Unfortunate Dog Encounter - Should I get the R-shot?

[joeinjapan]

So, last Thursday I was taking my daily constitutional along a pedestrian walking zone that follows the course of the Nakagawa river in Tokyo, it was a beautiful evening, sun was setting, and I was wearing shorts given how warm it was. Up ahead of me, I see two men standing talking, each of them out walking multiple little yapping lapdogs that were straining at their leashes and getting all excited at seeing each other (the way little dogs tend to do). They were kind of blocking the way, but I thought there was just enough space for me to go round the back of the guy with what looked like three tiny little white "toy" dogs (poodles?) on leashes who were working themselves into a frenzy trying to reach the other guy's dogs.

As I walked behind this guy, one of his three little white dogs sees me and leaps at my lower leg, the lower shin area just above the ankle, and makes contact. Because dusk was falling and it all happened so quickly, like in half- a second, I'm not sure if it actually nipped me with its teeth or just scratched my shin with one of its claws. Anyway, I kept walking, the owner turned around, mumbled the obligatory half-hearted 'sorry', and I didn't think much of it as when I looked at my shin there was no bleeding, so thought 'no biggie' and kept on walking. I was still a good 20 minutes from home, so I just thought I'd go home asap and wash it there. At home under the bright glare of electric lights I properly inspected the area and saw just one small red area about 3mm across, where the skin had been grazed but there was no actual bleeding. Even when I squeezed it no blood came out, so I'm thinking that the dog's tooth or claw took some layers of skin off but not all of them to cause a complete puncture. Anyway, I washed the area with soap and water, soaked it in the bath, and applied topical disinfectant. At no point since then has the wound worsened, turned redder, swollen up, etc., and the skin around this area is totally normal and the red mark itself is now shrinking and becoming smaller. So, I think I escaped any infection.... But, of course, my over-active HA mind is now considering the deadliest infection of all from dog encounters for humans, the dreaded
R-disease.

Like the UK, Japan has been officially R-free since 1957 or so, but in recent years the numbers of slack dog owners has apparently been increasing, and the vaccination rate of dogs in Japan is said to have fallen to 70%! As I say, these three little white lapdogs looked like well-cared for pet dogs (slack control of their leashes by their owner on a public byway notwithstanding), but R is so deadly once it sets in, can I afford to rely on that? Should I visit my regular doc tomorrow and ask what he thinks about needing the R-shot or am I being a giant silly billy about all this and should pull myself together and just let it go?

I'm in such a dilemma about what to do :-(

[.Poppy.]

Outside of areas where there are a lot of feral dogs that are breeding, pet dogs don't just acquire rabies - they get it from a wild animal. So while I am definitely pro-vaccination (although, do you typically vaccinate for rabies in a country that doesn't have it to begin with?) it's worth noting that there is an almost zero chance that these dogs were rabid. They'd have had to mingle with a rabid animal and survived the encounter to have rabies themselves.

Also - in dogs rabies is only contagious when it reaches the brain/salivary glands. So if that dog had been rabid and contagious, you would have known as it would have been sickly and/or neurologically impaired.

I don't think it ever really hurts to ask a doctor as long as you can afford it, especially to keep an eye on the site for any kind of infection (though you're probably fine). They may recommend you be up to date on your tetanus vaccination. But you don't need to worry about rabies.

[joeinjapan]

Thanks Poppy, that was reassuring! Yes, I guess if these tiny dogs had been infected they wouldn't have been able to incubate it for many days and still passed as normal, given the small size of their bodies. It's the bigger mammals, like large dogs and humans, who can potentially incubate it for weeks and weeks.

I'm pretty sure the very small "wound" is almost healed/scabbed over, and I avoided any infection. I'm lucky I'm in Japan which has been declared R-free since 1957, and they take the whole business very seriously here, with incredibly strict quarantine and vaccination proceedures for any animals coming in from abroad.

I'm still a bit mad though about how those two guys were hogging the path that many other walkers were using on such a fine evening while they were engrossed in their conversation, and NOT controlling their dogs by keeping them on a tight leash. If it had been a small child walking by instead of my shin that the little dogged leaped at, it could've been much more traumatic for all concerned. I like dogs, but I cannot abide sloppy/selfish dog owners who are a threat to themselves, their dogs, the dogs of others, and other people in general.

Finally, my HA is very bad at the moment - ironically, the reason why I've been doing all these walks was to try and take my mind off obsessing over upper GI cancers. Now this latest incident has knocked them off the top of the hit parade and put R at the no. 1 spot!

It never ends, does it?

[.Poppy.]

It is frustrating. My dog doesn’t like strangers, so I always have him leashed and close and I’m aware of who is around me so we can always make space. It seems everyone else thinks it’s fine to let their dogs run at mine, unable to call them back, and then are upset when I need them to stay away.

And I agree, HA can be relentless. It seems like it only moves on when there is something else to latch onto.