“While such a bite was unlikely to be fatal, infection of the Achilles tendon is a life-altering possibility.“
A few years back Mrs. L was bitten by our neighbor’s dog, a Jack Russel. There were two small bites on her index finger. It looked like she’d been poked with a pencil.
Less than 36 hours later she was in the hospital fighting a systemic bacterial infection. She was there for 8 days on intravenous antibiotics. It took surgery to finally clean the infection out.
Any animal bite that breaks the skin is a bona fide medical emergency. That came straight from the mouth of the infectious disease specialist who treated my wife.
L
The Jack Russel is a rotten little dog.
I often hear it repeated that its okay if he licks you because a dogs mouth is cleaner than a humans.
The implication being that there is no risk of infection.
Didn’t believe it when i was 5 and i don’t believe it now.
There was a guy up the coast that kept pheasants. The Reeve’s Pheasant is about as hostile an animal as you’ll meet when it comes to defending its turf. Spurred him in the thigh and put him in the hospital. Any mean rooster could do it.Anyone that’s spent time in a chicken coop knows how likely an infection would be.
Thanks for the story. I was going to say something along those lines, but your story hits home perfectly.
I prefer to shoot an animal than risk injury from it.