kokotg Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 I like to worry. We just got a kitten from the shelter a few weeks ago. Said kitten had been found, said his card, as a stray in a parking lot. We took him to the vet a couple of days after we got him, and she said he wasn't old enough for a rabies shot yet. He gets it on Monday. I was just saying something about this to DH, and he said, "so how do we know he doesn't already have rabies?" And...I have no idea. How DO we know? There have been (I just checked) six confirmed cases of rabies in wild animals in our county this year. And, you know, he was in a parking lot. And I just read that the incubation period is 1-3 MONTHS. And, he's a kitten, so he's scratched the kids a few times playing too rough with them (no bites that have broken skin, I don't think). But, I mean, people adopt kittens all the time and don't worry about rabies. Right? What do they know that I don't? Should I stay up all night worrying? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kokotg Posted August 12, 2011 Author Share Posted August 12, 2011 You all do realize that the fact that no one has responded is convincing me that you all KNOW I already have rabies, and you don't want to be the ones to break it to me. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer in MI Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 Heehee. Yup. That's it. Start planning all the funerals NOW. Actually, I have NO idea about rabies and kittens. But, I'm sure it's something I'd worry about too, if I had just adopted a kitten! :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kokotg Posted August 12, 2011 Author Share Posted August 12, 2011 I just chatted with my former vet tech friend who points out that: 1. a raccoon bite on a tiny kitten would have been pretty obvious 2. rabies isn't contagious until the symptoms show up I'm feeling somewhat reassured. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2cents Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 Ok...your last comment had me ROTFL! :lol: We just found a feral about 2 weeks ago and I had the little guy at the vet the same morning-asking the same question about rabies. Vet told me not to worry. I have to confess though, the same things kept running through my mind that you've brought up. He is going for the shots next week. I'll feel a lot better once he is all vaccinated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LidiyaDawn Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 One of my cats was found as a 5 week old kitten in a parking lot… and we are all still alive (including the kitty) 12 years later. Does that help? :D Rabies is transmitted via bites, right? I think that if some other animal had attacked your kitten, there'd have been some signs of injury when the kitten was found.. if the kitten survived the attack at all - a little kitten versus some kind of predatory rabies infected animal… odds are not in the kitten's favour. I bet he's just fine. and cute. HEY WHERE ARE THE PHOTOS? :p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kokotg Posted August 12, 2011 Author Share Posted August 12, 2011 I bet he's just fine. and cute. HEY WHERE ARE THE PHOTOS? :p Twist my arm, why don't you ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer in MI Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 Twist my arm, why don't you ;) What a cutie!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 I have to say that we rescued an 11 week old kitten just a little over 10 years ago. We had him vaccinated but I never even thought about that he could have had rabies. He didn't, of course, and he is still happily with us ten years later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 That kitten is way too cute to have rabies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree House Academy Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 Haha - you sound like me a little bit. Well, me when I am having a episode with my hypochondria. Since I have BTDT on the rabies bit and I have adopted 5 cats from shelters in the last YEAR (none of which have rabies, BTW), here are some fun facts: ~To get Rabies, your kitten would have had to be BITTEN by a rabid animal. ~To give rabies to someone else, your kitten has to (have rabies...LOL) be showing actual symptoms of Rabies (foaming, refusing to eat or drink, acting strangely, staggering, lethargic) ~If your kitten shows SYMPTOMS of Rabies, it will die within about 5-7 days AFTER the symptoms start. ~If your kitten dies in 5-7 days with rabies symptoms, have it tested. ~If your kitten dies in 5-7 days after having rabies symptoms and the test comes back positive for Rabies, you will then have the shots for your entire family and protect yourselves from Rabies. BUT...Trust me...your kitten doesn't have Rabies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LidiyaDawn Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 Twist my arm, why don't you ;) awww! :001_wub: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedmom4 Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 This story may make you a little anxious but I feel like I need to tell you anyway. This story is completely true (I even have the newspaper article about it). Back in early 2003 my daughter's piano teacher had two cute little kittens. One kitten was accidentally run over by a car but the other one lived outside and they had a little spot in their garage for it. My kids loved playing with the kitten while my daughter took piano lessons. On a Thursday I heard a strange noise in the garage and I went to look. The kitten was making a very strange noise. It ran straight towards me and jumped into my arms. I thought it might be cold so I brought it in the van with me and the kids to get warmed up. It was acting quite odd and when we were trying to leave it kept jumping back into my van. Finally we were able to leave and I kept thinking that was the friendliest and oddest kitten I had ever seen. A couple of days later I got a frantic phone call from our piano teacher. The kitten had confirmed rabies. She had taken the kitten into the vet about a week earlier and the vet thought it had ear mites. But within that week it had actually bitten her own daughter and was clearly neurologically impaired. Anyway, to make a really long story shorter all of the piano student who had contact with the kitten had to have the rabies vaccine. It was quite an ordeal for those of us who had to be vaccinated. But our piano teacher lost her homeowner's insurance. It was awful. The kitten was too young for the vaccine. But the reassuring part is that the kitten was NOT acting normally. I know this is a very unbelievable story and I probably wouldn't believe it if it hadn't happened to me and my children. I am trying to see if there is a newspaper article online about it. I still have the original hard copy. To be honest, it sounds like your kitten is completely fine! God Bless, Elise in NC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Rat Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 In the 3+ years I worked in an animal shelter, taking in over 100 cats a day, I never once heard of a single cat with rabies. Not one. That's 700 cats a week for 3 years. Don't worry anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedmom4 Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 Here is part of the article. I made a scrapbook page of it so that's why there are some stickers. This is NOT meant to scare anyone. I think it was a very unusual situation! God Bless, Elise in NC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kokotg Posted August 12, 2011 Author Share Posted August 12, 2011 that sounds awful, speedmom! I'm sorry you and your kids had to go through that. It does sound like a much different situation, though...my kitten's not acting strangely at all, and he stays inside. Okay, thanks everyone...I'm going to relax for now, I think. I will wait to panic until I have some sort of concrete reason to do so! Really, as terrible as having a kitten with rabies would be, mostly the thing that was going to keep me up at night was having KIDS with rabies...and it sounds like that's something we'd be pretty likely to be able to to prevent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrs.m Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 Twist my arm, why don't you ;) :001_wub: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs_JWM Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 Here is part of the article. I made a scrapbook page of it so that's why there are some stickers. I love the stickers! RABIES - relax! Easy for you to say, scrappin' mama! :lol: I know this thread isn't SUPPOSED to be funny...I really do! :grouphug: to you, kokotg! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedmom4 Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 I love the stickers! RABIES - relax! Easy for you to say, scrappin' mama! :lol: Glad someone else saw the humor in my scrapbooking!!! I was anything but relaxed during that time. Like my momma always said, "If you can't laugh at yourself..." God Bless, Elise in NC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Twain Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 If you get an animal bite from an animal that is unlikely to have rabies but you are not sure, one option is to observe the animal for 10 days. If signs or symptoms of rabies develop in the animal during the 10 days, then the person who got bitten would start post-exposure prophylaxis (immunization, etc.) for rabies to prevent contracting rabies, and the animal would be tested for rabies (i.e. decapitated and the brain tested). (Sorry to talk about your little kitty this way.) Below link is an article from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). I would consider your kitten in the "stray" category. http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/exposure/testing.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 (edited) When my husband was bitten badly by a parking lot rescue kitten, we were told by the fish and wildlife commission that there had never been a reported case of rabies in a cat in our area, and that the animals in our area that HAD been reported to have rabies would almost certainly have done enough damage to a kitten to kill it-and it certainly wouldn't be a healthy, feisty animal, which this little guy was. The vet said the same thing, and DH's doctor was more concerned about tetanus. We did keep the kitten isolated for 10 days and take it back to the vet to be checked out at the end of the 10 days. Edited August 12, 2011 by dmmetler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DianeW88 Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 He would have been dead by now if he had rabies. Animal shelters only require them to be observed for 10 days to see if they exhibit symptoms, but a vet has told me that you would know after five days. Chances are a kitten would not have survived a bite by an animal carrying rabies and it would have at least had a severe wound. Also, a kitten is very small....rabies would manifest itself much more quickly in an animal that weighs less than three pounds...within the 10 day limit most animal shelters impose. So relax....you're safe. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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