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Please help. Last night our indoor-outdoor cat (last ...
Sent to Cat Experts June 15 10:53 AM

Please help. Last night our indoor-outdoor cat (last vaccination was 1 year ago) was in seizures and foaming at the mouth and howling. we think she might have had rabies. i am now concerned about my 13 year old indoor cat (last vaccination was 2 years ago). I am also concerned about my family, as we all interact with the cat.
Please tell me what to do!
Thank you.
Robin

 

Customer (name blocked for privacy)
Status:  Closed   Value: $8
Answer
June 15 11:00 AM (6 minutes and 39 seconds later)
         
REPLIEDCheck Mark
If the indoor outdoor cat was vaccinated then she should be safe.
If not then if she has passed away you need to call local health officials about getting her tested for rabies. The test requires brain tissue.
If you were exposed and your other pets then your other pet may need to be boostered for a rabies shot and your family may need to be given preventative shots.
If the cat recovered and is better this morning its not rabies. In that case you still may want your vet to check your cat over and give it a rabies shot.
Hope this helps you!

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Reply
June 15 11:06 AM (6 minutes and 14 seconds later)
         
Reply to nholmes's Post: Please note the vaccinations on each animal.
the indoor cat was TWO years ago--outdoor cat was ONE year ago. i am concerned about transmitting a disease through saliva (licking not biting).
How do I watch for symptoms in the cat i still have? the outdoor cats body was dragged off by some wildlife during the night, i can only pray this animal did not have rabies. (we live in the country)
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Answer
June 15 11:15 AM (8 minutes and 20 seconds later)
         
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If the outdoor cat died then you have no choice but to update the remaining cat and get yourselves to your doctor for treatment.
Rabies is not curable once the disease takes hold so preventative action is the only choice you have left at this point. Fortunately its a slow virus so you have some leeway in time on getting preventative help but you need to consult your doctor on this.
The cat that died *should* have been protected by its rabies vaccine but might not have been if it had only had one shot in its whole life.
I did pay attention that the indoor cat's vaccine may have been the one year variety only.
You can ask your vet to run a titer for immune response on the indoor cat and then booster it with a rabies shot in case of exposure.
If the older cat's rabies titer is up then you can make a good presumption of exposure but if it isn't you still can't be sure.
So its important for you to contact your family doctor and your veterinarian today about this.
This is a case of far better safe than sorry! Rabies is fatal in humans as well as animals.


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