Let's talk about rabies in cats - is your cat vaccinated?

[Graciella]

As this thread is nearly 8 years old, I thought I’d check to see if there are any updates on the rabies vaccine for cats. The vet I’m currently seeing only has imrab Boehringer Ingelheim which turns out to be adjuvanted. The receptionist felt that he wouldn’t order a different kind for just one use. I’ll call around to thhe others in the area too, but thought I’d ask here for any new information.

So far our young fellow has stayed indoors but I think it’s going to be difficult to keep him in the summertime. Not only that, but we had a bat in the house last summer before we got him and that concerns me. He’s so quick I have no doubt he’d be able to catch it.

 

[game misconduct]

i dont know about local laws but my vet requires them in order to see graycie. regardless i would rather have her protected in event of a worst case situation and she gets loose outside

 

[IndyJones]

Even if it wasn't required by law my cats would get any shots recommended by the vet at their yearly checkups.

The big issues arise if your cat or dog bites someone and they go to a hospital. Here by law you must provide proof of an up to date rabies vacciene or your cat or dog will be quarentiened and you will be fined. The other option is destroying the animal to test tissue for rabies.

The patient may also require rabies shots as a preventitive.

Imo its far more worth it to just vaccinate your pets.

 

[Meowmee]

As this thread is nearly 8 years old, I thought I’d check to see if there are any updates on the rabies vaccine for cats. The vet I’m currently seeing only has imrab Boehringer Ingelheim which turns out to be adjuvanted. The receptionist felt that he wouldn’t order a different kind for just one use. I’ll call around to thhe others in the area too, but thought I’d ask here for any new information.

So far our young fellow has stayed indoors but I think it’s going to be difficult to keep him in the summertime. Not only that, but we had a bat in the house last summer before we got him and that concerns me. He’s so quick I have no doubt he’d be able to catch it.

I went through a situation like that with my cat who just passed away, Merlin, he bit me outside. He was not being really aggressive, and he had already been vaccinated for rabies. I think it was maybe a month expired because he was given the one year vaccine.

However, I did have to go to a doctor because I’m diabetic and I had to take an antibiotic and then they reported it to the county but the county never did anything about it cause I just wrote on the form that he was vaccinated.

He was a big love bug and never bit anybody again after me training him to be less mouthy. But anyway, it was very very stressful. I had to quarantine him, and then I took him to dvm. He got re revaccinated etc.

Well, then he was labeled as being aggressive by some idiot Dvm, who had taken over my former Dvm office, which became a conglomeration and went downhill rapidly.

She actually over sedated him and then wrote on the form that he would need extra sedation because she told me she gave him sedation and he wasn’t knocked out so she gave him more, and I remember now he had trouble coming out of it.

I’m really just starting to hate Dvm over these behaviors and attitudes. They are so condescending and uncaring a lot of of them, not all. I tried to call her and talk to her to see if he had actually tried to bite anybody or did anything that was remotely aggressive and she never called me back.

I never went back there again after that she also pretty much said she’s not gonna examine him at all to see if he potentially could have any sign of any type of rabies. Kind of rolled her eyes at me, and I could tell she didn’t care about animals at all. She was so rude.

anyway, the issue is if your cat bites somebody or your dog, if your catrabies shot is not up-to-date, they can be taken away from you to be quarantined by the town if it comes to that. Even if they are vaccinated and up-to-date, they have to be quarantined, but most of the time that would be done at home with you.

also, if a bat gets into your house, it’s pretty much assumed that anybody who was asleep, children, mentally, disabled people, or cats, dogs, etc. are assumed to have been exposed to rabies by the bat.

The bites are tiny and they’re almost impossible to see. Problem is getting somebody to pay for a rabies vaccines and treatment which is very expensive. First you have to get the bat tested and have their head cut off. That’s the only way ins/ Hospital will cover it. I think it’s around $900 in my area.

In spite of all of this, and how careful I have been the past two years with the pandemic and everything I did not bring my cats in for a year. I had fractured my spine and couldn’t carry them to Dvm. So they are not up-to-date on their rabies shots.
I also prefer to give them the three year even though everybody says that can cause cancer because of the adjuvant. Because I don’t wanna vaccinate them every year.

I read that the one year and the three year are the same Vaccine- the one year just has not been studied to see how long it supposedly lasts.
You can do titers to see if they still have protection, but I don’t know how reliable those are. They are more expensive than the vaccine. But I don’t think that would count again if your cat or dog actually bit somebody- they wouldn’t care if you had a titer-that said they still had protection.

In addition if you are a person who had rabies vaccines, you still have to be vaccinated again if you have an exposure such as a bite. The other treatment that’s used in addition to the vaccine series now is to inject rabies immunoglobulin into the wound, but that can be dangerous because it can cause blood clots.

In all honesty I do think that cats and dogs are over vaccinated. However, rabies is a very dangerous virus. If your cat is indoors and you don’t have bats in your area, you’re probably good but then there’s always a risk. A lot of the Rescue people in my area say if they’ve had one series of rabies vaccines they’re good for life, meaning the cat.

 

[ailish]

My cat is indoor only and I get her vaccinated once every three years per PA law. I don't get it because of the law, I get it because I don't want me, my cat, or anyone she comes into contact with to get rabies. We live in the country and not only are we known to get a bat in the house from time to time, but she hunts and can catch anything that moves. Plus, anyone who thinks their indoor only cat can never get out is dreaming.

 

[fionasmom]

also, if a bat gets into your house, it’s pretty much assumed that anybody who was asleep, children, mentally, disabled people, or cats, dogs, etc. are assumed to have been exposed to rabies by the bat.

It is this way in California even though there is no longer a vector for other animals, including stray cats. Bats are what will still get you in difficulty.

 

[IndyJones]

It is this way in California even though there is no longer a vector for other animals, including stray cats. Bats are what will still get you in difficulty.

Here its bats raccoons and foxes. I actualy have seen and been chased by a rabid raccoon. The thing moved like a clockwork toy and was covered in slober. I ended up hitting it with a snow shovel on the head and it ran off. I did not get bitten.

 

[FeralHearts]

This is a tough one for me. While I fully appreciate and understand why the shots are in existence - I have a bee in my bonnet over them that will probably never go away.

I have had to have rabies shots myself after being bitten by an unvaccinated feral. Wasn't fun, but I've seen and had worse so in the grand scheme of things - not terrible. (Not to people if anyone gives you the choice of a needle in your butt or thighs - take the butt. Those thigh needles are like a strong man has repeatedly punch you with all his force. I had to have arms (both), butt cheeks (both), thigh (both) and bite area.

Titers are very possible, the problem is that a lot of municipalities will refuse the results, regardless of how they come out. At least that's what I understand from a chat I had with our vet last month about this very thing.

While the jury is out on Mia's cancer (no one is 100% on the cause) and her subsequent passing - it was tarsal cell lymphoma (injection site as far I'm concerned). If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, and presents like a duck - it's a duck.While we may never know definitively... again I say ... duck. Now, if anyone wants to know how horrible it feels to loss a cat like that.. I'll give you a small idea... I brought one of my other cats for his annual check up middle of last month. Two days before I started to have anxiety attacks, was shaking and crying because it felt was like I was bringing him in not for a check up - but to die. It snuck up on me pretty hard - but that's how it felt to have to give him a rabies shot that he probably doesn't need. I wish I could tell you that I didn't feel that way. I really do. Irrational, yes, I know it was - but I felt what I felt. Edit to add: To be really honest, if he didn't have other health issues that I had to strongly consider (he's a mess and needs his doc) - I would have reconsidered taken him in for his annual. I had to rationalize myself into it. All because of that shot. That as the level of fear in spite of the logic that it "most likely" won't happen again. "most likely" was not good enough. Never would be good enough.

You would think I would be against rabies shots with the above. I'm not. What I am against, and not really against, more I really want to advocate for, the use of titers, and more importantly not painting everything with the same brush. Things should be given case by case consideration with choices and options presented and thoughtful consideration given.

If a business owner doesn't want to provider services to an unvaccinated animal, I can respect, and accept that right as well.

 

[Graciella]

i dont know about local laws but my vet requires them in order to see graycie. regardless i would rather have her protected in event of a worst case situation and she gets loose outside

I do plan to have it done although none of the others, for our protection as well as his. He’s a feisty little dude and has broken my skin on more than one occasion although he doesn’t seem so bitey with anyone else. He’s identified me as his playmate and still can get rough even though I don’t encourage that at all. But that’s another story.
I’ll call around and see if any vet in the area carries the purevax or I guess it’ll reluctantly have to be the adjuvant one.

 

[Antonio65]

It is not mandatory to vaccinate cats for rabies where I live, here in Italy. It can be done on a voluntary basis if one wants to, and it is only required in order to travel across borders in the EU. If we need to cross borders with our pets, we need to have a pet passport issued, and this can be done only if the pet is microchipped (again, not mandatory for cats where I live, only dogs must be microchipped) and is up to date with rabies vaccine, which means once every three years.

My two cats have their own pet passoports, hence they are both microchipped and vaccinated.

 

[Graciella]

I do plan to have it done although none of the others, for our protection as well as his. He’s a feisty little dude and has broken my skin on more than one occasion although he doesn’t seem so bitey with anyone else. He’s identified me as his playmate and still can get rough even though I don’t encourage that at all. But that’s another story.
I’ll call around and see if any vet in the area carries the purevax or I guess it’ll reluctantly have to be the adjuvant one.

Well I found a vet with the Purevax thank goodness and he's booked for his shot next week. This is the closest clinic that I initially started using, but moved to another one that does his claw trims $15 cheaper and consistently gets him in the next day instead of waiting a week or longer.