Question about rabies shot

[amarshall0919]

My 9 year old inside cat, King, just came up to me with a dried bloody ear. I’ve attached a photo, and I’ve already cleaned it up. Does this look like it could be a mouse bite? The reason I ask is about 5 days ago he killed a mouse, and there may be more if there was one. When I left the house his ear was fine, and when I came back an hour later, his ear was hurt.

King was just vaccinated for rabies in September. If this does happen to be another animal bite, does he need to go back to the vet anyways for another shot? I’ve looked it up, and all I can find is that an animal will need a booster if it’s been over a year to 3 years.

 

[Willowy]

I'm not sure how a mouse would get to his ear, and it doesn't really look like a bite. It looks like he scraped it on something. Just keep an eye on it and make sure it heals well, it should be fine.

Small rodents rarely get rabies, because generally any bite deep enough to transmit rabies will kill them. So you shouldn't have to worry about that and I don't think most vets consider mousing to be wild animal rabies exposure. But to the general question, yes, if he's bitten by a wild animal the protocol is to give a booster rabies shot, no matter how long ago he was vaccinated.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I agree, and having raised both Fancy rats and mice, a bite from one of them in an area like that would almost certainly involve tearing. This looks more like he caught on something, or scratched a flea bite or something too vigorously. However, as with anything questionable, it won't hurt to have your vet take a look and make the decision.