I am completely in a fix. You will need to sweat it out to get me out of this. I was bitten by a stray dog...

Question

while I was parking my vehicle. The wound doesn't look that deep but I have got myself vaccinated by injection to prevent rabies.
The strange thing is that I have got bitten by the same dog, which I have been nurturing for past 5 days. The reason for taking care of this dog is that it has given birth to 5 young ones. I had been giving food , provided shelter in my shop when it was raining. Considering this, the behavior of the dog looks abnormal or maybe it may be affected by the rabies.
Now my problem is that if I report the dog for testing in the Goverment laboratory for rabies detection, the young ones will die without her mother? If i don't report, I am letting other people risk with being bitten by the dog? WHAT SHOULD I DO?

Answer 1

buy puppy new born milk and take the mother to the Gov't detection but dont tell them about the babies because ur right they will die, the gov't will kill the babies

Answer 2

You should report the dog immediately. As long as you have her confined at your place, you may be able to keep her confined for observation and quarantine. Not all jurisdictions will allow the dog to remain on your premises in confinement for observation where rabies is a concern, however. Part of the decision will depend upon what behavior you are noticing and whether it is a typical clincal sign of rabies. Rabies cannot be diagnosed with 100% accuracy in a live animal (the best diagnosis is a post-mortem examination of the brain), but here is a site which discusses the clinical signs of rabies: http://www.vin.com/proceedings/Proceedings.plx?CID=WSAVA2003&PID=6728&O=Generic
Part of the decision about whether the dog may stay on your premises will be the laws in your locale, and your ability to keep her in a strict quarantine, away from the public.

If the dog must go, the puppies can be given milk replacer, but you will need to feed them very often, depending on their age. If the mother has rabies, it is possible that the puppies do too. If you save these puppies, please vaccinate.

Answer 3

Contact Animal Control, and they can help. Often, they will have another lactating female who can provide for the puppies. This is a hard situation. I love animals, volunteer at the Humane Society, and have also been bitten by a couple of feral animals. You certainly don't want anyone else to be hurt, and if it has bitten twice, it needs to be taken care of. Call the Humane Society in your area and ask if they can help the pups. I had to have a feral cat picked up once because it attacked me twice. It had bitten deep, and we were able to save the two day old kittens, but the cat did have to be put down. It was heartbreaking to me, but we weighed that with what it would be like to have a child attacked and scarred, and we live trapped the mother and the animal control picked her up.

Good luck, and take care of that wound. You should also be on antibiotics for awhile, since there are lots of other diseases you could get.

Answer 4

Call animal control and tell them about the whole incident. They will come, pick her and her puppies up and keep them all in isolation until she's past the incubation period for rabies.

She's probably protecting her babies - hence the biting - Believe me, were she really vicious she'd tear at you - as it is, you probably just got too close to her pups and she was making it clear that she didn't appreciate it.

That said, it's good that you got yourself checked out and vaccinated. Still, calling animal control is truly the right thing. Usually a mom with pups are not separated- but are kept in isolation for a quarantine period - to see that she doesn't show the symptoms of rabies - or does she show them now?

If so, then she should be humanely put down. Plus, the virus is most likely passed on to the puppies through her milk - and they should be put down as well.

Answer 5

Report the mother but keep the puppies, they might take the puppies to so dont say anything about the puppies, if they asked if she had any puppies say no, even though you have them, and she might look like she just had puppies but just say that you just found her.

Now with the puppies, go out and buy puppy powder milk, just read the directions and buy some serenges or bottles for dogs and fill it with the milk and feed them by hand, (only do this if you think the puppies are under 8 weeks old) this is going to be a very tiring job, so if you have to go to work and you are single and there is no one to take care of them during the day then take them to the vet and they will find them a good home!!

Answer 6

The dog is probably stressed because she is a stray, on the streets for a length of time, she is hungry, has probably been tormented, has a litter of puppies, a stranger is handling her, and she is scared to death.

BY THE BOOK - because she has bitten you take the dog (or call animal control) who will take her and her puppies to the local dog pound. They will hold her for 10 days for rabies observation. At the end of 10 days you will be notified if she is rabid and if you must seek additional medical care.

At the end of 10 days she will be euthanized along with her pups - who have probably already picked up parvo or distemper in the pound and would die anyway.

This is the sad fate of an unwanted dog.

Answer 7

I live in New Mexico & here they quarenteen the dog for 10 days while the person bitten goes through the series of shots in the stomach.

If the owner of the dog can provide proper quarenteen he may keep his dog until the 10 days are up. Waiting to see if the dog shows any signs of rabies.

I, myself would not report it. I would watch the dog for signs. If I reported everytime I got bit I'd have several series of the shots.

I did have the first series of 5 shots when I was bitten by a stray cat that just had kittens.

As a pet groomer & a dog trainer I have been bitten hundreds of times & only reported one.

The signs to look for is excessive salivation, restlessness, barking & biting at anything.

I would just watch her. But that is me.

Answer 8

Call animal control and ask what they would do in that situation, would they leave the puppies with the mother under observation? Could the puppies be nursed by care givers without the mother? What chance do the puppies have of surviving if the mother does have rabies if you did nothing? Consider their answers in helping you decide. I personally would wait until I was pretty convinced of rabies first, maybe dogs get post-par tum depression?

Answer 9

If you have only known the dog for a short while, and she has puppies, you have her maternal instinct to contend with, and getting bitten is no surprise at all. Dogs aren't very rational, especially if startled, and she might well interpret something you did as threatening her pups. I doubt if she has rabies.
HOWEVER, rabies is bad, bad news, and you can't be too careful. I assume the dog can be isolated without taking her from the puppies, but I am not well-informed about observation for rabies.

Answer 10

The mother dog is not trusting you as yet. Do not approach her or the puppies. Let the authorities handle this. The SPCA is a good choice. If the mother is healthy they will keep her with the pups. If not they can care for the pups on their own. If the mother has rabies she could pass them on. Be safe and caring at the same time. Don't automatically assume that the mother has rabies, she may not. It is good that you protected yourself though.

Answer 11

You should definately report the bite. The dog will have to be quarintined for 10 days. This is a strict quarantine where the dog has to be confined at all times and only let out on leash. If you have only been dealing with the dog for 5 days and she just had a litter, the biting may not be abnormal, she may have been being protective of her pups. But you have to report it for a number of reasons, one of which is that her babies and herself should be in a shelter or animal rescue where they will get the proper care and get fixed and vaccinated. Good luck.