Animal Bites: What First-Aid Protocol Should You Follow?

At least half of the US population will sustain a bite wound at least once in their lives — and though we'll never know exact figures as not everyone who is bitten seeks medical care, it is safe to say that bite wounds are far from rare. They're also potentially really quite dangerous.

Vicious, Nasty Animals

Human bites typically affect the face, hands and arms, or torso. They leave an oval or semi-circular marking that most people would recognize, as well as bruising and often punctures. Human bites are frequently more serious than they look, and up to 15 percent of them become infected. Children are most likely to fall victim to human bite wounds, which they tend to get from peers who seemingly haven't yet learned that biting isn't a good way to show dissatisfaction, but adults can get them, too, obviously.

Dog bites represent the most common type of bite wound, with an estimated five million people falling victim to them in the US alone every year. With their rounded teeth, dogs are able to exert a huge amount of pressure, and dog bites can lead to lacerations, puncture wounds, crush injuries, torn off flesh, and even instant death. Children are again the most common victims of dog bites, and the right hand, neck and head are the most frequently injured areas. Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, and Klebsiella are just a few of the bacterial species commonly responsible for dog bite infections.

Cat bites are rarer and cats generally do less physical damage with their bites, but make no mistake — with their long, sharp teeth, cats are able to "inject" the bacteria they carry deeply into their victims' tissues. Cats tend to target the hands and arms, and two thirds of their bites lead to infections of some kind or another.

READ How Serious Can A Cat Bite Be?

Data on other types of mammal bites are severely lacking, but it's clear that rats, ferrets, raccoons, bats, foxes, skunks, and guinea pigs can and do all bite on occasion. Snake bites are also not uncommon in the US, with approximately 7000 venomous snake bites annually.

What action do you need to undertake if you or someone you know is bitten by a human or another creature? This depends both on the type of animal that caused the bite, on how severe the wound is, and on whether the animal is a pet that's known to have been vaccinated or an "unknown wild card".

Bite Wounds: First Aid And Beyond

You or someone around you has just been bitten by an animal or another human. What's next? Immediately post-bite, it is always a good idea to soak any wound that has left a puncture (which won't always be immediately apparent to the naked eye) in a large amount of hot water with soap, or even better, an enzyme-based washing powder. If you have antibiotic ointment on hand, apply it. You can also opt to use peroxide or iodine.

If the wound is large and bleeding, apply a sterile compress or at least a clean towel to attempt to stop the bleeding. If the wound is small but deep, as might be the case with ferret or cat bites, pinch the skin to allow blood — and the dirt that entered the body with the bite — to escape.

Note: If you have received a snake bite and don't know what kind of snake bit you, the advice is different. You should restrict the mobility of the affected site to an absolute minimum, and generally avoid walking or moving around, in case the bite was venomous.

Do You Need Treatment For Your Bite Wound?

People in good health who have received small bites from domestic, indoor, and fully immunized mammals may choose to skip seeing a doctor, if they've also had a tetanus shot within the last five years. They should keep a close eye on the wound and seek medical attention if they do spot signs of infection, such as a fever, redness around the site, pus, or increased pain.

Those who have been bitten by animals of unknown immunization status, who have sustained a serious injury, whose bones may be broken, whose bleeding won't stop even after 15 minutes of applying pressure, or who are immunocompromised, must seek medical attention within eight hours of receiving the bite. Anyone who has been bitten by a human also needs to see a doctor as soon as possible.

(Bats are of particular concern, to the point that anyone who wakes up in the same room as a bat should see a doctor right away, even if they think they haven't been bitten, as bat bites can be hard to spot.)

Anyone who hasn't received a tetanus shot within the last five years, or who isn't sure when they last got a tetanus vaccine, should also get medical help. Tetanus, which can have an incubation period of up to 21 days, can also be life-threatening. In some cases, immune globulin will be recommended in addition to the shot.

When You Seek Medical Care For A Bite

You can expect to be asked what happened, what your symptoms are, and to be examined. This may include X-rays, blood tests, and clinical observation (especially for snake bites).

People who are at risk of tetanus will be offered a tetanus shot and sometimes immune globulin, while those who are at risk of rabies will have a more involved protocol to deal with. If you haven't been vaccinated against rabies before, you'll get one shot in emergency care, along with immune globulin, and three more shots on the third, seventh and 14th days after the bite. Those who have already received a rabies vaccine before won't need the immune globulin, and only require a shot as soon as possible after the bite, and another on the third day.

READ Insect Stings and Bites Remedies

Snake bites are complex to treat. Since the purpose of this piece of writing is to inform you what to do when you are bitten, we'll keep it simple and say that no, nobody should think of not seeking emergency medical care after being bitten by an unknown snake species.

Other animal wounds are not always sutured right away; in order to minimize the risk of infection, the wound may be left open for 72 hours. In this case, your injury will be kept clean with a saline solution, given the opportunity to drain, and dressed in sterile bandages. You and your healthcare providers will be keeping a close eye on signs of infection.