Out of curiosity, did anyone (like the police) give you the option of having the cat euthanized & examing it to determine if it had rabies? Because if a neighbor’s pet bit me and he didn’t have an up to date rabies vaccination, I’d be sorely tempted to do anything I could to avoid the shots.
They say the problem with bat bites is that they can bite you in your sleep and you won’t know you’ve been bitten. Which is obviously a problem with a disease with nearly 100% fatality if you don’t get the right shots soon enough.
This sounds strange to me. Is there no way to determine if an animal has rabies that doesn’t involve killing it? How do we test for rabies in humans?
It is the owner who is given the option (at least in Louisiana, and from my Merck Vet Manual, it is the recommendation) between immediate euthanasia of an animal that has bitten someone (and whose rabies vaccine has elapsed) or ten days of strict quarantine (which the owner has to pay). The six months quarantine is for an animal that has been bitten by an animal suspected or known to have rabies.
The “time elapsed between vaccines” is a gray zone. It is known that many vaccines can last for longer than the recommended doses, and there are many 3 (and recently 4) years rabies vaccine available. But I’m not sure anybody has clearly established how long before the animal loses its titers.
Certainly, this is probably not a question with a dog whose owners don’t even remember taking the animal ever for a vaccine… but what about the dog that has been vaccinated yearly most of its life, then misses some months and bites someone. Surely all those boosters throughout its lifetime would still keep up its anti-rabies titers, right?
Interesting topic, of which I’m not as immersed (because I’m not a public health vet).
In the case of Sailboat, with the current rabies vaccine shortage, the higher ups may have taken a look at the case, judged that the animal, while a bit elapsed on vaccines, probably had good titers, and having survived the quarantine period, decided to drop his doses in order to save them for those more deserving of them (say someone bitten by an animal known to be rabid or one of those bat bites).
The only way to test for rabies in small mammals is to test brain matter, which means killing the animal and cracking its skull open. Nonlethal surgery is, of course, possible, but the cost is prohibitive. I don’t know how humans are tested for rabies. Hmm.
The Golden Standard for determining rabies status involves histopathology and fluorescent antibody on the brain tissue… so… yea, animal has to die in order to be tested for rabies.
There are some groups trying to develop no-kill ways, but they don’t appear to be too successful (and really, it is a bit risky).
I know when my dog supposedly bit another yippie terrier dog, the owner supposedly demanded my dog to be tested for it (ie, euthanized). To which my then roomate and I both adamantly refused. Person never came around our house, though.
And I say supposedly because I was not present and was told this from my ex roomate, who as much as I love her, has/d a tendency to hyperbolize things. Bloods and gore may just have been a quick snap with no severe damage. And my dog has never before or after acted like that.
One can even be bitten by a bat while awake and be unaware of the bite. Anyone who wakes up in a room with a bat is urged to seek treatment immediately.
My understanding is that if there’s a chance you may have been bitten by a rabid animal, they start treatment regardless. The cost of not treating an infection is too high not to, I guess.
In general, yes, although with the current vaccine problems, they may have done some small changes related to when to administer the vaccine (I think the immunoglobulin is not in shortage).
Antemortem rabies testing for humans involves testing for rabies antibody in blood serum and cerobrospinal fluid, and looking for rabies viral antigen in saliva and nuchal skin biopsy, or rarely, in a brain biopsy.
Postmortem testing involves looking for the viral antigen in brain tissue. Applies to both humans and animals.
In most situations, if a person has been bitten by cat or dog it’s recommended that the animal be held in confinement and observed for 10 days. Because canine rabies is so rare in the US, euthanasia is generally only advised as a 1st option if the animal is ownerless or showing signs of illness, and/or if the bite is to the head or other high risk location.
Rabies PEP is expensive and requires many shots over a month period, so prophylaxis shouldn’t be started if it’s not infeasible to rule out rabies transmission. You usually have at least a 10 day window of prevention to work with.
No one gave me the option explicitly, but I knew it was there and did not bring it up.
Frankly I would rather get a series of shots than kill a cat. I’m a big boy. A few needle sticks bother me less than beheading is going to bother said cat.
The fact that this would have ruined relations with my neighbor is a distant secondary consideration.
Now, of course, I’m point man to investigate potentially rabid animals the neighbors see, since I’ve already had most of the series.
Sailboat