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Animal bites: dogs, cats, bats, and rabies
For anyone who was just bitten or scratched by a dog, a cat, a bat or a wild animal, or is looking after someone who was. This page passes on, by name, what five CDC pages say (on dogs, on cats, on rabies, on rabies prevention and on bats) and what the MedlinePlus summary on animal bites says (from the National Library of Medicine): first aid, when to see a doctor, rabies and who decides about the shots, reporting the bite, a bat in the house, and how to keep from being bitten. It builds the words to tell a nurse, a doctor or the health department and prints a card to fill in.
Right now
- Bleeding that will not stop, or feeling faint or weak? Call 911. For a deep wound, press on it with a clean, dry cloth (CDC).
- Wash the bite or scratch right away with soap and water (CDC, MedlinePlus). If the animal could have rabies, CDC says wash for 15 minutes.
- A wild animal, a bat, a stray, or a pet whose rabies shots you do not know? Talk with a health care provider or your health department right away. Rabies is deadly once symptoms start, and the care after an exposure works when it comes first (CDC).
- A bat in the house? Do not let it go: call animal control or the health department so it can be tested (CDC).
- See a provider for a deep or serious wound, a wound that gets red, painful, warm or swollen, or a last tetanus shot more than 5 years ago (CDC).
More help
- Heavy bleeding: Bleeding: what to do. An emergency of another kind: First aid: what to do right now.
- Before a visit: Get ready for your appointment. No insurance: When you need a doctor and can’t pay.
- Other bites: Snakebite · Spider bites · After a tick bite.
- All our free tools.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). No doctor or nurse has reviewed it. The facts were read on October 14, 2026 on six government pages: CDC’s Dogs and Cats pages (Healthy Pets, Healthy People; updated and reviewed June 15, 2026), Rabies Prevention and Control (updated and reviewed July 1, 2025), About Rabies (updated January 27, 2026) and Preventing Rabies from Bats (updated and reviewed July 1, 2025), and the summary of the MedlinePlus health topic Animal Bites, from the National Library of Medicine. Medicines: CDC names an antibiotic cream for a minor dog bite; no brand is given here. What we left out: yearly counts of bites and rabies shots (CDC’s English and Spanish pages print different ones), bites from snakes, spiders and ticks (they have their own guides), bites to pets, laws about dogs, and what a hospital does (that is its work). This page saves nothing and loads no trackers.