Dog and monkey bites treatment in Phuket
Thailand has rabies in its dog, cat and monkey populations, and rabies is invariably fatal once symptoms appear. Animal bite treatment in Phuket therefore has two separate jobs: dealing with the wound, and starting the vaccination course that prevents the thing that actually kills people.
The first fifteen minutes
Wash the wound under running water with soap for fifteen full minutes by a clock. This removes a substantial proportion of virus and is the most useful thing anybody does all day.
Apply antiseptic afterwards if you have some. Do not close the wound, do not tape it shut, do not put a tight dressing on it.
Then get seen the same day, at whatever hour, however trivial the injury looks.
What counts as an exposure
More things than people assume, and the threshold is deliberately low because the consequence of getting it wrong is absolute.
- A bite that breaks skin, however small
- A scratch that draws blood or breaks the surface
- Saliva on broken skin or into eyes, nose or mouth
- Any contact at all with a bat
- Being licked on an existing wound
A calm, healthy-looking, well-fed animal proves nothing. Animals are infectious for days before showing signs.
Rabies vaccination after a bite
Post-exposure vaccination is highly effective and is given as a series of injections over about a month.
Someone never previously vaccinated needs the full course. Someone who had pre-exposure doses needs only two and no immunoglobulin.
Deep bites, multiple bites, or bites to the face, hands or genitals also need immunoglobulin around the wound, which is arranged through a hospital — see rabies vaccination.
The wound itself
Animal mouths carry bacteria that infect readily, and puncture wounds carry them deep where they do best.
Cleaning is thorough and takes time. Most bites are left open rather than stitched, because closing a bite traps infection. Facial wounds are sometimes an exception, weighed carefully.
Antibiotics are given for hand bites, deep puncture wounds, cat bites, and anyone with diabetes or a suppressed immune system — see wound care.
Cat bites, which are worse than they look
Cat teeth are needles. They deposit bacteria deep and the small entry wound closes over within hours, sealing the problem inside.
Hand bites from cats are the ones that go wrong most often, and they can involve tendon sheaths, which is a surgical problem rather than a course of tablets.
A cat bite to a hand should be seen the same day even if it looks like nothing at all.
Monkeys
Monkeys at the viewpoints and temple sites are habituated, confident and quick, and they bite and scratch people who were trying to take a photograph.
They carry rabies and also herpes B, which is rare and serious, so a monkey exposure is managed the same way as a dog bite plus additional consideration.
Do not feed them, do not hold food, do not make eye contact, and keep children close.
Tetanus
Bites and puncture wounds are the classic tetanus scenario and almost every traveller is overdue for a booster.
The interval is ten years. Not remembering means you are due.
Given at the same visit and recorded with the date for next time — see travel vaccinations.
Signs the wound has become infected
Increasing pain after day two, spreading redness, swelling, warmth, pus, a red line tracking upward, or a fever.
Hand bites in particular need watching hourly rather than daily, because infection there spreads along tendon sheaths and can do lasting damage.
Anything with restricted movement of a finger, or pain out of proportion, goes to a hospital — see hospital transfer.
Children bitten
Children are bitten most, on the face and hands, and frequently do not report it because they were doing something they had been told not to.
Ask about animals if a child has an unexplained scratch. The vaccination course is safe at any age and the schedule is the same.
A frightened child facing a series of injections needs time rather than efficiency, and it gets handled that way — see paediatric care.
Finishing the course elsewhere
The schedule outlasts most holidays and that is entirely normal.
You leave with written dates for every remaining dose so any clinic anywhere can continue rather than restart.
Do not abandon it because you feel well. Feeling well is the normal state throughout the incubation period, which can run for months.
Keep the record itself somewhere you will not lose it, and photograph it as well. Clinics at home will want to see what was given, on which dates and by whom, before they continue a course somebody else started, and a lost card usually means being talked into starting again.
Where and when
Bang Tao, Kata and Patong, every hour of every day. A doctor can also come to you — see doctor hotel visits.
Post-exposure treatment is covered by essentially every travel policy and the paperwork is produced accordingly — see travel insurance claims.
Nobody will think you overreacted. The people who regret this decision are never the ones who came in.
One thing worth saying to anyone hesitating over the cost: a full course of post-exposure vaccination here is a fraction of what the same course costs in most home countries, and it is available at any hour without an appointment. The expense is not a reason to wait and see, and it is not a reason to hope the animal was fine.
Frequently asked questions
A dog barely broke the skin — does it count?
Yes. Wash it under running water for fifteen minutes and come in the same day, whatever the hour.
The animal seemed perfectly healthy.
That proves nothing. Animals are infectious for days before showing signs, so the assessment is based on the exposure.
Will the bite be stitched?
Usually not. Closing a bite traps infection inside. Most are cleaned thoroughly and left open, with facial wounds sometimes an exception.
Why are cat bites treated so seriously?
The teeth are needles that deposit bacteria deep, and the small wound seals over within hours. Hand bites from cats go wrong most often.
A monkey scratched me at a viewpoint.
Treat it exactly like a dog bite. Monkeys carry rabies and also herpes B, so it needs the same-day assessment.
Do I need a tetanus booster?
If it has been ten years or you cannot remember, yes. Bites and punctures are the classic tetanus scenario.
How do I know it is infected?
More pain after day two, spreading redness, pus, a red line tracking upward, or a fever. Hand bites need watching hourly.
Can I finish the injections at home?
Yes. You get written dates for every remaining dose so any clinic can continue. Do not abandon it because you feel well.
Three clinics, none of which close
English-speaking doctors, on duty 24 hours a day. Phuket is bigger than visitors expect and the traffic is worse than the map suggests, so Takecare Medical Clinic works from three separate buildings rather than one: Bang Tao on the north-west coast, Kata in the south, and Patong between them. Each is open every hour of every day, takes people without an appointment, and asks nothing about residency or referrals.
Beyond the island, Takecare Medical Clinic is one of the Takecare Clinic group‘s clinics working across Phuket, Krabi and Chon Buri. That matters mainly for what happens afterwards: move on mid-treatment and the next clinic already holds the notes, so a handover is a call between colleagues rather than a folder you carry through an airport.
Getting seen, and how to choose a branch
There is somebody on the end of +66 81 718 9080 or WhatsApp 24 hours, every day. Say what has gone wrong and the reply will be honest about which of three things you are dealing with: come in now, this will keep until the morning, or skip us entirely and go where there is a surgeon. No appointment exists to be made, and there is no hour at which asking is a nuisance.
Pick whichever branch is nearest rather than whichever sounds largest — they run the same hours and carry the same equipment. Patong suits the west-coast beaches and Bangla Road, Kata covers Karon and the south, and Bang Tao serves Layan, Surin and Cherngtalay. Cannot get out to a clinic? Ask for a doctor hotel visit instead and somebody comes to your room. And if what you need turns out to be beyond any clinic, referral and hospital transfer is arranged from the same conversation. You are made stable before anybody moves you, a colleague rings ahead so the team on the other end knows what is arriving, and the transport is organised for you rather than handed over as one more thing to sort out.