worried about possible rabies contact

[shepherdess]

Hello.

One of my inside cats, Bo, has a bad habit of getting on my blind side and sneaking out when I open the door.  While we are in town limits, it is rural, and there are wooded areas, etc close by.  At night we are visited by raccoons and skunks and stray kitties [some of which I have helped find a home for].  I enjoy these animals.

But late last night I heard a really loud panting and grunting and like something was scraping against the side of the building.  It seemed like it was coming from a very large animal, but we don't get bears and where I am there are lots of close together and attached houses.  It wasn't a deer.  Maybe a large dog, but why all the angry grunting and panting.  I worried it might be rabid.  When I looked out it had gone. 

This morning the cat snuck out [he is hard to deal with].  I have two.  He went running all thru the neighborhood.  Came back in a little while and I put him in the storage room, crowded but the only spare room.  I was worried when I heard him meowing that he might have had an interaction tho he has no wounds or scratches I can see.  [Because I had a really bad experience with earlier pets getting ill from the multishots, I haven't had my cats vaccinated in years.]  So I don't want him in their mutual room, or common areas .  I am afraid if he is infected, it could infect my other, which I raised from a kitten.  They are brothers, and I took  this one in

when someone in the area was harming cats, years ago.  Both were rescues, as are all my previous furbeings. 

I want to know if rabies can be contracted by sharing water in their water dish, or licking.  Could Bo have picked the rabies virus up from droplets from the rabid animal? I know it is contracted by bites, but have heard there can be other ways. I am so stressed by this.

shepherdess

 

[catwoman707]

I don't think you have anything to worry about.

The vast majority of transmission is through bites, it is the saliva that is shed before the death of the rabid animal that is contagious.

The only other way is non-bite transmission, however the saliva would have to contaminate an open wound on your cat.

No worries

 

[Willowy]

Rabies vaccines confer immunity for many years. At least 7 for sure, up to 10 is pretty well established, and some think they probably confer lifetime immunity. I guess you could have a titer done if you're concerned (though I wouldn't mention any possible wildlife contact to the vet. .. just say you want to see if he "needs" to be vaccinated). This isn't foolproof, because a negative titer doesn't necessarily mean the cat isn't immune and you might get worried if it comes back low, but if it comes back high you might feel better. You can have him boostered now---this is standard protocol for pets with confirmed wildlife bites---it could prevent him from getting it if he was exposed.

But honestly with the circumstances I wouldn't worry. No bites, no open wounds. . .I think you're pretty safe.

An animal cannot pass on rabies until he/she is in the active stage of the disease so if you want to keep him separated it's going to be for a while :/.

 

[shepherdess]

Thank you Cat woman and Willowy for this comforting input.  I didn't know that about the length of time the rabies shot is effective.  The vets I have dealt with in past always make it sound like it needs to be frequent, along with a

lot of other shots.

If it is through a bite, then that is via saliva.  So if they share the same drinking bowl, or lick each other, or rough play, all of which they do; wouldn't those be other ways to get infected since the virus is in the saliva?

Shepherdess

 

[shepherdess]

Willowy,

Why not mention a possible wildlife contact to the vet?   Also, for how long would he need to be kept separate ?

I am new to this so not contradicting or disrespecting; just trying to learn what to do.

Thanks,

Shepherdess

 

[catwoman707]

• Rabies travels from the brain to the salivary glands during the final stage of the disease—this is when an animal can spread the disease, most commonly through a bite. 
• Rabies can’t go through unbroken skin. People and animals can get rabies only via a bite from a rabid animal or possibly through scratches, abrasions, open wounds, or mucous membranes in contact with saliva or brain tissue from a rabid animal. 
• The rabies virus is short-lived when exposed to open air—it can only survive in saliva and dies when the animal’s saliva dries up.

 

[shepherdess]

Hi all.

I am researching information in regard to rabies and my post in this thread.  I am the op, Shepherdess. 

Here is some info I got from the Canadian Occupational Safety  website :www.ccohs.ca. :

"Healthy dogs or cats involved in biting incidents are held in confinement for at least 10-14 days, according to provincial regulations. If rabies does not develop in that time, no immunization is required for the injured worker. If signs of rabies do develop, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency should be notified, the animal humanely killed and analyzed; and immunization started without delay."

I am continuing to research.  As always on the web, it is a challenge to find reliable sites, and even those can vary in agendas and information.  The Canadian site seemed to be a little over reactive to rabies as compared to US sites I went on.   Maybe because they have much more wildlife and wilderness?

I am trying to get some reliable information as to how long the virus remains infective outside of the body.  Some websites claim to have answers, but are in conflict with the info on other sites.  We heard the suspected animal at about 10:30 last night, and my cat got out around 10:30 in the next morning.  So if the virus doesn't survive long, we are in luck.  Even tho it is summer, here at night temps are in the 50's right now late in the night.  I mention this because on one site temperature was a factor in how long the virus lived.

Shepherdess

 

[Willowy]

The reason for the 14 day quarantine for animals involved in human bites is because if an animal is in the final stages of rabies at the time of the bite (which is the only time they shed the virus in their saliva), they will be dead within 14 days. But the incubation period, (between exposure and active stages) can be a very long time.

You don't mention possible wildlife contact to the vet because they will be legally required to contact the health department and have your cat impounded. If your cat was actually bitten, this might be warranted, but because you don't have any idea if he contacted wildlife or not, it would be a bad idea. There are some things you never say to a vet .

A rabid animal would be quite unlikely to bang on your house. In the final stages, they are not in control of themselves and just wander around mindlessly. The disease causes severe neurological damage so they're basically brainless at that point, just lurching around.

 

[cocheezie]

I don't think you have anything to worry about. Too much time passed between the noise and your cat going out.

The noise doesn't sound like racoon behaviour. They don't make grunting noises. Skunks are fairly silent. So are deer - you might hear a bit of munching of leaves at night. Bears are really noisy because they are knocking over everything looking for food. I could be wrong, but it sounds like something (maybe a dog) just found a place for a good old back scratch up against something on or near your house. 

And yes, Canada is really focussed on trying to get rid of rabies in wild animals. We are doing our best.

sidenote: Years ago, a friend found a skunk acting strangely in her garage. Being the weekend and not knowing what to do, she called the humane society and the police. Policeman came over and shot the skunk right through the scent glands. The garage stills smells.

 

[shepherdess]

Well, thanks to all of you.  Cocheezi, I love that Canada has so much wilderness and animal life.  A beautiful country.  I tried to get in when I was younger, but they shunned me. 

The animal in question I could tell from the sounds was large, and angry sounding.  Maybe he wasn't, but sounded like it.  The sound on the building was a scraping one. But that part of the place is well fenced so he couldn't have gotten in. 

I can't find anything definitive about the length of time the virus lives outside the host.  Most say seconds, others longer, other one was much longer.  There doesn't seem to be consensus.  Mostly say "not very long".  To my mind, that isn't precise enough.  Not very long could be a few hours to a few seconds, etc. 

Have spent almost the whole day on this.  Bo causes a lot of days to go this way.  I should make a post in the cat behavior forum soon.

I am going to call the vet and see about getting both cats vaccinated.  Another thing to research.

Thanks to all.

Shepherdess

 

[shepherdess]

Willowy,

Thanks for this tip.  I agree there are some things better not aired to vet. 

I must admit, if they'd impound Bo for a while........ Er, what is entailed in impounding; how long, where, who pays?  Just wondering.....

Thanks.

Shepherdess

 

[shepherdess]

Hi all.

I called the vet this am and was told it was okay to let Bo out of  his quarantine room.  They felt as most of you did, that droplets would have been dried in the time frame, so on.

Thanks to all who posted.

Shepherdess