coyote bit my dog and drew blood

sendit223

sendit223

Active member
Need some advice. My 2 year old dog decided he was going to chase a coyote through our fenced yard this morning. By the time I saw what he was doing he was running a body length behind the coyote. Well, at the fence the coyote naturally turned on him and put a 1-2 inch scratch on his nose. He yelped, turned tail, and trotted back to me.

The question is, should I take him to the vet or just watch him? He's up on his shots. The wound bled freely. He seems fine, other than having his pride hurt from getting his a$$ kicked.
 
Take your dog to the vet and get a booster shot even if its current on shots. Its better to be safe than sorry.

You will not see any signs of the rabies virus right away. It can lay dorminat for up to 45 days.

Coyotes in general are not high carriers of the virus, but being a mammal its possible.
 
If we go hunting and our dogs don't come home with some puncture wounds and scratches it was a bad hunt. That has included hounds, curs and terriers. If it's indeed just a scratch that bleed some I wouldn't worry about it unless it's to verify that your dog is up on shots. Other than that it will heal. I won't take a dog to a vet for damage unless I can't get it to stop bleeding myself. Which BTW, has been never.

Welcome to the wonderful world of fur hunting dogs!!! If you would like some other opinions you might try posting down in the houndsman/big game section. You can also look thru some past pics down there and see what kinda damage yote dogs take without trips to the vet.

BTW, if you call the vet and ask em I'll guarantee what the answer will be. Never seen a vet yet that would turn down a pet owner willing to pay for an office visit.
 
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BTW, if you call the vet and ask em I'll guarantee what the answer will be. Never seen a vet yet that would turn down a pet owner willing to pay for an office visit.



I'll second that. I have a good friend thats a vet, he tells me in his opinion some vets should be ashamed of themselves. There are a lot of things pet owners can take care of on their own with a little common sense, and simple advice whick he's happy to give over the phone.
 
Kind of off topic with the coyote but deals with vets. My buddy's dog, 11 year old queensland heeler, was tagged by a rattle snake two years ago. His wife made him bring the dog to the vet. The vet told him that the dog was going to need the anti-venom treatment to survive which ran a bill of $1500. My buddy told the vet he didn't have that kind of money and that PJ, his dog, was very old and has led a good life. He also told the vet he didn't want the his dog to suffer "so just put her down".

Well the vet started back tracking and said that if he can't pay for the anti-venom, he could prescribe another medication to give PJ and he would have to take it twice a day and make sure the dog stayed in a cool environment for a few weeks while taking the other med. This other medication was going to cost $600.

My buddy told him that was still way too much for an old dog and he doesn't have that kind of money to spend at this point and time. The vet then tells him he can't help him or his dog out.

My buddy leaves and goes to another vet after paying $125 vet bill from the first one. At the second vet, my buddy is upfront with him and tells the vet if this is going to cost over $100 he is just going to take care of PJ himself. The vet said "No need to go there, just give him a some benidrill with his dog food in the morning and evening and keep him in a cool area for a couple of weeks. The vet told him the skin will eventually sluff off around the bite area but not to worry about it.

So if you know your vet really well and he is an honest one, I would call him/her. If not just keep an eye on your dog, I doubt anything will come from it.
 
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Kind of off topic with the coyote but deals with vets. My buddy's dog, 11 year old queensland heeler, was tagged by a rattle snake two years ago. His wife made him bring the dog to the vet. The vet told him that the dog was going to need the anti-venom treatment to survive which ran a bill of $1500. My buddy told the vet he didn't have that kind of money and that PJ, his dog, was very old and has led a good life. He also told the vet he didn't want the his dog to suffer "so just put her down".

Well the vet started back tracking and said that if he can't pay for the anti-venom, he could prescribe another medication to give PJ and he would have to take it twice a day and make sure the dog stayed in a cool environment for a few weeks while taking the other med. This other medication was going to cost $600.

My buddy told him that was still way too much for an old dog and he doesn't have that kind of money to spend at this point and time. The vet then tells him he can't help him or his dog out.

My buddy leaves and goes to another vet after paying $125 vet bill from the first one. At the second vet, my buddy is upfront with him and tells the vet if this is going to cost over $100 he is just going to take care of PJ himself. The vet said "No need to go there, just give him a some benidrill with his dog food in the morning and evening and keep him in a cool area for a couple of weeks. The vet told him the skin will eventually sluff off around the bite area but not to worry about it.

So if you know your vet really well and he is an honest one, I would call him/her. If not just keep an eye on your dog, I doubt anything will come from it.



My yellow lab got tagged by a rattler a few years ago. I got home and his face looked about 300% bigger than it should have been, took him to the Vet had to do the anti-venin route, was about 1000$ but we went to a family friend who's a vet and said that if it's a wet bite (where venom is injected) that the survival rate is pretty low. our dog was just over a year old then and we decided to treat him with the anti-venin. now his neck is still flabby (where blood pooled) and he has the scar from the fangs on his muzzle. I killed a pair of rattlers in my backyard after that. Scary what they can do. Good luck with your dog. I would definitly take him to the vet.
 
My buddy's dog's face almost trippled in size within a day. The dog was nailed in the nose. It still has huge scar tissue on its face and it still tender when you accidently touch it. It would have been a tougher call if the dog was younger. PJ is on its last leg right now, can hardly move around.
 
Thanks for the advice guys.

Rickh - ha ha. He's a german shorthair with all shades of attitude. Darn dog has what you might call "intense prey drive". Stupid coyote was probably staring at him and then likely ran. That's all it took I'm sure.

Called the vet (good one with bird dogs himself for years). His advice was to watch it and if it's a puncture get some peroxide/water misture in there to get it to drain out. He said we'd know by tomorrow if it's an infection requiring further action.

Chris Brice - that's kind of what I was thinking. My buddy's GSP has a real attitude when it comes to fur bearing critters. She is a calm girl around the house, but let a raccoon or anything like that come in the yard and it's on. She routinely comes back with holes in the ear/face/etc. She got into a fox one day by the pond too.

We're going to watch him for now.
 
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Called the vet (good one with bird dogs himself for years). His advice was to watch it and if it's a puncture get some peroxide/water misture in there to get it to drain out. He said we'd know by tomorrow if it's an infection requiring further action.



Be sure and only use the peroxide/water mixture now and not later. Once the healing process starts, the peroxide will kill the good bacteria as well as the bad. It can be counterproductive if used too much.

We run hog dogs and they get cut/punctured often. If the bleeding has stopped, he should be fine. Keep it clean with water, and smell it often. Put your nose right up to the wound. You'll smell the infection long before you will see it.

Ray
 
He's fine now. Again, thank you all for the advice. I was just being a wus because my pup got a scratch. The next morning he was in all out search and destroy mode. Dang dog!
 
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