Dog found a rabbit head, then bit me

Forgive me if this is in the wrong section. I wanted to ask some folks about this who are knowledgeable about animals. A bit over a week ago (I forget the exact day), I found the dog walking around with something odd in his mouth, and when I went after him, he tried to hide under the bed with it. Thankfully he's much too fat to fit, so I eventually wrestled away from him what I discovered to be a dead rabbit's head! Talk about random! I live in the country, so rabbits aren't exactly a rare sight, but I've just never seen a head lying around and I'm impressed that the dog - a pomapoo - managed to fit the entire head in his mouth with just the tips of the ears poking out.

He's my mother's dog and she went and got him worm meds the next day. I didn't want to look particularly closely at this bunny's head to see if there were any worms, but I know the likelihood of the dog getting worms was high.

Now here's the problem. A few days later, the dog bit my hand. He bit me because apparently he was still licking the dish that no longer had food in it and wasn't done. This isn't unusual for him - he bites when you try to take things out from under him when he's chewing on them. He didn't break the skin - didn't even leave a bruise. I had a little poke mark for the rest of the night, but it was gone the next day. I'm mostly worried because the dog's last rabies shot has expired (not sure by how long since I forget how long my mother has had him), but I don't think it's expired by more than a year. The vet didn't seem too concerned - just said in a kind of "oh, by the way" manner to bring the dog in because he's past due for a booster.

I live in PA where rabies is quite common, so this is my initial concern...mostly for myself. I don't know what would rip the head off a rabbit and leave it behind, and I don't know if a dog can contract rabies from chewing on a dead animal's head...if that animal actually did have rabies. From what I understand, it's very rare for a rabbit to have rabies and I don't even think there have been any cases of rabid rabbits in PA.

Basically, what I want to ask is this: Should I be concerned for my own health? The skin was not broken, and my hand seems okay (I have some burning pain in my palm and wrist - been using the computer a lot more lately for homework and this burning is familiar, so I think it's a coincidence. The actual spot he bit me was between my thumb and index finger and that spot feels and looks fine). I'm concerned that if I call my doctor about this, she will report it and the county might want to seize the dog and I'll never hear the end of it, but I don't know if I should be getting rabies shots or not. The dog, by the way, is acting perfectly normal. I know the risk of rabies existing in that rabbit is probably next to none, and that the risk of transmission from rabbit to dog and dog to human without broken skin is even closer to none...but if there's one illness I would not want to mess with, it's rabies. Also, the head has already been disposed of, so it cannot be tested.

What would you do in such a situation? Will a doctor even administer rabies shots under such circumstances?

I would not worry so much. For one, the bite did not break skin. I was bitten by a dog (the owner admitted the yearly rabies shot was overdue by a few months), and I bled due to two punctures on my thigh. I treated it like any other wound. It healed and that was it. This happened about 5 years ago.

I read that the effect of a rabies vaccine, given by a reliable and responsible vet, lasts for 2 years, so probably your mom's dog's immune system was okay. 

If the dog is still alive in 2 weeks, he was not shedding rabies at the time of the bite. This is why they quarantine animals for bite incidents. . .but if you live with the dog, no reason for that. If he dies mysteriously in the next 2 weeks, yes, be concerned, but otherwise, don't worry. Plus, the rabies vaccine probably confers immunity for life, but at least for 5-7 years.

He didn't break the skin?  IMHO no need to worry.  If the skin wasn't broken, nothing was transmitted into your blood.
 

Oh, yeah, I didn't even see that part.! But if a dogs ends up with rabies, anyone who's had any kind of contact at all needs to get shots, just in case. So that wouldn't even matter, IF he got rabies. Which he almost certainly won't, being vaccinated and being that rabies isn't common in rabbits anyway.

He should be kept legal on his rabies shots, though. If he had bitten someone outside of the family there could be big legal trouble.

Thanks for the reassurance, folks. I've been kind of having on-off paranoid breakdowns for the last week. Honestly, had he not been chewing on that rabbit head, I'd have not given his biting me a second thought. He's an indoor pet (aside from walks, of course), so it's not like he's routinely outside eating random animals and/or is at risk for being bitten by something rabid. Also, I was concerned about his rabies booster because I only found out recently that rabies shots are not good for life - only 1-3 years, but I can see why an indoor animal might not need them quite as much as a more outdoor animal or a hunting animal.

I know rabies would be a pretty small risk even if he did break the skin just because I don't think it's very common for a dog to get rabies from chewing on a carcass, and also due to the rarity of rabid bunnies. And the vet wasn't concerned in the sense of OMG bring him in right this second for a booster - just said to get him some worm meds.

At the very least, if the dog does by chance have rabies and dies in 2 weeks, I think the average incubation period for rabies in humans is 1-2 months. So were that the case, I think I could safely wait without worrying about symptoms showing. I was mostly worried about talking to either the vet or a doctor about this because I worried that animal control would get involved if a dog that's not current on his shots bit someone. From what I understand, sometimes the animal is quarantined at the vet's office and the owner has to pay to keep the dog there for 10 days. I would never hear the end of that from my mother since I imagine the bill would run into the four-figure range. And thankfully since no one ever goes to my mother's house because she has no friends, there's little need to worry about the dog biting someone else.

Well, the rabies vaccination probably IS good for life. . .just not legally. It's been proven to confer immunity for at least 5-7 years (they wouldn't be able to get 3-year approval if it wasn't proven to be good for longer than 3 years), but legally the certification is only good for 1-3 years.

And, yeah, depending on the area, if you had contacted a human doctor they might have made a big deal about it, although since skin wasn't broken maybe not. You have to be super careful what you say to doctors when it comes to animal incidents, because the laws aren't very flexible..