Cat licensing and rabies shots--how to promote activism in this area

crazy4strays

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I'm not sure if this is the right spot, if not, feel free to move it.

But I am bothered by the double standard. Dogs have to be licensed and vaccinated for rabies. Although cats can catch rabies just as easily as dogs do, (maybe moreso, since cats have more contact with bats) and transmit it to humans, there's no law mandating vaccination of them in my area.

I think that there also needs to be community activism to vaccinate ferals against rabies. I read a story recently where a little girl contracted rabies and the presumed source was a feral cat.

I was thinking of starting a petition to require cats to be rabies vaccinated. Does anybody have any other helpful suggestions for activism in this area?
 

ldg

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Why would you want to require licensing?

1) Feral cats are afraid of humans, so that article would have misidentified a stray.

2) Plenty of townships do require licensing of cats

3) I think requiring licensing of cats would simply result in many more cats being killed in shelters. Please see "Cat Licensing: A license to kill" by Alley Cat Allies: http://www.alleycat.org/page.aspx?pid=397

4) I think requiring licensing of cats would reduce the numbers of cats rescued and adopted. I have 15 cats. How many people have 15 dogs? If I rescue and foster but am not affiliated with a rescue org, does the law consider I own cats I foster? They're under my roof and they receive vet care. According to most state laws, I "own" them. Ownership characteristics are completely different for dogs vs cats. Note 2012 data from the American Pet Products Association (APPA)

70 percent—Percentage of owners with one dog
20 percent—Percentage of owners with two dogs
10 percent—Percentage of owners with three or more dogs

46 percent—Percentage of owners with one cat
31 percent—Percentage of owners with two cats
24 percent—Percentage of owners with three or more cats

Dog licensing came about due to the issue of stray dogs and transmission of rabies. Now it helps reunite dogs with owners and assign legal liability if a dog bites someone - and this is a frequent occurrence: so frequent, the CDC collects data on it.

Data on dog vs cat bites:

"Dog bites account for 1% of injury-related emergency department visits in the United States and an estimated $53.9 million in inpatient costs per year.1 Of the approximately 4.5 million persons who are bitten by dogs each year, approximately 316,000 are treated in the emergency department, and 9,500 are hospitalized.1[corrected] There are 10 to 20 animal bite–related deaths, mostly from dogs, annually.1–4"

Contrast that with cats:

"Cat bites account for 5% to 10% of animal bite wounds.1 Cat bites occur most often in adult women, usually on the extremities. Almost all of these bites are self-reported as provoked.2"

http://www.aafp.org/afp/2014/0815/p239.html


Licensing laws do help reunite pets with their families if lost - if the licensing tag is on the pet. I tried collars on feral cats. They were gone from the cats on average within 2 days. Microchipping obviates the need for collars and it makes obsolete the role of licensing in reuniting pets with owners.



As to rabies certificates for cats, it is required in the majority of the U.S. and only ... 14? states even provide an exemption for health reasons.
 
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crazy4strays

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Thanks for the info! Very interesting!

Rabies certificates for cats aren't required where I live--perhaps we are the exception, rather than the rule.
 

ldg

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Thanks for the info! Very interesting!

Rabies certificates for cats aren't required where I live--perhaps we are the exception, rather than the rule.
Absolutely it is the exception. I live in Warren county, NJ. It is not required by law here either: but try to get a pet sitter, board a cat, get a dental, etc, without one.
 
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crazy4strays

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We live in a rural area of Michigan.

Around here, microchipping doesn't even seem to be common knowledge. I've tried to start telling people about checking stray cats for microchips rather than just keeping them without attempting to find the owner.

Perhaps education is a better way to go, rather than making more laws. :)
 

ldg

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We live in a rural area of Michigan.

Around here, microchipping doesn't even seem to be common knowledge. I've tried to start telling people about checking stray cats for microchips rather than just keeping them without attempting to find the owner.

Perhaps education is a better way to go, rather than making more laws. :)
:bigthumb: I certainly think so. I'm also in a rural area. I always have to remind the vet to check for a chip in the trapped cats.
 

puck

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My state and local area requires all cats and dogs be vaccinated against rabies, as it is a serious zoonotic problem in my area. They don't require licensing or a household limit on cats, thank goodness. I have humanely euthanized rabid wildlife, cats, and dogs, prior to sending them to the state diagnostic laboratory for necropsy. Raccoons, opossums, foxes, coyotes, and bats are the ones I can immediately recall that I've had come back as positive for rabies prions in their central nervous system tissue.

If a cat isn't vaccinated, local law requires a 6 month quarantine if they have a bite or interaction with unknown animal, even if we "suspect" another cat, a dog, or they tussled with a non-predator, non-rabies carrier critter than wounded them. Vaccinating for rabies is worth the struggle I've invested to catch cats annually, initially, then every 3 years, thank you Merial!, versus the required quarantine or euthanasia and subsequent state necropsy.

Once an initial rabies certification is sent to the county of residence, they can track the rabies vaccination status of that cat or dog, without licensing. Local counties here will even go door to door, canvassing, to get current rabies vaccine status of residents' pets. They'll visually inspect if they see any obvious critters on premises while knocking at the door, and send an official order to have proof of rabies vaccination submitted or proof of a waiver from the pet's veterinarian as to why they are not a good candidate for vaccination and they are kept well controlled and confined by the owner, a vet essentially vouching for the owner.

Thus, I have settled down, and chosen to live where I live, without dog breed restrictions enforced by local/regional government, with good rabies protocol, and personable animal control officers and veterinarians cooperating together. I tried some other addresses and states over the years. We'll visit those old stomping grounds, but Here we shall stay ;]
 
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crazy4strays

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Very interesting! Thank you for weighing in also. Is it best to send in proofs of my cat's rabies vaccinations to a state agency to track it or should I keep it at home in case my cat ever bites someone? 
 

ldg

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I think you included opossums in the list accidentally, puck puck . While it can happen, it would have been an extremely rare event. Opossums are extremely resistant to the rabies virus, some think due to their low internal body temp. But they are not a vector of rabies transmission and are considered a barrier species.
 

puck

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Very interesting! Thank you for weighing in also. Is it best to send in proofs of my cat's rabies vaccinations to a state agency to track it or should I keep it at home in case my cat ever bites someone? 
Legally, your vet should be sending all patients' certifications in to the corresponding county public health office, who coordinates with animal control to enforce dog registrations, if a county is populated enough to warrant registering, and enforces rabies vaccination law. Most of my hospitals had clients from over 20 of our 100 counties, so we printed out and mailed certificates at least weekly, to keep up with it.

Some counties will send penalty fee bills to clients based on the alter status of their pets, as well as expired rabies vaccine penalties, even if current on their rabies vaccine, as they:
  • may have moved but not update the address with their vet office or with animal services
  • may have euthanized that pet or may not own them anymore
  • may live in a county or country with poor local government and they start rabies vaccine monitoring great, but are terrible at updating records when following certificates are sent to the Animal Services dept every 3 years or every year, depending on the vaccine used and the state rabies law
It's best you keep a copy, and update your microchip registration with current address often, as well as list critical meds and rabies vx current status with them also. Good registries offer this additional measure so once a "finder" contacts them, they know what that pet needs, and a rabies vaccine is not on that critical list ;]
 

puck

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Depends upon which registry you activated your chip with and if you have the microchip numbers.

If you aren't sure of the registry, petmicrochiplookup.org is a website search engine ran by AAHA that can help you find which registry. Then you plug in the number at that registry's website, or call them and review the information verbally.

I prefer Companion Animal Recovery through AKC aka ReUnite, HomeAgain, and in addition to one of those, https://freepetchipregistry.com/, as sometimes the request for annual fee repayment gets redundent with HomeAgain. They have an auto-time response a year after activation, and plague my clients with ads about proactive search for lost pets, free insurance, free stainless steel tag etc with annual enrollment. It's excessive...
 
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crazy4strays

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I ended up taking my kitty to the vet's office and getting his chip scanned. I looked up the number and found that it was with the Found Animals Registry. I checked there and our contact information looks good.
 
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