Who Bit Me?!

What to do for animal bites ...

Author

Jesse Dashe MD
September 19, 2023

Greetings colleagues,

Welcome to the Hands-On The East Bay Newsletter, which summarizes key topics in hand surgery for providers on the front lines. I'm Dr. Jesse Dashe, an orthopedic hand surgeon at the East Bay Hand Medical Center.

Question:

Which animal bites are most common?

Answer: 

Dog (90%) and cat (10%) bites are most common and usually occur on the upper extremities.

Dog Teeth. Source: Orthobullets

Question:

Which bites are most commonly infected?

Answer: 

Cat bites are most commonly infected as they are puncture wounds vs crush injuries (which occur with dogs).

Cat Teeth. Source: Orthobullets

Question:

What infectious organism is most common with cat and dog bites?

Answer: 

Pasturella species.

Pasteurella. Source: Images.FineArtAmerica

Question:

What is the workup?

Answer: 

  • Xrays

  • Check tetanus status

  • Question about dog vaccination status and assess if rabies prophylaxis is needed

Cellulitis. Source: Orthobullets

Question:

What is the treatment?

Answer: 

  • Local irrigation and debridement of the wound

  • Local wound care

  • Typically, do not close these wounds or loosely reapproximat …no water-tight closures!

  • If outpatient, Augmentin is usually the antibiotic of choice for cat, dog, and human bites

  • Send to hand surgeon if wound on upper extremity

Dog Bite to Forearm. Source: Orthobullets

Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or would like to refer any patients. You can refer patients at handreferral.com or by using this link:

If you need to reach me directly, please respond to this email or email me at [email protected].

Please contact me so I can come by your facility to meet face-to-face and/or give presentations, splinting sessions, etc.

Lastly, let me know if you have any other hand topics you would like covered in the future!

Sincerely,