The other day a good Samaritan brought a stray kitten in to the hospital. She was weak, had a few open wounds (one with maggots) and obvious intestinal roundworms. Anytime you have a stray and most especially, anytime that stray has wounds of unknown origin, you must consider the possibility that this animal could become rabid and therefore take appropriate precautions. Only vaccinated individuals in the practice should touch this animal and even those should be gloved. Does this always happen? Of course not and for a variety of reasons.
So this kitten was admitted for treatment of her wounds, worms and some general supportive care as well as observation.
The wounds were cleaned up, she was given a dose of Revolution and subcutaneous fluids and put on oral antibiotics. She was given food and water and nice bed to rest in.
The next morning, she was found to be profoundly neurologic in her behavior/ambulation. It would come and go. She was also drooling.
Since this was the case and multiple unvaccinated people had been exposed, the decision was made to euthanize her and have her brain tissue tested. This is a serious public health issue.
Today we found out she was negative, but clearly she had some serious neurologic issue and would likely have no survived anyhow. Now we know that several people do not need to get vaccinated or boostered.
Rabies is OUT there and most definitely is in Pennsylvania. Again, vaccines are not very expensive. It's the MINIMUM to get for any pet - barn cats and cats you "just feed" out back are the primary domestic sources of rabies. Get them vaccinated. You are protecting human health as well as the horses, sheep, cows, dogs, etc that live near them.
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Today I had a dog that was heart worm positive. He lives in the Poconos. He never travelled out of them. He was only 1 1 1/2 yrs old and was not on prevention. Heartworm is OUT there and in PA too! Keep your dogs on prevention...year round.
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