What is an Animal Bite
Animal bite wounds can be mild or serious. It is important to get medical treatment to prevent infection. Ask your doctor if you need treatment to prevent an infection that can spread from animals to humans (rabies).
Follow these instructions at home:
Wound care
- Follow
instructions from your doctor about how to take care of your wound. Make
sure you:
- Wash your hands with soap and water before you change your bandage (dressing). If you cannot use soap and water, use hand sanitizer.
- Change your bandage as told by your doctor.
- Leave stitches (sutures), skin glue, or skin tape (adhesive) strips in place. They may need to stay in place for 2 weeks or longer. If tape strips get loose and curl up, you may trim the loose edges. Do notremove tape strips completely unless your doctor says it is okay.
- Check
your wound every day for signs of infection. Check for:
- More redness, swelling, or pain.
- More fluid or blood.
- Warmth.
- Pus or a bad smell.
Medicines
- Take or apply over-the-counter and prescription medicines only as told by your doctor.
- If you were prescribed an antibiotic, take or apply it as told by your doctor. Do notstop using the antibiotic even if your wound gets better.
General instructions
- Keep the injured area raised (elevated) above the level of your heart while you are sitting or lying down.
- If
directed, put ice on the injured area.
- Put ice in a plastic bag.
- Place a towel between your skin and the bag.
- Leave the ice on for 20 minutes, 2–3 times per day.
- Keep all follow-up visits as told by your doctor. This is important.
Contact a doctor if:
- You have more redness, swelling, or pain around your wound.
- Your wound feels warm to the touch.
- You have a fever or chills.
- You have a general feeling of sickness (malaise).
- You feel sick to your stomach (nauseous).
- You throw up (vomit).
- You have pain that does not get better.
Get help right away if:
- You have a red streak going away from your wound.
- You
have any of these coming from your wound:
- Non-clear fluid.
- More blood.
- Pus or a bad smell.
- You have trouble moving your injured area.
- You lose feeling (have numbness) or feel tingling anywhere on your body.
Summary
- It is important to get the right medical treatment for animal bites. Treatment can help you to not get an infection. Ask your doctor if you need treatment to prevent an infection that can spread from animals to humans (rabies).
- Check your wound every day for signs of infection, such as more redness or swelling instead of less.
- If you have a red streak going away from your wound, get medical help right away.
Animal Bite, Pediatric
Animal bites range from mild to serious. An animal bite can result in any of these injuries:
- A scratch.
- A deep, open cut.
- A puncture of the skin.
- A crush injury.
- Tearing away of the skin or a body part.
- A bone injury.
A small bite from a house pet is usually less serious than a bite from a stray or wild animal, such as a raccoon, fox, skunk, or bat. That is because stray and wild animals have a higher risk of carrying a serious infection called rabies, which can be passed to humans through a bite.
What increases the risk?
Your child is more likely to be bitten by an animal if:
- Your child is with a household pet without adult supervision.
- Your child is around unfamiliar pets.
- Your child disturbs a pet when it is eating, sleeping, or caring for its babies.
- Your child is outdoors in a place where small, wild animals roam freely.
What are the signs or symptoms?
Common symptoms of an animal bite include:
- Pain.
- Bleeding.
- Swelling.
- Bruising.
How is this diagnosed?
This condition may be diagnosed based on a physical exam and medical history. Your child’s health care provider will examine your child’s wound and ask for details about the animal and how the bite happened. Your child may also have tests, such as:
- Blood tests to check for infection.
- X-rays to check for damage to bones or joints.
- Taking a fluid sample from your child’s wound and checking it for infection (culture test).
How is this treated?
Treatment varies depending on the type of animal, where the bite is on your child’s body, and your child’s medical history. Treatment may include:
- Caring for the wound. This often includes cleaning the wound, rinsing out (flushing) the wound with saline solution, and applying a bandage (dressing). In some cases, the wound may be closed with stitches (sutures), staples, skin glue, or adhesive strips.
- Antibiotic medicine to prevent or treat infection. This medicine may be prescribed in pill or ointment form. If the bite area becomes infected, the medicine may be given through an IV.
- A tetanus shot to prevent tetanus infection.
- Rabies treatment to prevent rabies infection. This will be done if the animal could have rabies.
- Surgery. This may be done if a bite gets infected or if there is damage that needs to be repaired.
Follow these instructions at home:
Wound care
- Follow
instructions from your child’s health care provider about how to take care
of your child’s wound. Make sure you:
- Wash your hands with soap and water before you change your child’s bandage (dressing). If soap and water are not available, use hand sanitizer.
- Change your child’s dressing as told by your child’s health care provider.
- Leave stitches (sutures), skin glue, or adhesive strips in place. These skin closures may need to be in place for 2 weeks or longer. If adhesive strip edges start to loosen and curl up, you may trim the loose edges. Do not remove adhesive strips completely unless your child’s health care provider tells you to do that.
- Check
your child’s wound every day for signs of infection. Check for:
- More redness, swelling, or pain.
- More fluid or blood.
- Warmth.
- Pus or a bad smell.
Medicines
- Give or apply over-the-counter and prescription medicines to your child only as told by his or her health care provider.
- If your child was prescribed an antibiotic, give or apply it as told by your child’s health care provider. Do not stop giving or applying the antibiotic even if your child’s condition improves.
General instructions
- Keep the injured area raised (elevated) above the level of your child’s heart while he or she is sitting or lying down, if this is possible.
- If
directed, put ice on the injured area:
- Put ice in a plastic bag.
- Place a towel between your child’s skin and the bag.
- Leave the ice on for 20 minutes, 2–3 times per day.
- Keep all follow-up visits as told by your child’s health care provider. This is important.
Contact a health care provider if:
- There is more redness, swelling, or pain around the wound.
- The wound feels warm to the touch.
- Your child has a fever or chills.
- Your child has a general feeling of sickness (malaise).
- Your child feels nauseous or he or she vomits.
- Your child has pain that does not get better.
Get help right away if:
- There is a red streak that leads away from your child’s wound.
- There is non-clear fluid or more blood coming from the wound.
- There is pus or a bad smell coming from the wound.
- Your child has trouble moving the injured area.
- Your child has numbness or tingling that extends beyond the wound.
- Your child who is younger than 3 months has a temperature of 100°F (38°C) or higher.
Summary
- Animal bites can range from mild to serious. An animal bite can cause a scratch on the skin, a deep open cut, a puncture of the skin, a crush injury, tearing away of the skin or a body part, or a bone injury.
- Your child’s health care provider will examine your child’s wound and ask for details about the animal and how the bite happened.
- Your child may also have tests such as a blood test, X-ray, or testing of a fluid sample from the wound (culture test).
- Treatment may include wound care, antibiotic medicine, a tetanus shot, and rabies treatment if the animal could have rabies.
