My Mals Toni and Caterina caught and played Tug with a Woodchuck one night... while they seemed to enjoy it, the woodchuck did not- I had Paul "dispatch" it after I got over my shock and made them OUT the poor thing.
Sometime during the excitement, Toni got a cut on her side. I wasn't sure if it was from the woodchuck or from her sister grabbing for the woodchuck, so I called my vet the next day to ask some questions.
One question I asked was about getting her a Tetanus shot since I didn't really know where the cut came from and it was quite deep- into the muscle. She replied that Tetanus in dogs is rare so they generally don't give a Tetanus shot to them.
She said that cleaning the cut well when it happened (which I did) and keeping it clean should be sufficient.
I was wondering if anyone else had heard this- I guess I always thought that dogs could get Tetanus like humans or horses do...
Merck says "dogs and cats are relatively more resistant than any other domestic or laboratory mammal .... The incubation period varies from one to several weeks but usually averages 10–14 days. Localized stiffness, often involving the masseter muscles and muscles of the neck, the hindlimbs, and the region of the infected wound, is seen first; general stiffness becomes pronounced ~1 day later, and tonic spasms and hyperesthesia become evident. Because of their high resistance to tetanus toxin, dogs and cats often have a long incubation period and frequently develop localized tetanus; however, generalized tetanus does develop in these species."
Tetanus is super rare in dogs but I guess it can occur. A little penicillin would eliminate any chance of that.
Woodchucks can fight hard and the big ones have serious teeth. We try to shoot ours rather than have the dogs fool with them, if they are in a place where they have to be eliminated.
Thanks, Connie and Betty. Since the cut was clean and appeared to be healing OK we didn't do oral antibiotics either.
The only other time Toni got this deep of a cut, Paul took her to the vet for stitches and I guess I assumed that she had gotten a Tetanus shot while she was there (I was working and did not know about it until I got home that night). This cut was on the border of needing stitches, but since it was the middle of the night, I decided to wrap her in vet wrap and re-evaluate in the morning.
This was a good sized 'chuck. I certainly did not intend for the dogs to get it, and didn't expect it to be out at night - he'd been around the neighbor's garage for a while, but apparently he migrated to ours.
At least now I don't have to worry about Tetanus when Toni comes in with a cut or something
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Question about Tetanus
#379107 - 06/08/2013 09:25 PM 
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