Cat Attacked by a Raccoon

randomalias123 · Oct 2, 2013

My girlfriend's cat was recently attacked by a raccoon and he wasn't hurt very bad, just a little scratch on the nose which they disinfected and cleaned immediately after they brought him inside. However, we are unsure if we should take him in to get a rabies booster or not? He's up to date on shots, and I mean completely, he got a booster for rabies about a year ago or maybe even less. We live in California where rabies is rare and I don't think its spread through raccoons very often. I've also heard having too many boosters in a short amount of time can cause harm or have bad side effects so I really don't know what to do.

denice · Oct 2, 2013

It is good under normal circumstances to keep vaccinations to a minimum. I would call your vet and ask them. He is caught up on his vaccines so there wouldn't be any legal problems. I know that people who work with animals and are routinely vaccinated against rabies get a booster when they have been bitten.

peaches08 · Oct 2, 2013

I agree, I would call the vet and ask. BTW, raccoons will return in my experience.

randomalias123 · Oct 2, 2013

Denice said:
It is good under normal circumstances to keep vaccinations to a minimum. I would call your vet and ask them. He is caught up on his vaccines so there wouldn't be any legal problems. I know that people who work with animals and are routinely vaccinated against rabies get a booster when they have been bitten.

Yeah, he's fully vaccinated and we have the shot records to back it up, but are you sure they won't pull some "he needs to be quaranteened and vaccinated immediately, you need to seperate him from everything" or anything?

hakeemtarabulsi · Oct 3, 2013

OMG! I guess we are so lucky where we live (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia), as we don't get any wild or feral animals within the city, or even around the suburbs. Only cats, dogs and 'giant' rats

peaches08 · Oct 3, 2013

randomalias123 said:
Yeah, he's fully vaccinated and we have the shot records to back it up, but are you sure they won't pull some "he needs to be quaranteened and vaccinated immediately, you need to seperate him from everything" or anything?

Generally no. But an unseen puncture wound can get stupid. Fast.

jcornman · Oct 3, 2013

My outside cat used to get in dust-ups with the racoons. Unfortunately he would get torn up pretty bad. It got so bad that our vet gave us antibiotics to reconstitute when he got into it. Regular infection is what I'd worry about. Never had to get any extra rabies shots. Doubt you will either.

randomalias123 · Oct 3, 2013

peaches08 said:
Generally no. But an unseen puncture wound can get stupid. Fast.

How so?

jcornman said:
My outside cat used to get in dust-ups with the racoons. Unfortunately he would get torn up pretty bad. It got so bad that our vet gave us antibiotics to reconstitute when he got into it. Regular infection is what I'd worry about. Never had to get any extra rabies shots. Doubt you will either.

Okay, tha'ts good to hear, just to be curious, if you wouldn't mind what state was that in? I asked advice elsewhere and I got back a lot of people freaking out about raccoons being way more likely to be rabid in my area than I've been told by officials and CDC surveillance data. It kind of worries me even though back when I had a cat I'm almost positive she'd faught with raccoons before, we never really had to do much, we figured her being vaccinated was enough.

Willowy · Oct 3, 2013

Puncture wounds get infected really easily. And sometimes you don't see the teeny puncture until it's a festering mess. So that's the main risk here. If he doesn't get an infection and he's had his rabies shot in the past year or so, I wouldn't take him to the vet. Some counties are stricter than others and the health officials can get carried away. If he does get an infection or need a booster shot, I guess you're stuck with it :/.

randomalias123 · Oct 3, 2013

Well so far he seems to be feeling just fine, they've been checking him for fever and making sure he's acting fine, also keeping him inside so he doesn't get hurt by any more raccoons. And yeah I was kind of worried about overly paranoid health officials coming in and waving some laws about not giving him a booster so immediately after the scratch and things like that when I figure getting the shot regularly should be enough? I don't know.

jclark · Oct 4, 2013

jcornman said:
My outside cat used to get in dust-ups with the racoons. Unfortunately he would get torn up pretty bad. It got so bad that our vet gave us antibiotics to reconstitute when he got into it. Regular infection is what I'd worry about. Never had to get any extra rabies shots. Doubt you will either.

They can be nasty. They'll even drown* dogs.

*Racoon leads a dog to a stream and waits for the dog to get in the water at which point the coon will try to get onto the dogs head where his weight will push the dog's head underwater.

jcornman · Oct 4, 2013

randomalias123 said:
How so?

Okay, tha'ts good to hear, just to be curious, if you wouldn't mind what state was that in? I asked advice elsewhere and I got back a lot of people freaking out about raccoons being way more likely to be rabid in my area than I've been told by officials and CDC surveillance data. It kind of worries me even though back when I had a cat I'm almost positive she'd faught with raccoons before, we never really had to do much, we figured her being vaccinated was enough.

jcornman · Oct 4, 2013

I live in Coos Bay, Oregon.

Cat Attacked by a Raccoon

randomalias123

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denice

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peaches08

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hakeemtarabulsi

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