Racoon bit my A.J.
 

I just let my boy out to do his before bed duty and he went tearing outside (into a fenced back yard) and I heard this ruckus ... he was clearly in a fight with something, I rushed outside and chased it away, and I'm pretty sure it was a racoon. (It is dark).

At first I couldn't find anything, then I thought I found a scratch on him, and so I put some hydrogen peroxide on it to clean it up a bit (then I rinsed it all off so he wouldn't lick it), and as I was drying him off I saw that it was not a scratch, but it looks like a bite. :eek:

I have to work at 7:30 tomorrow and will see if I can get off work early to take him to the vet. (He is up on all his shots, thank god), but I know that this could be very serious.

Until I can get him to the vet, does anyone have any suggestions? I would normally put neosporin on a cut for myself, but what can you put on a dog that won't hurt him if he licks it? Should I just let him lick it?

My cat had a bit from another cat, and I know that this kind of would will probably get abcessed. My poor baby ... why in the world would he attack a racoon? It is 3 times as big as him. Sheesh...

.. worried about the boy.... :aimeeyork

Oh, and on top it all this, my cat is missing now.... (I think she was outside and ran when the ruccus started)
Dawnzig

You need to contact your vet first thing in the morning. There is a protocol that must be followed according to your state law when a dog is bitten by a wild animal. He will probably need to be quarantined and revaccinated for rabies.

yes please take him to vet asap! meanwhile I would put neosporin and clean the affected wound(which you are doing). I hope your baby is ok. please keep us updated

I will do that. I didn't think of it from the legal angle, but I know it is important. I'm more worried about his health. My vet doesn't open up until 9 am, and I can't call in sick tomorrow, so I'll have to go to work and then see how early I can leave. But I can call and make an appointment as soon as the vet opens up.

What state do you live in? I can look up the law for you.

If you have a 24 hour ER vet I would call and see what they advise. He may need more immediate attention.

California
 

We are in California.

California state law requires that raccoon bites be reported. A.J. will have to be re-vaccinated immediately, then quarantined for ten days to watch for symptoms of rabies.

I would call your vet when they first open as AJ may also need antibiotics so the bite doesn't become infected.

Oh my god....
 

10 days!! Quarantined? That is going to cost a fortune (that I don't have). Uugh. Let alone how it will affect him.

I was out in the backyard just now (still looking for my cat) and it is indeed a raccoon. It was up in the oak tree. I think it has been getting in the trash lately (at least my neighbor said so).

Damn damn damn.... it is 11:00 (and I should have been to sleep at 9:30)... still no cat. I've re-washed the wound with warm water and soap, and then trimmed the hair from the bite area. I put some neosporin and a small round bandage, and amazingly he is sleeping now and not licking at it (we did have a big day today and he is all tuckered out from playing with 3 other dogs up at my moms place).

Tomorrow, I will take the bandage off and let the wound breath and be open tomorrow when I go to work, I think this kind of wound is better off if it drains, I just wanted to get some neosporin in it to try and kill off bacterias since it is going to be hours before I can do anything about this.

I don't know how I'm going to get to sleep, I have to leave my front door ajar so the cat can get back in. That racoon is still out there, and now I've got $$ worries.

I'm so worried, but somehow I need to chill out somehow so I can get up at 6. (sigh)

AJ needs to get appropriate medical care, asap. The chances of an dog up to date on rabies vaccine being infected with the rabies virus from a wild beast in your back yard is VERY SLIM, however, the possibility of the wound site getting infected is very real.

I can tell you from experience that doing the right thing can be disasterous. I have a HUGE mistrust of the "system" - way too many of the "enforcers" are misinformed and will use their authority and outdated inaccurate information in inappropriate ways. My situation involved a BAT that I found in the wash rack of my barn during daylight hours. At the time I was just going on old wives tales about bats and rabies..... so I called my vet who referred me to the health department.

Rabies vaccination is NOT part of our state's rabies protocol for livestock and since my vet couldn't even tell me when the last documented case of equine rabies occurred, I elected to not do the rabies vaccines. But because I found a bat during daylight hours in my barn and tried to do the right thing, the health department planned to quaranteen my entire farm -- all livestock (at that time almost 30 head of horses) INSIDE the barn with the doors closed. Even though I had the bat in hand (gloved hand that is) the health department would NOT send someone out to collect the bat and test it for rabies before shutting down my farm business. You see, it wasn't their responsibility and they couldn't tell me who could/would, but they DID have the authority to quaranteen my entire horse farm and curtail all farm operations. To top it all off, I had only ONE horse in the barn at the time and he was at the opposite end of the barn :rolleyes:.

I was so disgusted with the health department that I hung upon them, and released the bat..... the poor thing apparently FELL from the barn rafters - somthing that I found out later just happens occasionally. More research revealed that although bats can transmit the rabies I could NOT find a single documented case of a rabid bat infecting a horse in the state of Georgia - ever.

The real concern is NOT rabies - especially if your little one is current with vaccinations. The real concern is secondary infectin at the wound site. I wish you the very best of luck with little A.J. I know it was a very scary thing, and if it was a raccoon, you are lucky that A.J. escaped with only a few scratches and bites.

I reread the law and I think the ten day quarantine is for a vaccinated dog who bites a human. I think the quarantine period is longer for a dog who has been bitten by a skunk, raccoon, etc. You vet will know.

Just make sure you call your vet first thing in the morning. It's important AJ gets revaccinated immediately.

I will
 

Thanks for all your advice. I will figure out what to do in the morning. Maybe I can wait till the vet opens and take him in before going into work. Now if only my kitty would come back. (she never is out at night, and she freaked out when all this happened.) I'm not sure if I can sleep knowing she is out there. She has been out before and has always come back, but this is too late for her to be out. (She was cooped up all weekend as AJ and I were away), so maybe she is just enjoying the warm spring night and is being a brat by not coming home when I call her.

Anyway, thanks again. I'll post a follow up tomorrow when I can.

I don't think I would leave the door open that racoon could come in the house:eek:

Can you get animal control to put out a live catch trap? My mother has done it MANY times and caught 'possums. Animal control comes out each morning and takes it away to be released in the county.

Good luck!

i'm sorry yo hera about aj hope he is doing ok ,yea i wouldnt leave the door open either

We made it through the night OK
 

I didn't get to sleep until after 1:00.

Still no kitty :(

No raccoon through the door. :eek:

I agree about the seeing if we can trap it. The thing is a menace. There is no way my dog won't try to attack it if it is in our yard.

The vet opens at 8 and I'll take him before work. He is not his usual morning barky self. :( Right now he is by the heater.

I might have to leave the door ajar while I'm gone. There are too many critters around here for me to lock my cat out if she comes back. (I'm going to get an ulcer worrying about all this)

The most valuable thing I have in my house is my laptop, so I'll just take it with me.

(My apartment, and the upstairs neighbors, and all, it is fairly safe to leave the door ajar like this, not something I want to do, but I think it will be OK.)

I've done a little reading and I think the quarantine is something like 45 days. My poor AJ has a lovely little personality. I'm afraid this will change him.

Sheesh.