If a dog just bit you, your first priority is washing the wound thoroughly with soap and running water for at least 15 minutes. This single step significantly reduces the risk of both rabies and bacterial infection. After cleaning, assess the severity: deep punctures, heavy bleeding, bites to the face or hands, and any bite from an unknown or unvaccinated dog all warrant prompt medical attention.
Clean the Wound Immediately
Speed matters. The World Health Organization recommends washing any animal bite with soap and running water for a full 15 minutes. That sounds like a long time, and it is. Set a timer. The goal is to physically flush bacteria and any potential rabies virus out of the wound before they can establish themselves deeper in the tissue. Use regular soap, not antibacterial, and let the water run directly over and through the wound.
After washing, you can apply an antiseptic like povidone-iodine or rubbing alcohol if you have it available. Then cover the wound loosely with a clean bandage. If the bite is bleeding heavily, press a clean dry cloth firmly against it and hold pressure until the bleeding slows. If you cannot stop the bleeding or you feel faint, call 911.
When You Need Medical Attention
Not every dog bite requires an emergency room visit, but many do. In the United States, roughly 800,000 dog bites need some type of medical care each year, with about 337,000 of those ending up in the emergency department. The CDC recommends seeing a healthcare provider if any of the following apply:
- The wound is deep or won’t stop bleeding. Puncture wounds from canine teeth can reach muscle, tendon, or bone even when the surface opening looks small.
- The bite is on your face, hands, feet, or near a joint. These areas are more prone to complications and functional damage.
- You don’t know if the dog is vaccinated against rabies. Stray dogs, wildlife-exposed dogs, or dogs behaving erratically raise the risk.
- It’s been 5 or more years since your last tetanus shot. Dog bites count as contaminated wounds, so the booster threshold is 5 years, not the 10-year interval used for clean minor cuts.
- You have a weakened immune system. Diabetes, cancer, HIV, a missing spleen, or immunosuppressive medications all increase your infection risk substantially.
- Signs of infection develop. Redness, swelling, increasing pain, pus, fever, or red streaks spreading from the wound are all signals to get care right away.
Infections to Watch For
Dog mouths carry a range of bacteria that can cause trouble in human tissue. The most common culprit is a bacterium called Pasteurella, which can cause rapid-onset redness, swelling, and pain around the bite, sometimes within just hours. This is the main reason doctors often prescribe a short course of preventive antibiotics for higher-risk bites. The Infectious Diseases Society of America recommends 3 to 5 days of prophylactic antibiotics for bites considered high risk, and the most commonly prescribed option covers Pasteurella and other mouth bacteria effectively.
A rarer but more dangerous organism called Capnocytophaga lives in the saliva of most dogs and cats. In healthy people it rarely causes problems, but in those with weakened immune systems, heavy alcohol use, or a missing spleen, it can lead to sepsis, kidney failure, and gangrene. Symptoms can appear anywhere within 1 to 14 days of a bite and include fever, blisters around the wound, diarrhea, vomiting, headache, confusion, and muscle or joint pain. If you develop any of these, tell your doctor you were recently bitten.
Rabies and Tetanus Protection
Rabies is almost always fatal once symptoms appear, but it is completely preventable with prompt treatment. If there’s any concern the dog could be rabid (the dog was a stray, was acting strangely, or you can’t confirm its vaccination status), your doctor will start post-exposure prophylaxis. For someone who has never been vaccinated against rabies, this involves an injection of rabies immune globulin plus four doses of rabies vaccine given over two weeks: on the day of the first visit, then on days 3, 7, and 14. People with immune disorders receive a fifth dose on day 28.
Your local animal control department can help determine whether the dog needs to be quarantined and observed. If the dog is a pet with current rabies vaccinations and can be monitored for 10 days, the risk is extremely low. Report the bite to animal control regardless, both for your own safety and to create a record.
Tetanus is the other vaccine-preventable concern. Because dog bites are contaminated wounds (saliva, potential soil exposure), the 5-year rule applies. If your last tetanus-containing vaccine was more than 5 years ago, you’ll need a booster. If you can’t remember when you were last vaccinated, assume you need one.
Stitches: Open vs. Closed Healing
Whether a dog bite gets stitched depends on where it is and how it looks. Many doctors leave bite wounds open initially because closing a bacteria-laden wound can trap infection inside. Puncture wounds on the hands and feet are almost always left open to drain. However, bites on the face are frequently stitched for cosmetic reasons because the face has a rich blood supply that helps fight infection on its own.
A Cochrane review of the available evidence found no high-certainty data to confirm whether immediate stitching, delayed stitching, or leaving bites open produces better outcomes in terms of infection rates. In practice, your doctor will weigh the infection risk against the cosmetic and functional needs of the specific wound location. Some larger wounds are loosely closed with a few stitches to bring tissue edges together while still allowing drainage.
Caring for the Wound as It Heals
Once you’ve had the bite treated, keeping it clean is your main job. Wash the area gently with soap and water daily, apply a thin layer of antibiotic ointment, and change the bandage at least once a day or whenever it gets wet or dirty. Watch closely for signs of infection over the next two weeks: worsening redness, warmth, swelling, pus, red streaks, or fever.
If you were prescribed antibiotics, take the full course even if the wound looks fine after a few days. Stopping early increases the chance of a resistant infection developing.
For longer-term healing, especially on visible areas like the face or arms, gentle scar massage can help. Once the wound has fully closed and any stitches are removed, massaging the scar tissue for a few minutes daily helps break down excess collagen and can reduce raised or thickened scarring. Keep the healing skin protected from sun exposure, as new scar tissue burns easily and UV light can cause permanent darkening of the scar. Using sunscreen or covering the area for the first year makes a noticeable difference in the final appearance.