Wayne County HHVS, Communicable Diseases Program

Animal Bite Reporting

Any business where a dog, cat, ferret or other animal bites a person — a veterinary practice most directly, but any of the other nine industries as well if a bite occurs on the premises — must report the bite to the Wayne County Health Department's Communicable Diseases program for rabies surveillance and quarantine follow-up. A dog, cat or ferret involved in a bite must be current on rabies vaccination or the animal faces a quarantine period while it is monitored. There is no fee for the reporting obligation itself; it is a mandatory compliance duty administered through Michigan's local health department communicable-disease reporting framework, not a licensed transaction with an associated charge. A veterinary practice's ordinary state licensing and any Wayne County body-art or other conditional requirements that separately apply to it are recorded as separate requirements.