Immediately wash the wound thoroughly with soap and hot water as a first aid procedure. For all animal bites, contact your physician to determine the need for a tetanus shot, receive proper wound care, and to discuss the risk of rabies exposure. The LRCA will determine need for quarantine or testing options for the biting animal.

Rabies is transmitted only when the virus is introduced into bite wounds, open cuts in skin, or onto mucous membranes from saliva or other potentially infectious material such as neural tissue.

The public and physicians may use the following link to evaluate if an exposure occurred and to characterize the risk from a particular species of animal:

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/idcu/disease/rabies/information/treatment/people/chart/