In the dream you’re bit by a small animal, usually a raccoon, squirrel, etc., and the wound begins drawing blood.
Then you’re in a mad rush to find an ER but never get to see a doctor.
Dreaming About Getting Bit by Small Animal and Rushing to the Emergency Room
What on earth can this dream mean? I’ve had this recurring dream pretty much all my life.
Maybe you have too. Here’s how it plays out:
• Bitten or scratched by small animal (raccoon, squirrel, cat, rat, hamster, mouse).
• You keep staring at the wound, knowing that if it “draws blood,” this means get to the ER stat.
• Initially there’s no blood, but then you see the faint red dots beginning to seep through your flesh.
• The rest of the dream is spent valiantly trying to get to the nearest ER so that you could get rabies shots, even though the animal is never caught and you don’t know if it’s rabid.
There are all sorts of obstacles in getting to an emergency room.
In these dreams, any number of scenes unfold that have one mission: to prevent me from actually being examined by a doctor.
In some dreams, I can’t find a car, or if I do, it won’t start, or if it starts, it won’t cooperate.
Sometimes I’m on a bicycle or just running or haplessly flying in the air. I keep getting lost or losing my bearings.
There can be other intrusions to my destination, such as construction, a body of water to get across, or people getting in my way.
There could be a situation that pulls me away from my destination, such as something going on with my parents.
And all the while, I keep looking at the bite or scratch, noting the blood. The wound never hurts, and the bleeding is minimal.
But the sight of even the faintest smear or vague spot of blood means that if the animal is rabid, I’ll get rabies and must get to the emergency room.
These dreams are lengthy and ripe with detail, action, vivid scenery and complete scripts. They are never lucid.
I might find myself having to go through a warehouse to get to the ER, and suddenly, while in the warehouse, I realize there’s no way out.
Or there’s a flood or fire that forces me to detour.
Sometimes the hospital will be in sight, but I have the darndest time actually getting inside of it.
I recall one dream in which the hospital was smack across the street, but construction and traffic jams prevented me from driving there.
I don’t recall what kept me from just running across the way, but usually, this just isn’t possible once the hospital is only a few hundred yards away.
In a small percentage of these dreams, I actually make it to inside the emergency room.
But then the obstacles and holdups persist in some shape, way or form.
For instance there are many people ahead of me, or if I’m the only one there, the doctor isn’t around. I’m told the doctor will see me soon, but I continue to wait and wait.
In only one of these dreams, I actually made it to the examining table.
And I was actually looking into the eyes of an ER doctor. I vaguely remember that he did some kind of odd exam and gave me a rabies treatment – but it didn’t involve shots.
I didn’t feel that the exam or treatment was complete, but then the dream ended.
Dream Interpretation: Bitten by Small Animal, Need Rabies Shot, Can’t Find ER
In real life, I’m not afraid of small animals and have never been bitten by one. And in real life, beginning in 2009, I began taking my parents to the emergency room for a variety of issues – without any problem.
The dreams had been occurring for MANY years prior to driving my mother to the ER for the first time anyways.
These dreams are highly symbolic. The inability to find an ER, or once I see one but still can’t make use of it, is symbolic of feeling out of control in my life.
I know that this is a common interpretation for many dreams, but it makes sense.
I am just totally out of control with what’s happening to me as I race to find an ER to get treated for my potentially life-threatening wound.
Now why the insult is an animal bite, I don’t know. It could just as well be some other medical condition that requires emergency treatment such as noticing that I may have a deep vein thrombosis; or experiencing chest pain and difficulty breathing; or seeing my skin getting eaten alive by some flesh-devouring microbe.
I have these dreams for the same reason I often dream of being in an out-of-control car or malfunctioning elevator 40 stories up. And don’t get me started on the tornado dreams.
