After a Dog Fight: Why the Wounds Are Worse Than They Look

The most dangerous thing about a bite wound is how minor it looks.

The skin is elastic. Teeth puncture it, then the underlying tissue is crushed, torn and separated as the attacking dog shakes and the skin slides over the muscle beneath. What you see afterwards is two small holes. What's underneath can be a large pocket of dead, crushed tissue, contaminated with bacteria from the other dog's mouth.

This is why vets treat bite wounds far more seriously than owners expect.

Separating a fight safely

First, if you're reading this in advance — this is the part most likely to get you injured.

Never put your hands between two fighting dogs. Bite injuries to owners in this situation are extremely common and frequently severe.

What works better:

Loud noise. An air horn, a pot lid, a shout. Sometimes enough to break the fixation.
Water. A hose or a bucket over both dogs' heads.
A barrier. A board, a chair, a bin lid pushed between them.
The wheelbarrow method, if two people are present: each grabs a dog's hind legs and lifts, walking backwards. Never do this alone — a lifted dog with a free-standing opponent is in a worse position.
A lead looped around the hindquarters to pull a dog away.
Once separated, keep them separated. Take them out of sight of each other immediately. Dogs will re-engage.

Don't grab collars — that's exactly where redirected bites land.

Immediately afterwards

1. Check yourself and any other people first. Human bite wounds need medical attention and adrenaline hides them.

2. Muzzle or contain your dog if you can do so safely. They're in pain and frightened, and may bite you while you examine them.

3. Control any major bleeding with direct pressure using a clean cloth.

4. Examine them properly. This means going through the coat with your fingers, over the whole body. Punctures are small and easily hidden, particularly in thick or dark coats.

Pay attention to:

Neck and throat — very common target, and dangerous
Chest — a puncture here can penetrate the chest cavity
Abdomen — can penetrate and damage organs
Legs and armpits
Under the tail and around the groin
The head and ears

5. Go to a vet. For essentially all bite wounds.

Why you shouldn't wait and see

Infection is near-certain. Dog mouths carry substantial bacteria, and a puncture wound injects it deep into tissue and then closes over the top, creating an ideal anaerobic environment. Bite wounds become infected at high rates without treatment.

The damage underneath is invisible. Crushed tissue dies over the following days, creating a pocket of dead material that becomes an abscess. This is why a dog can seem fine for three days and then be very unwell on day four.

Chest punctures can cause pneumothorax — air in the chest cavity, collapsing the lung. A dog can look stable initially and deteriorate over hours.

Abdominal punctures can penetrate the body wall and damage intestines, causing peritonitis. Again, often not immediately obvious.

Fractures are common under bite wounds, especially in small dogs bitten by large ones.

Small dog bitten by big dog deserves particular emphasis. The shake causes massive internal damage, and a small dog can have life-threatening internal injuries with barely any external wound.

What the vet will do

Full examination, clipping the coat to find all wounds — there are almost always more than the owner found
Assessment for chest and abdominal penetration; X-rays if indicated
Wound exploration — probing to determine depth and extent
Flushing — large volumes of sterile fluid, which is the single most important treatment
Debridement — removing dead and contaminated tissue
Wounds are often left open or drained rather than stitched closed, because closing contaminated dead space causes abscesses. Don't be alarmed if your dog comes home with an open wound or a drain — this is correct practice.
Antibiotics and pain relief
Sometimes surgery under general anaesthetic

Expect it to cost more than you'd guess from the size of the holes.

Home care afterwards

Give all the antibiotics, the full course, even when it looks better
Give the pain relief. Bite wounds hurt considerably.
Keep the wound clean as instructed — usually gentle bathing with dilute antiseptic or saline
Manage the drain if there is one, and keep the area clean
Prevent licking — a buster collar or a body suit
Restrict exercise
Watch for: swelling, heat, increasing pain, discharge, a bad smell, fever, lethargy, or loss of appetite. Any of these means going back.

Cat bites specifically

Cat bite wounds deserve their own warning. Cat teeth are long, thin and needle-like, and they inject bacteria deep while leaving an almost invisible puncture that seals within hours.

Cat bites abscess at very high rates. A cat bitten in a fight will often seem fine for three to five days, then develop a hot, painful swelling, go off food, and become feverish.

Any known cat fight warrants a vet visit before the abscess develops — early antibiotics often prevent it entirely.

Cat fights also transmit FIV and FeLV, both serious viral infections. If your cat is an outdoor cat who fights, discuss testing and vaccination with your vet.

The legal and practical side in South Africa

If another dog attacked yours:

Get the owner's details — name, phone number, address
Photograph the injuries immediately and over the following days
Keep all veterinary invoices
Note the date, time, location and what happened, while it's fresh
Look for witnesses and take their details
Owners can be held liable for damage caused by their animals, and municipal by-laws in most metros cover dangerous dogs and dogs at large. If it was serious or the dog is a repeat offender, reporting it to the local authority is reasonable.

If your dog was the aggressor, this is worth taking seriously rather than defensively — get behavioural help, and manage the situation in the meantime with a muzzle and a lead. Most dogs who bite once will bite again in the same circumstances.

Afterwards, behaviourally

Dogs who've been attacked often become reactive towards other dogs, which is an entirely rational response and not a character flaw.

Deal with it early. A qualified, reward-based behaviourist can do a great deal in the weeks after an incident, and much less two years into an established fear response.

Avoid the instinct to "get them back out there" immediately with lots of dog contact. Rebuild slowly, with calm, known dogs, at a distance they can cope with.