I was the unhappy recipient of what I suspect is the worst dog bite of my four decades-long career last week. We took in a new customer. She told us on the phone that he was a ten-year-old West Highland White terrier. She wanted his body clipped close all over (with a #4 blade) and a traditional Westie head and tail. He has been groomed regularly his entire life. When he arrived, I put him in the tub. He was a lovely gentleman for his bath. He was equally fine with drying, having his nails trimmed and buffed, brushing and clipping. I congratulated myself on choosing this particular dog from our waitlist. Then, I gently held the left side of his face while I attempted to trim some long, discolored fur from the side of his bottom lip.
With no noticeable warning, he spun and grabbed my thumb, his teeth puncturing and tearing the skin in two spots. Here is the important part, which I hope you will remember if you are unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of sharp teeth. After taking the dog off the table and putting him in a safe spot, I performed first aid on myself.
- I let the wounds bleed for several minutes. That wasn't hard; they did a good job on their own. The idea here is to allow the blood to flow out and away from the wound, hopefully carrying bacteria from the dog's mouth with it. It is human nature to stop the blood flow as quickly as possible (I surely didn't want it all over the clean white dog!), but a little bleeding is a good thing in the case of an animal bite or other puncture.
- Next, I put mild hand soap directly on the wounds and let it sit for a few seconds.
- I let tepid flowing water from the tap rinse the soap, turning the injury in various directions to allow the water to rinse the area very well. It didn't feel good at all, but I reminded myself that if it helped prevent an infection, it was worth it.
- I patted the area dry gently with a clean paper towel. This injury consisted of two flaps of skin, and I tried to position them to cover the wounds as closely as possible.
- Once the bleeding had slowed, I put a triple antibiotic gel over the injury, followed by a non-stick gauze pad.
- I wrapped the whole thing with first aid tape.
- Here is the most essential part. I sought medical attention. Animal bites have a high infection rate, and I wanted to be prescribed antibiotics to prevent that. I very much dislike going to the doctor, but I don't mess around with animal bites. Besides this, I wasn't sure if my tetanus shot was up to date, and any puncture wound should be followed up with a tetanus booster if you have not had one in ten years.
The nurse practitioner complimented my first-aid technique and the fact that I didn't waste much time getting in to be treated. I will have a sore thumb for a while, but I feel glad that my injury has been cared for in a way that gives me a good chance of healing swiftly. If you are on the wrong end of sharp teeth, please practice good first-aid and get medical assistance quickly.
