you need to head to urgent care or the emergency room for rabies treatment (more on that below).
Don’t try to catch a wild or stray animal; instead, call animal control. If the bite broke the skin, you need to focus on your wound.
“If animal control finds the cat or dog that bit you, you may not need the rabies shots, but if they can’t find the animal, or if it’s a high-risk animal, like raccoons, skunks or foxes, then you’ll need treatment for rabies,” Dr. Sanford says.
Some snakebites require antivenom, so after washing those wounds, head for urgent or emergency care if you think the snake that bit you could be poisonous.
Understanding Rabies Treatment
Rabies, a viral disease that can attack your brain and nervous system, is an extremely serious consequence of some animal bites.
If you may have been exposed to rabies, get medical care right away so you can start the vaccine, which has four doses given over two weeks in your arm or leg.
“This is a case where it’s much better to be safe than sorry,” Dr. Sanford says. “Rabies can take several weeks for the symptoms to present, and by the time the symptoms are there, it’s usually fatal.”
You may have heard that the rabies shots are painful, but they’re no different than other vaccinations as far as injection pain. What is different is that you’ll also need to receive shots around the wound of a substance called human rabies immune globulin. These are one-time shots to bind up the virus at the location of the wound.
“Those are injected directly around the wound, and that can be painful, especially if you need a high volume,” Dr. Sanford says.
Rabies is not airborne, so you can’t get it from sharing space with an infected animal.
Questions about a bite? Talk to your doctor. If you need a doctor, find one near you.