Chances of getting rabies from a kitten bite?

Hi everyone,

I live on the south side of town near the mall in a city of about 162,000. We're in a townhouse community that is *overrun* with cats. Plenty are stray, plenty are feral. There's a feral, tiny gray cat that's hung around for quite some time. I leave water out for her on the deck. Anyway, over the last couple of days, a tiny kitten appeared--and it was limping. When I looked closely, the underside of the paw it held up looked injured.

Being a sap, I decided I'd catch it and get it quickly to the vet. Only it must be feral, too, because on seeing me it darted into the garage. I bundled up with gloves and extra layers so that no skin was showing and I tried to catch it. The little kitty sunk her teeth into my thumb and drew blood. Well, she got away after that and I was less concerned about our vet appointment and more concerned about getting to the ER.

They gave me antibiotics and took an X-ray. There were no pieces of tooth left, my tendon and joint appeared to be find, and no fluid--whatever that means. They said to contact them again if it looked like an infection started. They recommended I have Animal Control catch her and monitor her for rabies. I contacted Animal Control and they couldn't find her. The officer did say that a) she's probably too tiny for a live trap to work b) they euthanize after monitoring for 10 days on any bite-related calls. She also added that there hadn't been rabies cases in my city for several years.

What are your thoughts? I hear rabies shots are super expensive. I do have insurance, but I pay for it myself, so it's not as good as if I'd gotten it through an employer (though I have a change of job and thus insurance starting in September). I don't want the little thing to be euthanized, though. And I imagine that--not only is it unlikely for a cat to have rabies in my neighborhood given the low number of cases in my city--but a kitty probably hasn't even lived long enough to get it. The only real worry is the limp. Does the limp have something to do with the rabies? I'm pretty sure she didn't attack me because she's rabid--just because she's feral, scared and I cornered her. I'm just a little nervous because I looked up the symptoms of rabies and don't want to experience any of those.

I don't think you need to worry about rabies, if you went to the dr and they didn't give you a shot even though  you got bit, it's unlikely you'd have it. Plus I read there hasn't been a cat to human rabies transmission in 40years unless that has changed since 2010. But unless it was attacked by infected raccoons or coyotes, I think you're safe. As for the hurt paw, it could have gotten in a fight with an older cat or been hit by a car. No way to know unless it gets looked at so if you can catch it, bring it to a vet so it can get looked at and get on some medication for any infections it may have

If the doctor had any concern about the possibility of rabies, then you would have been started on the rabies vaccination series right then in the ER. The kitten is probably limping because of an injury. If you still want to trap her, you can use a small humane trap on her--Tractor Supply stores sell them. The traps used for rats and other small animals are the perfect size for a kitten, and a set of two traps at Tractor Supply, one large and one small, costs about twenty dollars. Good luck and I hope everything works out for you.

Thanks for weighing in, all. I'm going to call my uncle--a doctor--today and see what he thinks. Unfortunately, the little kitten hasn't reappeared so there's no way of knowing whether it was sick at all. I'm fairly certain it just bit me because I'd cornered it and was trying to pick it up. I saw it drinking out of the water bowl with the little gray cat I put it out for only a foot away and they weren't fighting or anything. I just wish I could see it so I'd know I'm all right. I don't want to have to pay for this series of vaccinations if it's all just an unnecessary scare.