How to Treat an Animal Bite

Nobody wants to think about getting bitten by an animal. Animal bites can be painful, hard to heal, and most of all very dangerous. Depending on what kind of animal you are bitten by and the severity, there are different courses of action you would need to take.

If you get bitten by a wild animal, or domestic animal that you are not familiar with, you need to call the police or animal control immediately. It is important that they are able to catch the animal to be able to test it for rabies or other kinds of illness that you would need to get treated for.

You also need to immediately wash out the wound. Animal bites can be very dirty and full of germs, you will need to completely wash the wound with lots of soap and water. This can help get rid of any excess saliva or germs from the bite.

After you wash it out, go to your emergency room or call your doctor. Animal bites, even if they do not look severe can be very dangerous. You need to get them looked at as they can be infected very easily. If you are given any kind of medication or antibiotic, make sure to take the entire dose and follow instructions of the doctor.

Animal bites should also be reported to your local health department and animal control. If this is a repeat offender, and a sick animal it is the only right thing to do to report it so that it can be quarantined and taken care of properly.

Animal bites are not extremely common, but they do happen and should not be ignored. Even if you think it is not a bad bite, or that severe – you never know the extent of how dangerous the animal who bit you could be. It is always the best advice to get it checked out, animal bites are serious business.