Mary Allen
If a dog is the victim of a bite, going to the vet is essential. Because even if no wound can be seen, internal injuries or inflammation cannot be ruled out.
When strange dogs meet, things can quickly get dicey. Markus Weber’s* Havanese male Rico recently had to experience this firsthand. The 43-year-old was walking along the Sihl in Zurich like every morning when Rico started fighting with a Labrador male he didn’t know. “At first I thought it was a game between the two,” says Weber. “When Rico suddenly cried out and the other dog had a tuft of hair in its mouth, I knew it was getting serious.” When he saw that his dog was bleeding from the neck, Weber immediately called his vet and brought Rico to him as quickly as possible.
Weber reacted correctly with that, says Mirja Nolff, Senior Physician in Soft Tissue and Oncological Surgery at the Animal Hospital in Zurich. There are certain first aid measures that an owner can provide for a bitten dog. The wound can then be washed out with clean water and covered with a dry, clean cloth. “If there is heavy bleeding in the leg, you can try to tie it off,” says Nolff. “But that rarely works.” And even if it looks like a lot of blood, it’s more important to get to the vet quickly than to try to stop the bleeding. The situation is similar to a prolapse, i.e. when organs protrude from the body, or the dog is very apathetic. “In this case, you should wrap the dog in a clean piece of clothing and drive to the vet as soon as possible.”
Many clinics offer emergency services. In the Zurich Animal Hospital, for example, the emergency department is open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. In general, it helps if the dog owners call and say they are coming. But when you’re in such an exceptional situation, you’re often upset, says Nolff. “If you don’t have the number to hand or you’re alone, you should just grab the dog and come over immediately when in doubt.” She advises dog owners to find out how their veterinarian is open and which larger clinic nearby offers a 24-hour emergency service, which you can drive to quickly if in doubt. “If necessary, save the numbers in your mobile phone so that you have them ready in case of an emergency,” explains the expert.
But what if there is hardly anything to see after the bite and at most small marks that hardly bleed remain? Doesn’t it make sense to wait and see? Nolff’s answer is clear: “No! Even with minor injuries, hair or dirt can get stuck in the wound,” says the doctor. If these are removed immediately, most wounds heal without any problems. “Sometimes only small bites can be seen on the outside, sometimes even no wounds at all, while organs have been injured underneath.”
The danger is especially in dogs under 15 kilograms. Measures can only be taken if this is identified immediately. Most bites have a good chance of healing well, even if animals are injured so badly that they die. At around 10 percent, bite injuries make up a large part of the wounds treated at the Zurich Animal Hospital.
The Owner is Responsible for the Dog
Visiting a vet to treat bite wounds can be expensive. This raises the question of who should bear the costs. In “Tier im Recht transparent” the so-called animal owner liability is assumed. “If two dogs injure each other, each owner is liable for the damage of the other, insofar as both have violated their duty of care,” it reads. When calculating damages, the extent to which the behavior of each animal is responsible for the damage is taken into account. It plays a role, for example, whether the dogs were leashed. For example, an owner can be accused of taking better care of his dog and avoiding the incident.
Either way, it is advisable to record the personal details of the dog owners involved in the event of a dog bite and to report the case to the liability insurance company. Since May 2006, it has no longer been possible to “settle things out among yourself”. Since then, veterinarians have had to officially report all injuries caused by dogs to the cantonal veterinary office. This then takes on the case and, if necessary, orders measures against the biting dog.
Rico got off with a black eye. After the bite wound on the neck was cleaned, disinfected, and sewn up, the Havanese male recovered quickly. The incident had consequences for the owner of the Labrador, whom Markus Weber was able to locate in the meantime: She has to bear Rico’s veterinary costs and was summoned by the veterinary office of the canton of Zurich to take a character test.