Went through this with my nephew in 2023, so this is what it is actually like rather than what the leaflet says.
The washing is not optional and it is not a formality. Fifteen minutes, soap, running water, and keep opening the wound under the tap rather than pressing it closed. This step alone is estimated to remove a very large share of the risk. My nephew's was on the calf and we did it in the bathroom with a bucket and a mug because the tap pressure was poor. That is fine. Volume of water and time are what matter.
Do not stitch it, and do not let anyone stitch it immediately. A closed wound traps the virus. Any doctor who reaches for sutures on a fresh animal bite without discussing this needs a second opinion.
Go the same day. Do not observe the animal. The "watch it for ten days" advice is for deciding whether to stop the course, not whether to start it. You start immediately and stop later if the animal is confirmed healthy.
What actually happened to us: first hospital had no vaccine. Second had vaccine but no immunoglobulin. The bite was deep so he needed both. We ended up at a third place, four hours after the bite, and the immunoglobulin was around Rs 18,000 — that is the part that is hard to find and expensive, and it is only needed for deep bites, face bites, or if you are not already vaccinated.
The vaccine schedule was day 0, 3, 7 and 28. Four visits. Finish all of them — people feel fine after two and stop, and that is the failure mode.
Phone ahead. This is the single most useful thing I can tell anyone. Do not drive to a hospital and hope. Ring first and ask two specific questions: "do you have anti-rabies vaccine in stock today" and "do you have immunoglobulin". We wasted two hours in traffic because we did not.
And for dog owners — the point at the end of the original post deserves more attention than it gets. Keeping your own dog's rabies shot current is a public health act, not a pet care one. It costs a couple of thousand rupees a year and it means your dog cannot be the animal in someone else's version of this story.
