Sometimes the bite is worse than the bark

The NHS Information Centre released figures showing that the number of hospital admissions for animal related injuries in England and Wales has seen quite an increase in the last year. Dog related admissions are up 5% to 6,120 cases. Admissions due to non-venomous insect bites and stings, insects such as bedbugs and mosquitoes, are up 19% to 3,620 cases. Admissions as a result of other animals, particularly larger animals such as cows and horses, increased by 8% to 2,560 cases.

It is perhaps worth noting that these figures are for all admissions so they are not just bites as you might first expect. With the larger animals like cows and horses the injuries are likely to be bruising or fractures caused by being knocked over. Thankfully injuries from the larger animals are few and far between. Cows in the UK are relatively placid unlike their Belgian cousins as I discovered recently. Belgian cows tend to snarl rather than moo, and don’t ever go into their field as they will hunt you down.

Bites are more concerning though as you never know how deep the bite has gone and how much damage has been done to the tissue under the skin. Nor can you tell what nasty germs have been transferred from mouth to wound. Tetanus and rabies are both a risk although the latter not so much in the UK. The vast majority of dogs are all bark and no bite but if they do feel threatened in any way then animal instinct may take over as they try to protect themselves or their territory.

So how would you treat a dog bite? Well if you’re the first aider, the first thing to do is make sure the dog is not a threat to you. It’s very difficult to treat a patient while you have a set of jaws clamped round your arm. Make sure it is no longer present, properly restrained or someone trained to deal with dangerous dogs has been called and are on their way.

The wound itself, in the first instance, would be treated like any other wound. If it is bleeding heavily, get the patient to apply pressure by placing their hand over the wound, and also get them to elevate it (if possible). Both actions are designed to stem the flow of blood. The wound should be cleaned out with soap and warm water and a dressing applied. Obviously if you're in the middle of a park, soap and water are in limited supply so just clean it out as best you can until you are able to do it properly. If you don't have any dressings then use anything appropriate to bandage the wound. A shirt or a tie would do as long as they're clean.

The level of treatment required depends on the extent of the injury, but in all except the most minor of cases I would suggest getting seen by a medical professional. This does not necessarily mean going to A&E, it could just be going to see your GP or the out-of-hours GP. It is best to see a medical professional just to make sure you’re not going to get an infection. If you do get an infection, at least it can be treated promptly.

As Nick Ross would say though, "don't have nightmares, do sleep well." Nearly all dogs are harmless and playful. There are over ten million dogs in the UK so that puts the number of hospital admissions into perspective. The most dangerous creature you'll ever come across is man, and they have a far nastier bite.