My kid was bitten by a dog

My kid was bitten by a neighbor's dog yesterday.  He was bitten on the left thigh and he had scratch marks on his right leg. He said that he and his playmate were outside the house, playing, when the dog suddenly bit him.   Hubby and I were so p*ssed when we saw the wounds on our little boy. He immediately looked for the owner of the dog.   After a few minutes, we were ready to go to the hospital. We looked for an Animal Bite Center nearby where the little boy was given anti-rabies and anti-tetanus shots (for a whooping price of P2,400 for the two shots).

 

I learned a few lessons from this incident:

 

1. Do not panic.  While I pacified the little boy, hubby was the one who "hunted" for the dog's owner.

I brought the little boy to our room, dressed the wounds, changed his clothes, and told him to wait for me while I take a quick bath and get ready to go to the hospital.

 

2. The City Hall has an Animal Bite Center. They charge a minimal fee for the injections but I was not able to learn how much because it was a holiday. So, it was closed. Darn!

3. One has to clean the wound right away, even if it hurts a lot.

4. It is best to find the owner of the animal right away, to discuss the responsibilities of the animal owner, such as payment for the shots, medicines, if any, transportation costs, and to be reminded that he/she should ensure that his/her pet remains inside his/her property to avoid a repetition of the incident, and to observe the pet too for any changes in the behavior.                  

5. A friend told me that the little boy should not be eating eggs, fish, energy drinks, chocolates within the period of vaccination. That is within thirty (30) days from the day he was bitten.

6. There are Animal Bite Centers that offer cheaper shots (P600 for the first shot, P300 for the succeding shots= four more visits to the clinic). But we only learned of this after the little boy had his shots.  The succeding shots in the Animal Bite Center we visited was P1,800 for both the anti-rabies and anti-tetanus shots.

Still, I have a lot to be grateful for. 

1. It was a holiday so both hubby and I were home.

2. Hubby and I didn't panic.

3. There were construction workers on the lot in front of our home who saw what happened and immediately pointed out the dog who bit my little boy. It was a neighbor's dog, which escaped their home.

4. A neighbor was able to identify the owner of the dog.

5. We had money to advance the payment for the injections.  Good thing, the neighbor immediately reimbursed the payment for the injections.

6. Despite the ordeal, my little boy is still A-Okay.

Let me just add that the darn dog also bit my little boy's playmate. We belatedly learned this, because the playmate didn't say anything when my little boy was crying.  We learned this after we got back to the clinic and after we gave the receipt to the dog owner.   The dog owner wasn't at home, according to her daughter, because she accompanied a little boy, who was also bitten that time by their dog, to an Animal Bite Center, aka, my little boy's playmate.  Later in the evening, when I asked the little boy, he said narrated that his playmate was bitten first by the dog, then he was bitten next.
 

Grrr...

 

I still love pets: dogs, cats, hamsters, birds... But I hate it when they bite people. 

Pardon the typos, my emotions are running high as I write this.