UPDATE #22- Quick help needed- Dog bite... go in tonight? GRAPHIC PHOTOS

[kep]

Photos removed.

A friend's DH was watching the kids tonight while I was at a preschool meeting. I was gone one hour. I came back and the Dad said that DS1 had been bitten by their dog, who is not usually aggressive. DS said he was going out the backdoor, didn't see the step going down, and fell right by the dog... not on him. Dog then bit DS on the face and on the wrist. The bite on the face is on the eyebrow and quite swollen. The wrist looks a little better. The Dad said he used hydrogen peroxide and bandaged it up.

When we got home, I used a warm washcloth on both wounds followed by Neosporin and a bandaid. Neither bite is currently bleeding or gaping, but I can't tell how deep the puncture wounds are. The eyebrow one looks like it might be "flapped".

Urgent care is now closed, and my DH is out of town. I have three little kids, and it's a school night. :bag 10 pm here. WWYD? I am torn between running him in to the ER to get the wounds scrubbed out well and the eyebrow butterflied, and waiting until morning, keeping him home from school, and taking him in to our ped. Oh, and I also have an OB appointment in the morning, which is an hour away. :shake:

Trying not to panic, and feeling a little annoyed by the whole situation. Why do these things always happen when DH is out of town??

[curiousgeorge]

Can you call the ped after hours number and get some advice? If it does need stitches I think you have an 8-hour window to make that happen or they can't do it. So...if there's any chance that is a possiblity I'd want a doctor to weigh in.

And I'm SO sorry that happened while you are on your own...just saw that part of your post. Why does it always happen that way? ARGH!
If you have to go in to the ER maybe the parent that was watching your DS when the accident happened can come stay with the other kids at the house while you are gone? Seems like a reasonable request...

[SnuggleBuggles]

:( Because of the risk of scaring on the face, I'd take him in tonight and hopefully have it looked at by someone like a plastic surgeon, if need be, along with getting it fixed up. I'm sorry this happened while dh was gone and I'm sorry your little guy got hurt.

BEth

[joules]

When DH sliced his foot open from a falling jar of spaghetti sauce, the RN hotline said he had a 4 hour window for stitches. After that the risk of infection is too great.

[kep]

Well, I can call, but there is a fee. :thumbsdown: Also, I kind of doubt they would be able to tell me much without seeing him. I don't think he needs stitches per say, but I was more worried about bacteria if the puncture is deep. It had stopped bleeding by the time I returned to pick them up.

[willow33]

Is the dog up to date on vaccinations? I would probably take him in just to be safe.

[infomama]

I'd go in. I'd want to get on antibiotics ASAP and if stitches are needed you need to be proactive. I would make a police report, too. That dog should be quarantined.

[OKKiddo]

Okay, the photos are not that graphic, but if you are sensitive, click away.

A friend's DH was watching the kids tonight while I was at a preschool meeting. I was gone one hour. I came back and the Dad said that DS1 had been bitten by their dog, who is not usually aggressive. DS said he was going out the backdoor, didn't see the step going down, and fell right by the dog... not on him. Dog then bit DS on the face and on the wrist. The bite on the face is on the eyebrow and quite swollen. The wrist looks a little better. The Dad said he used hydrogen peroxide and bandaged it up.

When we got home, I used a warm washcloth on both wounds followed by Neosporin and a bandaid. Neither bite is currently bleeding or gaping, but I can't tell how deep the puncture wounds are. The eyebrow one looks like it might be "flapped".

Urgent care is now closed, and my DH is out of town. I have three little kids, and it's a school night. :bag 10 pm here. WWYD? I am torn between running him in to the ER to get the wounds scrubbed out well and the eyebrow butterflied, and waiting until morning, keeping him home from school, and taking him in to our ped. Oh, and I also have an OB appointment in the morning, which is an hour away. :shake:

Trying not to panic, and feeling a little annoyed by the whole situation. Why do these things always happen when DH is out of town??

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b27/kellip/IMG_2852.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b27/kellip/IMG_2854.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b27/kellip/IMG_2862.jpg

Sigh, tough call. I'd WANT to go to the ER and if I could get a neighbor (someone trustworthy) to watch the other kiddos, then I'd take him and then take him to the OB appt. too so he can catch on as much sleep/rest as he can. If I couldn't find someone to watch the other kiddos and they were already in bed, I'd wait until the next day to go to the pediatrician (who will likely just apply more bandages but no stitches or butterfly since it's probably going to be pretty scabbed over by morning).

Poor kiddo and poor you! Big hugs to both of you tonight!

[ShanaMama]

No advice, just hugs. That is so upsetting. I'd be really frustrated to be in that situation. Hope he recovers well.

ETA: I am no expert in dog bites, but if the dog is current on all his shots then the main concern is scarring, right? If that's the case, I think your worst case scenario is a scar by his eyebrow, which isn't the worst thing in the world. I would be concerned about infection, but your ped could always start him on oral antibiotics tomorrow.

[elephantmeg]

ohy, that's sad. I just wanted to say sorry! Not sure which way I would go on this. I think you'll be OK either way. DO make sure he is seen in the morning at the latest though.

[AngelaS]

Dog bites need to be reported. I probably would take him in, just so it gets reported and they follow up to make sure the dog is current on its shots.

[sste]

I am another one in the face=eval by plastic surgeon camp.

[Melbel]

How awful! I vote for taking him tonight, especially if you can swing child care for your other 2. A little girl here was recently bit and needed not only stitches and antibiotics, but also a tetanus shot. Sending healing thoughts your way!

[twowhat?]

Well, honestly the one on his eyebrow doesn't look bad at all. The one on his wrist looks slightly worse. As long as you cleaned it out and put antibiotic ointment on and wrap up the one on the wrist, I think you're fine to wait until morning to take him to the doc.

Why didn't the Dad call you right away and/or take him to urgent care himself??? If I were watching someone else's kid and one of our dogs inflicted a bite wound that bled, I'd be calling the parents right away, ideally in the car on the way to urgent care to get it checked out. Argh. So sorry this happened!!! If he had called you right away, you could've gotten him in to urgent care before they closed.

eta: a side note - check urgent care hours in adjacent cities. The way ours work, urgent care in City A is open 7am-2pm while urgent care in City B is open 2pm-10pm or something like that. So if you can't get into the closest one, you might be able to drive an extra 15-20 min (depending on where you are) to get to another one.

[monicak]

I'd go now. The fussy/sleepy kids part doesn't matter, in a day or two they'll recover. Dog's mouths are full of bacteria, plus the risk of a scar for the rest of his life is not worth the chance, IMO. The dog's owner should cover all of your medical costs (or their home insurance, if it comes to that)
Good luck!

[bubbaray]

I would take him in tonight. GL!

[JMS]

I know it's the last thing you want to do, but I think I'd take him to the ER to be safe in this situation. Serious :grouphug: .. I would be so upset over this, even though it's not a horrendous bite.

Keep us posted.
More :grouphug:.

[bubbaray]

I would make the family that owns the dog that bit your child arrange asap for one of them to come over and watch your kids.

I would also report the bite to the police.

[sweetsue98]

My DD was bit by our dog a few months ago so I have some experience...unfortunately. If you take him to the ER tonight all they will do is clean the wound out and prescribe an antibiotic. Hopefully the dog has all his shots up to date. Dog bites are not to be sealed for infection reason. If you decide not to take him tonight you will need to take him first thing in the morning to get an antibiotic. Both times my DD was biten (I know, how does something like this happen twice...) the area of her eye was swollen from the bite and needed additional antibiotic. The wounds will heal and scars will go away as he gets older. I'm glad to see there was no permanent damage. I'm sorry your family is going through this but everything will be okay.

[american_mama]

I say go in. I know nothing about dog bites, suturing or cleaning a wound, but those look borderline-to-serious enough to me that I'd want an expert to look at them.

Ask a friend to stay at home with your sleeping kids. Ask the wife of the father whose dog bit, if need be. Call the ER, or multiple ER's, and ask what the wait is like for a pediatric dog bite, and go to the shortest wait. I stumbled on that phoning-ahead concept once and it saved us time.

We recently had a neighbor come over in an emergency when I developed acute appendicitis - not that any of us knew why I was suddenly in agonizing pain and headed to the hospital at 9 pm. People understand emergencies and genuinely want to help. I couldn't say a word to her, and I don't think DH gave her any tips on putting the kids to bed. It wasn't pretty, but she managed.

[Kungjo]

Sorry to see you going through this. I second what another poster said. Have one of the parents come watch your kids so that you can get the bites that their dog caused checked out. Better to do it sooner than later to avoid infection. GL.

[kep]

We're back. He went to school this morning, and then I picked him up mid morning to go to the ped. He's doing great, but has a big ole black eye. :) The dr said that I def made the right decision... all the ER would have done was clean it (again), give antibiotics, and a tetnus booster, all of which he got this morning. Whew! My mind was working overtime last night trying to figure out what the best plan was. Of course everyone at school was very impressed with the bandaids and the black eye, and as DS said, he's already told the story 500 times. Lol! Thanks for all the support, ladies. Pregnancy is slowly killing off my remaining brain cells, making me incapable of rational decision making. ;)

[ThreeofUs]

Oh, my gosh, Kelli, I'm just seeing this.

I'm SO sorry this happened to your DS. Hugs to you both.

[shawnandangel]

Kelli,

Please watch for additional swelling on your DS's face. My daughter was bit by our dog last year in the face. Even with antibiotics, it started swelling and she needed to be in the children's hospital for a week to get IV antibiotics. They were worried that because the bite was so close to the eye that she could potentially develop an abscess in her brain. So just trust your mommy instincts here. If it gets worse now that he's on antibiotics, take him back to the ped. My ped said that like 5% of patients don't respond to the oral antibiotics and need the IV and my DD was just one of them.

Also, understand that your Insurance company may catch wind of this and will send you a questionnare about where DS was and what happened - so they can go after your friend's insurance to pay.

I'm sorry your DS fell beside the dog but the dog bite is not your DS's fault. (This is similar to what happened to my DD, although she was walking behind the dog) Once a dog bites, it cannot be trusted not to do so again. If your friend's dh is not planning on putting the dog down I would not take my DC over there again.