Cat with rabies scares Graham family
Friday, June 05, 2009
By Cherry Young
One Young County family recently had an unusual rabies scare. According to Graham Animal Control Officer Kim Mills, the family had a 6 to 8 week old kitten turn up with rabies."Usually baby animals don’t contract rabies, but the thing is if they hadn’t checked this little kitty, chances are we could have lost somebody," said Mills. "But thank God, she had the wisdom to go ahead and take the kitten in."The kitten was born to a stray or wild mother, said Dr. Tim Odom, and several people had handled the kittens.
When the kitten started exhibiting strange behavior, the family called the vet."They called to say it was acting strange, and they were going to bring it in the next day. It died during the night," said Odom.Odom sent the kitten off, and it tested positive for rabies. The other four kittens in the litter were all negative, but the mother cat has not been located.Seven members of the family were forced to undergo a round of post-exposure rabies injections.Dianne Grissom, director of infection prevention and control for Graham Regional Medical Center, said when it comes to rabies, keeping your pets up to date on their vaccinations should be your first order of business.
Grissom also advised if a person is bitten, he should call animal control or the sheriff’s office, clean the wound with soap and water and call his physician immediately. If the animal is a pet, it should be quarantined immediately. If the animal is a wild animal, or if it ran away, try to give as much information as possible to animal control so the animal can be found and quarantined."If their physician determines a need for vaccine and/or immune globulin, their physician can refer them to the Department of State Health Services. An order from a physician is required for the Department of State Health Services to administer the post-exposure treatment," she said."The Department of State Health Services has said that in this region, they’ve had a large amount of rabid skunks. They’ve had some issues with rabies this year." Mills said the shots are not as bad as they used to be."They just give them to you in your arm once every so many days," she said. Mills said it’s important if bitten to bring the animal in."If we don’t have the animal to test, we have to assume that animal had rabies," she said.If the animal is tagged, it will be quarantined and observed for 10 days. If it is a stray or wild animal, it is euthanized and sent for testing.Mills said that if a quarantined animal does not exhibit signs of being rabid within days, the coast is clear."If they start acting funny on the 12th day and turn up positive for rabies, there was no way enough of the virus had been in its saliva to pass it on in a domesticated animal," she said.She added that being bitten is not the only way to become exposed."A scratch is just as bad as a bite," said Mills.Odom said rabies can affect an animal in one of two ways. Either it will act like it is in a stupor or will become aggressive.He added that the best thing to do is get your dogs, cats and ferrets vaccinated against rabies, and a vaccine is legally required annually to own an animal within the city limits of Graham. The state requires rabies vaccinations to be current as well, and both entities recognize only veterinarian administered vaccines. "We sure recommend that they get all of their animals vaccinated for it. It seems like we’re having more skunks in town or just in the area. It’s fairly prevalent in the skunks, so we just need to keep everything vaccinated," Odom said.Mills added that not only is it dangerous to take in wild animals, it’s also against the law."A wild animal can carry rabies for up to a year. Someone takes in a baby raccoon then all of the neighbor kids are playing with it, possibly exposing them," she said. "Yes, they are cute, but puppies and kitties are, too."
