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Rabies is endemic in this country, any contact with a rabid animal transmits rabies.
All mammals can get rabies. Though stats show it occurs in skunks, raccoons, fox and bats most often. Bats as they roost in groups easily transmit to each other. Skunks fox coon as they often roam neighborhoods after dark looking for garbage and food left outside for pets which makes wildlife pet contact a real problem.
All three species often use groundhog burrows to rear young or take refuge, so the proximity to other critters is a problem. Heard of two local cases of groundhogs trying to attack people.
Again, outside cats are a big issue.
Free roaming cats are especially vulnerable.
Rabies has been reported to have an incubation period up to a year.
Ony 1, possibly 2 cases, of 2 kids surviving rabies. One was supposedly a little boy in Mexico many decades ago.
There is no cure. Only Prevention
You get rabies shots immediately based on the assumption the bite from a rabid animal or any wild animal or feral cat has not yet evolved into the virus....yet.
Last year at least 2 people died in Nj from rabies.
Should be a law on the state level. Common sense and public support would smack any state who did not comply. If rabies results from a pet not vaccinated, it would be appropriate to imprison the owner given the horrific symptoms of rabies in a human.
In NJ, rabies is a reportable disease and probaly so in many if not all states. Rabies vaccine can only be released thru orders of the state health dept and myust be given in a hospital, I was told for insurnce purposes, though you better hang out for half an hour or so to see if you react to the vaccine. I had 5 shots a week apart, the last shot 2 weeks after the 4th shot. You can get a booster shot evry so many years if you are exposed to rabies as a trapper, vet or animal handler. the latest formulation is non viscous, small amount and given in the arm. It is the gamma globulin shot given by weight that smarts...along with a tetnus shot.
As a public statement that gobernment warning should be expanded to clearly state the distinction between curing and preventing. Prophylaxis should at least be replaced by prevention.
"Modern day prophylaxis has proven nearly 100% successful. In the United States, human fatalities associated with rabies occur in people who fail to seek medical assistance, usually because they were unaware of their exposure."
The above statement is unintentionally misleading and doesn't go far enough because of the word, prophylaxis, as most people would read that as there being a cure for rabies. While the statement is true, it does not communicate as clear as it should, the immediate need for preventive rabies shots.
CDC gives stats for diagnosed rabies cases in humans, which is very low and gives the impression rabies is a suppressed disease like measels, nothing to be concerned about. You need to look at the number of people treated for potential rabies to better understand the extent of exposure to the disease.
All such domestic animals entering a country should be subject to analysis and blood tests, have been vaccinated against rabies and other diseases and should be microchipped as part pet passport scheme which operates in Europe. For those countries outside the passport scheme, then quarentine is sometimes required in certain countries including the UK.
The US is however a much bigger country with a lot of very different wildlife that domestic animals may come in to contact with, so vaccines against such a potentially deadly disease do make sense, as do pet passports and other such helpful measures, especially at national borders.
Last edited by Brave New World; 08-07-2017 at 08:07 AM..
Rabies is serious stuff. And infected wildlife can be anywhere, including urban areas. Every indoor cats has the potential to slip outside by accident, no matter how careful their owner is. Dogs are run off leash. And an animal carrying rabies are aggressive. And the virus can be passed along just by contact with saliva.
Who wants to chance that? Or have to put down a beloved pet? And no matter how remote the risk, the treatment is painful and not a sure cure.
As another poster states, the chances of an indoor only cat living in an elevator apartment building getting out is slim to none. I want to go Down, not UP! Can you push the revolving doors for me so I can get outside? lol It is funny if you have ever lived in a building like that.
My girl cat is one of those they do commercials about. You want me to get off the BED? That would be exerting myself. Her exercise is walking to her food bowl and cat pan. Fear of a stranger in the house might get her off the bed and under the bed. Get out the door? You would probably have push her out the door. I ain't MOVING.
As another poster states, the chances of an indoor only cat living in an elevator apartment building getting out is slim to none. I want to go Down, not UP! Can you push the revolving doors for me so I can get outside? lol It is funny if you have ever lived in a building like that.
My girl cat is one of those they do commercials about. You want me to get off the BED? That would be exerting myself. Her exercise is walking to her food bowl and cat pan. Fear of a stranger in the house might get her off the bed and under the bed. Get out the door? You would probably have push her out the door. I ain't MOVING.
Perhaps only a cat owner would know any of this.
Most cats are not living in apartment high-rises with elevators and revolving doors. They are living in residences with much easier access to the outdoors. You really think folks living in the Catskills or Adirondacks in upstate NY are keeping their cats indoors? And those environments are where you are going to see a greater chance for rabies cases, due to increased presence of wildlife as compared to urban areas.
Most cats are not living in apartment high-rises with elevators and revolving doors. They are living in residences with much easier access to the outdoors. You really think folks living in the Catskills or Adirondacks in upstate NY are keeping their cats indoors? And those environments are where you are going to see a greater chance for rabies cases, due to increased presence of wildlife as compared to urban areas.
Come on. I told you I live in the Poconos. Lived in a lot other of other type places; MANHATTAN, LI, and Florida. Are the Poconos that different from the Catskills or Adirondacks? I said people let their cats out here and that I see them dead along the roads, in addition to deer, skunk, racoons, and some totally unidentifiable wildlife. My neighbor lets her cats roam outside. Her male cat has been missing for months. She said she is heartbroken. Then why let him OUT? Hate to say this but he was probably killed by a car, or eaten, yet she stills let her female cat out.
Last week I saw a dead cat along the road nearby that looked just like her girl cat. Really upset me thinking it might be HER cat. I went for days looking in my backyard hoping to see her cat. So relieved when I finally saw her cat. She isn't my pet but as a Cat Lady it really bothered me to think she might be dead alongside the road. I don't care if I am now in a RURAL area, and not MANHATTAN. I am not letting my pets roam outside and be killed by a car or eaten by a wild animal. A wild coyote won't kill a dog or a cat? Never saw those in "NYC", but I do here in the mountains, and did also in Florida. That's ok. Get with the program and let them roam free. They are "just" cats.
When I lived in Florida, a woman in the neighborhood was walking her dog on a leash and a coyote attacked her dog. We were told not to let our pets, or children, roam outside unsupervised. We had GATORS in our lake and they were EATING free roaming pets. Some children had been attacked too. Are there Gators in the Rural Catskills and Adirondacks? Have you ever seen a 10 ft. Gator? Did you hear what happened to a child that was attacked by a Gator at Disney World? FYI, Orlando is a Big City. Gators could very easily kill an adult human let alone a dog or a cat.
I can read between the lines. You do not like NYC, or Cats. It goes far beyond keeping pets safe with Rabies Shots. Keep them safe from traffic and wild animals too. What caring pet owner wants their animal to be flattened by a car or eaten alive by a wild animal?
Come on. I told you I live in the Poconos. Lived in a lot other of other type places; MANHATTAN, LI, and Florida. Are the Poconos that different from the Catskills or Adirondacks? I said people let their cats out here and that I see them dead along the roads, in addition to deer, skunk, racoons, and some totally unidentifiable wildlife. My neighbor lets her cats roam outside. Her male cat has been missing for months. She said she is heartbroken. Then why let him OUT? Hate to say this but he was probably killed by a car, or eaten, yet she stills let her female cat out.
Last week I saw a dead cat along the road nearby that looked just like her girl cat. Really upset me thinking it might be HER cat. I went for days looking in my backyard hoping to see her cat. So relieved when I finally saw her cat. She isn't my pet but as a Cat Lady it really bothered me to think she might be dead alongside the road. I don't care if I am now in a RURAL area, and not MANHATTAN. I am not letting my pets roam outside and be killed by a car or eaten by a wild animal. A wild coyote won't kill a dog or a cat? Never saw those in "NYC", but I do here in the mountains, and did also in Florida. That's ok. Get with the program and let them roam free. They are "just" cats.
When I lived in Florida, a woman in the neighborhood was walking her dog on a leash and a coyote attacked her dog. We were told not to let our pets, or children, roam outside unsupervised. We had GATORS in our lake and they were EATING free roaming pets. Some children had been attacked too. Are there Gators in the Rural Catskills and Adirondacks? Have you ever seen a 10 ft. Gator? Did you hear what happened to a child that was attacked by a Gator at Disney World? FYI, Orlando is a Big City. Gators could very easily kill an adult human let alone a dog or a cat.
I can read between the lines. You do not like NYC, or Cats. It goes far beyond keeping pets safe with Rabies Shots. Keep them safe from traffic and wild animals too. What caring pet owner wants their animal to be flattened by a car or eaten alive by a wild animal?
I didn't get the impression that this poster is hostile to either NYC or cats. I feel as strongly as you do about keeping cats indoors, but, other than pointing out that many people, particularly in rural areas, do not, I didn't see any indication of a preference for letting them roam.
Let's try to keep the conversation calm and civil.
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