Hi, I have a question about rabies. I figure my demographic information is not needed for this but I tried to post originally so sorry this comment is so long.

I made the mistake of reading a “famous” comment on Reddit all about rabies and now it’s almost 4:30 in the morning and I can’t sleep. The gist of the comment was the incubation period for rabies can be years and years and now I’m worried about something that happened to me.

I was lightly bit by a dog 3+ years ago (it’ll be year 4 this fall). I was in a bar and the dog was clearly scared by the atmosphere. I, drunk, wanted to calm the dog down and tried to pet it. It looked at me very cautiously first and then it bit me. However, the bite was not severe. It didn’t break the skin and sort of just clamped down quickly and let go. To me it felt like a warning because the dog could have really ripped my hand apart.

I was worried about the dog being put down so I never had animal control or police involved. The guy and his dog were kicked out of the bar. The guy was a jerk and tried to act like his dog didn’t bite me. People saw it happen so poof they went to never be seen again. I wouldn’t be surprised if the dog wasn’t vaccinated because… how do I put this without sounding terrible… the guy looked rough and possibly homeless. Then again where I lived at the time (different state than I do now) the climate was harsh and there weren’t too many homeless people around.

I had two scratches on my hand from the bite that were very mild and healed within a day or so. I was in touch with someone who I knew at the time whose sister was an emergency vet and they told me to be more worried about tetanus than rabies.

I’m freaking out now that I see it can incubate for YEARS… what do I do, do I need to see a doctor right away?