Rabies fear- Cat vs. Bat

I came home yesterday morning after spending the night at my BFs and found a bat in my living room behind a bit of furniture. Nico brought my attention to it, he was pawing at it a bit and it was making angry squeaks. I trapped it and just dropped it off to be rabies tested this morning but I am very paranoid. Nico has had all his shots and his last rabies was only 3 months ago. I don't know if he got bit or scratched- he didn't seem to have any injuries, the bat seemed un-chewed (i didn't see any blood), and Nico is acting normally. Still, I worry. I hope he at worst got a few paw shots in on the bat and thats how it got trapped behind the furniture.

Are rabies shots really effective for cats? Like 100%? I already talked to the vet and they said I didn't need to bring him in for any preventative care. I'm going to call them back in a few days if the bat comes back positive (really praying it doesn't).

Looking fo reassurance I guess, and anyone who knows how effective the vaccine is!

Originally Posted by iceover

Are rabies shots really effective for cats? Like 100%? I already talked to the vet and they said I didn't need to bring him in for any preventative care. I'm going to call them back in a few days if the bat comes back positive (really praying it doesn't).

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the county i lived in before, if your cat was exposed to a bat they quarantined the cat for 10 days (if unvaccinated) at a clinic or shelter. and they sent the bat in for testing. and if they were current on their vaccinations they just stayed in their home quarantined for the 10 days. i would really listen to the vet since he is going to know rabies info. just hang in there. i'm sure everything will be ok.

If Nico is up to date on his shots he should be fine, but the vet may want to take some preventive measures. Don't worry, as long as YOU were not bitten or scratched!

You should keep your cat isolated from other animals for two weeks or until the bat's autopsy comes back negative, whichever comes first. Your cat is probably going to be just fine but this isolation will keep him from infecting anyone else in the unlikely event that he does have rabies.

This is kind of sick, but if he has rabies he will be dead in two weeks. So no matter the rabies test results from the bat, if your cat is fine two weeks from now then you don't have to worry anymore because he will be just fine.

Yay! Bat was negative for rabies!

I am so glad all is OK. But the two week thing is wrong - rabies can incubate for much longer, which is why the UK still insists on 6 months' quarantine for animals from certain countries.

I've done a lot of reading on the subject in the past 2 days. Some places where rabies is "more" common (like the US) generally only requires quarantine of 10 days to a couple of months (usually depending on whether an animal is a vaccinated or unvaccinated pet, a wild animal, etc). Other places where rabies is almost never found (like the UK) requires a lot longer to prevent any infiltration of the disease.

But its true rabies can incubate for a while. In animals its generally a quick process that occurs within a few days to a few weeks. In humans it can be up to 10 months, depending on when and how a human was infected.

In any case, even with widespread vaccinations of pets, I take any possibility of rabies exposure very seriously.