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Friday, October 04, 2013

sic 'em fido

You know what I hate? (no, what do you hate?) Well, I'll tell you.   I hate people who come in for dog bites.  The ones that get bit by an "unknown dog".  We have to give them rabies shots and it is a pain in the ass.

We give two kinds of shots for rabies exposure: the vaccine and some immune globulin (IG) shit.  The IG part is based on weight so it can be quite a bit of fluid.  I had one recently that was 12 ccs. So this 12 ccs is supposed to be "infiltrated" around the wound.  In other words, you are sticking them with a needles about 6 times around the wound and trying to inject the fluid in. If you can't get it all in (which you can't in some places like fingers), the rest has to be given as a shot.  So recently I was only able to get in about 3 ccs and had to divide the rest into shots.  This plus the shot of vaccine. By the way, the vaccine is a lovely shade of neon pink.


All in all, an unpleasant experience for all concerned.     Then you have to come back for 3 more shots.  The dog would have to be foaming at the mouth for me to go through this.

Thats my personal opinion, it shouldn't be yours.  Per the CDC there are about 2 cases of human rabies per year in the US.

3 comments:

Mal said...

Two cases a year - *because* there is a vaccine.

A more useful stat for you to look at would be the number of rabid animals in the US - which is currently experiencing a rabies epidemic - and the 99.8% fatality rate.

Discouraging rabies prophalaxis would is criminal irresponsible in a medical professional.

Amy said...

got bitten by a feral kitten 10 years ago, when I weighed 280lbs. In the thumb. Bilateral staghorn renal calculi (also a personal experience) was less painful than those rabies shots.

girlvet said...

OKAY i AM NOW "PERVERTED AND UNPROFESSIONAL" "CRIMINAL IRRESPONSIBLE" ALL IN ONE WEEK. I'M ON A ROLL...

HERE IS MY RECOMMENDATION AS A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL: IF YOU GET BIT BY ANY ANIMAL, GO IMMEDIATELY TO THE NEARLY ER AND GET RABIES SHOTS. THE END.