To go to hospital? Dog bite

[onestepat]

My dad has been bitten by our rescue dog.
It's pretty deep and is bleeding.
I've told my dad to put a bandage on.
It's on his hand.
My dad said he doesn't need to go but I think he does.
Will he need a tetanus?
He had one 5 years ago but I'm assuming a booster might be needed.
Aibu to tell him to go to hospital ?
Or just ring GP in the morning

[GreytExpectations]

Are you seeking training for your dog? Sorry as I don't mean to accuse you of anything but if it's been a year and your rescue dog is still biting people, it may be worth looking into serious training.

But to answer your question, yes he needs to go to the hospital for it to be checked out. If not A&E than at least the walk in clinic

[Hoppinggreen]

DH had a tetanus jab last week after treading on a nail, they last 10 years.
It might need cleaning and dressing properly though

[MissRabbitIsExhausted]

I think he should go to A & E, it’s best to get medical attention for that. Would listen to pp advising she works for 111 and would tell you to go, saves a phone call

[Thisisworsethananticpated]

Absaloutly he MUST
I had a dog bite and even with tetanus it was infected

He will get a horrible infection Otherwise

[MitziK]

Yup. It's an A&E job for them to completely clean it out with saline (NOT TCP or Dettol or whatever the hell PPs are suggesting), a Tetanus shot and probably antibiotics.



And sadly, now the dog has bitten twice, assuming your father wasn't beating it with a big stick at the time, you need to make a painful decision for the safety of everybody around, including you. You've had him for long enough that if you would have been able to solve his problems, you would have done it by now. And I don't say that lightly. He's still so scared that he's bitten and broken the skin twice, plus any other nips he might have given.

[BoreOfWhabylon]

Hands are pretty important. They also have very complicated anatomy, which means that if infection is introduced it can spread rapidly deep down around tissues, tendons etc, causing a lot of damage. Not to mention risk of sepsis.

He needs to be seen tonight.

(Ex-triage Nurse Cinsultant)

[Rhubardandcustard]

Hospital. They can clean it out properly and he’ll need antibiotics short course just in case.

[Haenow]

He absolutely needs to go to hospital. Open wound and dog saliva being left untreated and not fully cleaned is a recipe for disaster.

[pinkprosseco]

Another one saying go. It's an infection risk. My husband was bitten twice and both times A&E nurse on triage said right to go in

[onestepat]

He's going to go up.
Thanks everyone

[Lonecatwithkitten]

He needs to go to hospital and get it cleaned. Dogs do not carry or transmit tetanus so it is unlikely they will give that - it comes from soil so rusty nail on ground yes dog bite no.
However, I clean dogs teeth they carry tank bacteria so he probably needs antibiotics.

[Saturdayrabbit42]

Doctor here too...that’s an A&E job...clean and antibiotics...also they will check for nerve injury...hands v important! Good luck x

[Minniee]

Hope he got seen quickly.

Good luck with your dog too, I hope things work out okay.

[SavageBeauty73]

How is he?

[Caplin]

Get it seen to. My friend had a dog bite that got infected. He ended up in hospital having the wound cleaned under general anaesthetic.

[Caplin]

Oops, should read end of thread before posting!! Glad he got seen!

[Studycast]

And sadly, now the dog has bitten twice, assuming your father wasn't beating it with a big stick at the time, you need to make a painful decision for the safety of everybody around, including you. You've had him for long enough that if you would have been able to solve his problems, you would have done it by now. And I don't say that lightly. He's still so scared that he's bitten and broken the skin twice, plus any other nips he might have given.

They might have to, but you can't possibly know whether the op and her family have a difficult decision to make or not, based on the very small amount of info provided. And I don't say that lightly either.

Our first rescue dog bit all three of us in his first year and a bit with us. He hasn't bitten us or anyone else in the seven years since and in fact has proved to be a very gentle and well behaved dog.

On two of the occasions he bit us we hadn't recognised the very subtle and tiny stress signals that he was displaying (people say dogs sometimes bite without warning but they always give a signal but sometimes they are so subtle they are almost undetectable unless you know what to look out for) and we had persisted with something he didn't like (eg first time staying with us in a strange hotel). His background (unsocialised/locked in a shed) meant that he found new things very difficult to tolerate. On the third occasion, which was a proper bite that drew blood, not a nip, he was in severe pain and stress having injured himself chasing a bike, and my DH was trying to lift him in to the car to take him to the vets.

So, although one must of course proceed with extreme caution, it is possible to rehabilitate a dog that has bitten once or twice depending on the circumstances and the individual character of the dog concerned, how trainable it is, and whether it's human family can be taught to read and respect it's (sometimes very subtle) signals and react and adapt their behaviour accordingly.

[Studycast]

(Btw he has been trained not to chase bikes any more.)

Hope your dad is ok op.

[Splitsunrise]

Glad he’s gone OP!