BG Vetical: Question about rabies

[Xajii]

I'm usually the first to say "stop posting and go to a fucking doctor", but there are a couple concerns here which make it downright inadvisable to take our cat to the vet at this point.

We inherited a lovely young female cat about 2 months ago from my room mate's friend whose other cat didn't get along with this one well. She's been completely awesome, no problems whatsoever. Now the agreement was that because the whole thing was just sprung on me and I didn't exactly budget around having a pet, that my room mate would take care of its expenses, etc. He never took her for shots basically because he's cheap and in a bad financial situation, and while I'm sure she's had them before at some point in her life (and she really couldn't be older than 3 or 4), we don't know when.

So cut to tonight, I wake up around 5am to a fucking terrifying clicking noise and our cat running around mew'ing and shit. Turns out, and don't ask me how, a fucking bat got into our place. She was being a baller as she is and had it on the ground for a minute and it was freaking out but it flew back up and was circling my room. I woke my room mate and we shoo'd it out with a broom into the main room then pretty much had to maim it to get it out of the place because it's fucking retarded. Currently it is twitching and/or dead on our porch.

So I was worried right away that rabies would be an issue here. We checked the kitty for puncture wounds of any sort and she seems to be perfectly fine, just shaken up. But I also don't know much about rabies, really.

I've heard that if you take a pet to the vet who hasn't been properly vaccinated or whatever and has had contact with a wild creature they'll do something crazy like require it to be quarantined in a fucked up way for really long periods of time with only one visitor or some shit. Now I'm not gonna do that with our cat. My instincts say she is fine. I want to take her in and say we just inherited her and she needs her shots blah blah blah. But I do not want to find myself in a position where she is being taken away from us, etc. Also, shit's fucking expensive.

Is the cat probably okay? What are your experiences with vets and this bs? Any advice welcomed.

[Abandon]

get her checked. better to have her quarantined and checked out as okay, then her actually having rabies and dying after biting the fuck out of you and others.

[Ivaden]

I have no experience with this, but take it to the vet. As far as I'm aware, the vaccination can expire and even if the cat had it before, there's a chance it could still get rabies. If it hasn't been vaccinated the vet would probably recommend putting the cat down unfortunately, so just be prepared for that. Either way, if it does have rabies from the bat, it's gonna die anyway. Good luck.

[Keria]

Go to the vet. Take the bat with you.

[miokomioko]

I wake up around 5am to a fucking terrifying clicking noise and our cat running around mew'ing and shit. Turns out, and don't ask me how, a fucking bat got into our place. She was being a baller as she is and had it on the ground for a minute and it was freaking out but it flew back up and was circling my room. I woke my room mate and we shoo'd it out with a broom into the main room then pretty much had to maim it to get it out of the place because it's fucking retarded. Currently it is twitching and/or dead on our porch.

We honestly need an 'Awesome Stories' thread.


As for rabies... I don't know what you can do other than watch for odd behavior. I think the odds that a rabies bat flew into your place + bit your cat + your cat contracted it + the cat never had the shots all happening at once are prrrretty slim.

[Kerberoz]

If you wait for odd behavior, the cat's already dead. Rabies is like 99.99% fatal if it reaches the symptomatic stage.

[Swarley]

Rabies itself cannot be "checked for". The symptoms usually do not show up until the disease has taken it's course (lethargy, low temperature and eventually typical foaming and loss of mental control), and once that happens it is too late to do anything. The only way to diagnose an animal with rabies is to severe it's head and send it into a lab.

Generally, doctors seem to think it's okay if you bring the animal in within a day or so of it's bite and get it vaccinated off the bat (no pun intended). You'll probably be advised to also keep a close eye on the cat and quarantine it away from any other animals you may have for 8 weeks.

[Barada]

Standard quarantine time is 10 days, and as Swarley said, the only way to check for Rabies is to send off the brain of the animals in question for a necropsy. Rabies can be transmitted via saliva, that means it doesnt require a bite or punture to be transmitted. Rabies travels through the nerves and eventually reaches the brain, this is when symtoms will manifest. If the cat had been previously vaccinated within the last few years it probably still has ample tiders to resist Rabies infection. Best thing for you to do is to keep the cat separated from contact with any other pets for a minimum of 10 days. Be sure to closely monitor the cat for symptoms and behavior. (I work for Animal Control and do this all the time, my main assignment is to work closely with "Dangerous Dogs", bite cases, and of course Quarantine)

[ultrix]

if you or your roommate think you may have been exposed to the bat you should strongly consider going to the doctor as well, don't forget yourselves in all the excitement. cdc has a good article for bats & rabies that you can check out (i'd link ya, but can't post url)

[Xajii]

Neither of us touched the thing, just smacked it with a broom lol. Cat did cuddle with me and of course we checked her out afterward too.

Honestly the main problem about going to the vet is money, I will see if a couple friends are willing to help pitch in 10 bucks or so and get her over there asap. We really don't know how old she is at all which is lame but she's been through a couple of owners due to various reasons so... I'll have to cut off her tail and count the rings *_*

What a fuckin morning.

[Swarley]

Remember that you are at the vet to buy their services, they cannot force you to buy more than you need. When you go to the vet, expect to pay an office visit and a rabies vaccine, nothing else. If they try to give the cat other vaccines, tell them no thank you. The only vaccine required by law is rabies. I'd expect to pay between 70-90 dollars max for the two services.

[Xajii]

So today is Labor Day and the vet is closed, we will have to take her early in the morning.

Friend who is pre-Vet major and has worked at vets for 4 years thinks she'll be fine, but we need to get her shots updated anyway. Due to the complicated laws governing this type of situation we have decided to lie and say we recently got this cat and aren't sure when her last shots were, and that she'd gotten out for about an hour or so and while there seems to be no evidence of physical contact, we'd like to play it safe.

Thanks for the help guys. My cat is a baller, she woulda murder raped that bat if I let her keep at it.

[jmc]

I have no experience with this, but take it to the vet. As far as I'm aware, the vaccination can expire and even if the cat had it before, there's a chance it could still get rabies. If it hasn't been vaccinated the vet would probably recommend putting the cat down unfortunately, so just be prepared for that. Either way, if it does have rabies from the bat, it's gonna die anyway. Good luck.

You are correct, pets are supposed to receive rabies vaccinations every 2-3 years unless otherwise stated by city law

[Kaisha]

What are the odds of a bat having rabies anyways? My place has had at least 6 breach the place (old house) over the past 5 years, cats got them each time, and they're all a-ok.

[Lbelle]

you can find a low cost vaccination clinic too

[sephir]

The chance of her getting rabies is very very rare, but I would suggest taking her in regardless just to have her checked out.

[alt]

Bats are the most common carriers of rabies in the wild after racoons. But according to the internet Bats account for over half the rabies infections spread to humans in the United States.

[Swarley]

Rabies is RARE, but far from extinct. I worked at a vet office for 4 years and saw 2 positives cases, both of which were on cats that were never vaccinated.

[zoobernut]

Swarley you work at a vet and you said rabies can't be checked for? That isn't entirely true. You can tell if an animal had rabies by checking their brain tissue. You are incredibly lucky that the bat died. Take the bat and the cat to the vet they can do a necropsy on the bat and tell if it had rabies or not then act based on that.

Oh and everyone telling you to just get the cat her shots is correct just get her vaccinated and this won't be a concern again.

[Swarley]

Zoober, rabies can be diagnosed, I said that in my post. I'd take the term "checking" as "let me take my cat to the vet to check it for rabies". I'm not sure an owner would be very happy with the procedure.