Please Help Me Out, I Got Bitten

Relax. I'm from Australia and we don't have rabies here, but I recently spent 2 months in northern Mexico where rabies was rampant in the fox and bobcat population and I know an awful lot about it, now!

I could be wrong, but I think it's usually pretty obvious if the animal that bit you was rabid. Rabid animals act really strange and from my rather intense experience with rabid foxes and from stories I heard in Mexico about rabid bobcats, they're pretty damn sick when they start to get vicious. They'll go for anything and everything and there'll be no bones about it. I can only assume that the window in which they're vicious is pretty small, because from all that I've learnt, after a rabid animal has bitten someone, it normally is never seen again because it wanders off to die not long after.

Also, it can take 30 days for rabies symptoms to appear. It can't be treated once symptoms appear, but you've got a fair window to get treated before that happens. You're not going to die before visiting the doctor tomorrow.

As for whether it's infected, the lump you feel is most probably a bunch of white blood cells that have swarmed to the site to deal with all the foreign bacteria. It takes a while, usually, for an infection to become apparent. The wound would be very swollen and go bright red and be sore and hot to the touch. If it's left for a few days, you might start feeling pain in your lymph nodes. The nearest major lymph node to your hand is in your armpit.

If you only got bit today, you'll be totally fine if you visit the doctor tomorrow. I wouldn't be worried if I were you.

You have a scratch that's a little infected? Run it under water, as hot as you can stand, for as long as you can stand. DON'T burn yourself. This is how you do it: Start out with warm water under the faucet, and then slowly make it warmer a little at a time until it is pretty hot. Hold it under the stream of water, right ON the cut. This will help your body fight off the infection. Do this at least twice a day. It will also make it hurt much less.

It's probably a good idea to put some neosporin on it in between.

It doesn't sound like a serious bite if it is just a scratch. I very seriously doubt the dog had rabies. Dogs with rabies are very, very sick, and would not be out playing with their owners.

I think you can relax. It sounds like it was scary, but I think you are going to be fine.

as a foster for cats, sometimes of unknown backgrounds, if we get bit by the foster cat we use a solution of part bleach and part water and pour it on the wound.
Yeah it stings for a moment but better the sting than an infection and a cat bite can be a terrible situation.
I'd watch the bite, keep it clean. Sounds like the dog probably grazed you more than deliberately bit. It he deliberately bit it would be  a lot worse.