Rabies update.

[varropdx]

My dad's currently at the hospital waiting for the first shots in the rabies vaccination sequence - turns out that a cat bit another person across the woods from my dad's house yesterday - the cat was captured and its brain showed signs of rabies infection.

The shots are not as onerous as the previous 21 in the abdominal wall regimen, but it has turned him off to helping the ferals, understandably. He still has 5 cats in the house to spoil.

Comments

[trudyscousin.livejournal.com]

In my experience, feral cats are very wary of humans, even those who are trying to feed and care for them. So I wondered about this particular cat.

Rabies causes an otherwise shy animal to lose much of its fear. Of course I wasn't there to see your dad's interaction with that cat, but I'd have been somewhat suspicious of a overly-friendly or aggressive feral cat. Bless your dad for wanting to take care of them, though. Sounds just like a guy after my own heart.

[officerjudy.livejournal.com]

Holy crap. Sending your dad good thoughts.

[corva.livejournal.com]

Ouch, nasty!

In the past, when I have been employed hands on in animal welfare, I have always kept my rabies vaccination up. These days I just have them pull titers every couple of years to make sure I am fairly safe.

Rabies scares the Dickens out of me and I found that fear made me a less effective employee in the field.

I hope your dad feels better soon. The round of shots weren't too bad but they weren't fun either.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm sorry about your dad. But it was good to report it to be sure. When I worked with a vet, I met a dairy farmer who was exposed to rabies from one of his cows and he had the shots in the stomach and had a difficult time doing the whole series. Though at that job, I did see it in cattle and cats and it's very bad when they get really sick.

I had to wait a couple of times, but fortunately no shots. I did have to take prophylactic antibiotics and tetanus shot for the chipmunk bite for plague but nothing for the cat bite. The cat died on the way to the pound of something else.

I hope he feels better.


--Radfem