Pets and animals: Child safety tips

Children often love animals and want to play with them. But a bite from an unfamiliar dog or cat can frighten and harm your child. By teaching your child how to be safe around strange animals, you can prevent a bite from occuring. Here are some tips, plus what to do in the event of a bite or scratch.

Teach your child to stay away from unfamiliar animals. Animals that appear friendly or are cute can still bite, scratch, or have rabies, including adorable dogs and cats. Each year, about 4000,000 children need medical attention for dog bites. This includes all children, not just infants or toddlers. Almost two-thirds of injuries among children 4 and younger are to the head and neck region. Rabies is a disease of mammals but is much more common among wild animals. Most-common carriers are skunks, raccoons, beavers, squirrels, bats, foxes, and coyotes. But even a cute goat at a petting zoo can transmit it.

Supervise children around pets. You might have a sweet older dog or cat that you would never could ever bite or scratch anyone. But even the most docile pet can be provoked into biting or scratching if a small child decides to pull on the pet's ears or tail, or otherwise inadvertently hurts the animal. So don't let your little ones play with your pets unless you are within arm's reach.

What to do if your child is bitten or scratched. Wash a dog or cat bite or scratch immediately and thoroughly for at least five minutes, then call the doctor. Bites, especially around the head or face, require medical attention. If the animal is a stray, call animal control. If you know the owner, find out if the animal has been vaccinated. If your child needs a rabies shot, it must be given as soon as possible. If you have a pet, keep all vaccinations up to date. If a wild animal bites your pet, your pet could be infected, so call your vet immediately.

See more general safety tips for children and pets and homeowners insurers don't like some dog breeds for related information. And see the Consumer Reports Guide to Childproofing & Safety for more great child safety tips, available here and at retailers nationwide.

What tips do you recommend to keep your pets and children safe? Let us know in comments.

Comments

[David Eisen]

Thank you for this important article. However, just as a point of information, squirrels are not generally considered to be a major carrier of rabies (which doesn't of course mean that one shouldn't be careful). From the website of the Centers for Disease Control:
"Small rodents (such as squirrels, rats, mice, hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils, and chipmunks, ) and lagomorphs (such as rabbits and hares) are almost never found to be infected with rabies and have not been known to cause rabies among humans in the United States. Bites by these animals are usually not considered a risk of rabies unless the animal was sick or behaving in any unusual manner and rabies is widespread in your area." (http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/qanda/general.html#a3)