So I was a fool, neighbors dogs got into a fight, not abnormal, but never had it been more than a growl and a nip and the dogs know oops they aren’t playing, stop. Well the larger dog has been sick, (princess). So when playing the smaller dog apparently (new to the family ~6 months, maybe 3 years old) saw it as an opportunity apparently. When playing (German shepherd next door to them on the other side, so they run and play with a 4’ fence between them. The shepherd can jump the fence if he wants, but doesn’t except few occasions whole bored. (He came to visit me on Oct. 31 while I sat outside, put him back, jumped over and came back to hang out). I have no issues with the shepherd as he gets aroundy chickens, and does not hurt them. Today my neighbor heard his dogs fighting and tried to break them up. He tried putting a rope around princesses neck to pull them apart, but the smaller dog had her by the underside of the throat and would not let go. I heard it from next door and ran over. There had never been blood spilt before In their playing, but there was blood clearly now from biting around the throat and I couldn’t tell who. I assume princess. He was throwing a 5 gallon bucket of water (near 30F 0C here) at the dogs to see if they would sperate. I hopped the fence and took the smaller dog who had the latched jaw by the scruff and pulled her off. Then got him to take princess to another small gated area. The smaller dog was fine with me, but when she realized playtime was over (tail wagging, madman of a young lady) she grabbed my forearm, I told her no, and pushed her off and she immediately stopped. (Yes she’s dangerous and I was dumb). But her entire canine tooth went through my forearm and I had a hole near a centimeter round.). My fiance doesn’t do well with wounds. She immediately started telling me I need to go to the emergency room, but honestly I’m poor, and I wasn’t bleeding much at all. (I’m stubborn yes, but she missed anything important, I mean not bleeding like… 1/60 of a ketchup packet and no bandages.). Pure luck. So I cleaned it with cold water doused it on hydrogen peroxide and made sure it was covered. But now my fiance keeps acting like she’s the victim, and it’s an act of me against her. It’s been near 10 hours, I have full feeling in the hand, no puss or heat, nothing other than mild swelling. I traced it with a pen just to make sure the bruise doesn’t expand and I don’t know. But Im just tired of getting told I don’t care about her, because I won’t spend money we don’t have to make sure I’m okay when I got bit.
Edit: also I should say he’s a great neighbor, he will come feed the chickens and give them attention for fun, if he has nothing to do , he will mow our lawn and help out with ever being asked. So ~300 worth of medical assistance, though he offered, I’d never allow him to pay. I’ve never asked him for anything, but he has been helpful for more than 4 years I’ve lived here. If anything I would swear I owe him money for his hospitality
This is a big oversimplification, but the bacteria that causes tetanus basically lives in the dirt. If dirt can get to it, it can have tetanus on it. And I don’t know many dogs that are above picking things up with their mouth from the ground.
There’s of course the old myth that it’s caused by rust, rust really has nothing to do with it, it just happens that if you leave something made of iron/steel outside, it tends to rust and also get dirty.
The bacteria also lives in the digestive systems of a lot of animals, so if something might have pooped on it, there’s another way for you to be exposed to tetanus, and again a lot of dogs are willing, even eager, to eat poop.And of course there’s no shortage of people and sources that are happy to tell you that basically everything in the world has a bit of poop on it in some form or another.
Also, remember that part about tetanus living in animals’ digestive systems? I hope so, it was only one paragraph ago. That includes humans, there’s a pretty good chance you have tetanus already living in your gut. In your digestive tract it’s not an issue, maybe even beneficial (we still have a lot to learn about our gut microbiomes) it’s only really an issue if it makes its way into your bloodstream/lymphatic system, which it normally can’t do except through a wound.
And deep puncture wounds, like from a dirty needle, rusty nail, or dog’s canine tooth, are kind of the ideal place for tetanus to do its thing, like most bacteria it likes things warm and moist, and your body checks those boxes nicely, and it likes a low-oxygen environment and there’s not a whole lot of airflow at the bottom of a puncture wound.