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Rabid cat captured in West Roxbury
By adamg on Thu, 11/20/2008 - 4:42pm
Boston Police report a domestic house cat captured on Park Street last weekend was euthanized after it was reported to have rabies.
Click on the link for way more info than you probably want to know about what to do if you think you've been bitten by a rabid animal (go figure: there are an average of 100 rabid cats reported in Massachusetts each year - people, get your pet immunized, will ya?).
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Comments
Executed for having a
Executed for having a disease. We need a referendum about this.
Maybe the Ay-rabs er
Maybe the Ay-rabs er sumfin.
Seriously, folks. This is a major problem here. I've a cat who died of kitty AIDS this summer: all he did was get out of the house for like two days a couple years ago. You need to keep your domestic cats IN THE HOUSE. (Keep up their innoculations, as well. We can discuss that further.) Not just for their safety, but for the safety of local birds, other fauna, etc.
Easier Said than Done
We keep our guys' shots up because we have a lock picker in the house. He has, in the past, figured out how to unlock and open some of the windows in the house - it takes him a while, but he's determined in a way that is most feline! He has also pushed the sliding door open, and a sliding window as well, and shoved out through the screen.
How does a cat do this? He has long toes, he is very large and strong, and he never, never, never gives up!
If we let him out during the day, he doesn't escape at night when his chances of being eaten or contacting wildlife increase greatly (as does the chance of wildlife entering our home through the damaged and open spaces). If he is kept in, he finds a way out at night.
So you say.
I had discipline in my household until I had over 21 males as roommates.
I didn't have authority over them. In spite of my rules and my cat being immunized, he still contracted his a fatal disease.
If you can't establish basic rules in your household, that's your problem. Keep your animals innoculated, and don't b*tch here. Especially, don't pretend to have moral authority over others who have followed the rules.
Oh, Really
Excuse me? I'm not the one who entered the scene with a blanket statement moralization about "following absolute rules" about always keeping cats in. I merely pointed out that vaccination is the more effective route to take because ... CATS GET OUT. Even friends of ours who once held the belief that any cat can be kept inside always learned quickly about blocking certain windows, barring the sliding door and window, and looking sharp when catsitting our crew.
The veterinarian couple across the street, one of whom is our cats' vet, has started letting one of theirs out at daytime when they are around because he made life hell and took running jumps to claw and climb over them when they got home if they didn't. Their cat also subverted window screens to escape.
Discipline? Cats? Maybe if I were awake and around 24/7, but please.
I'm sorry to hear that you lost your companion and that you are still grieving in many ways. I lost my first cat and childhood friend to "feline leukemia", before they really know what it was or what caused it. But you must understand that if you post stuff here, particularly absolutist rules about stuff with insinuations about "lacking discipline" and all that, people WILL disagree with you out of, well, experience?
Day isn't the safe way
A nocturnal animal out during the day is a characteristic of a rabid animal. Listen to the American Life from Halloween. A woman describes her attack from a rabid raccoon in her driveway during the day.
This is why updated shots are the law.
Vaccinate Indoor Pets, too
We had neighbors in Arlington who were warning everybody because their dogs were attacked by an insane racoon through a screen door. Even though they were inside, they were exposed. They had to be revaccinated, but they were okay.
My cats have gotten into indoor/outdoor hissing matches through windows in the back of our house, which are nearly at grade due to the slope. Wildlife have been known to invade homes as well - bats, squirrels, etc.
Poor kitty
euthanized after it tested positive for rabies
Actually the reverse happens. Since the test for rabies virus is performed on brain tissue, euthanization occurs first, based on history and observation. The diagnosis is one of those good news - bad news things; either way, you've got a dead cat.
Vaccinating pets is the sensible way to go,
but I guess there's no guarantee that even an immunized pet won't contract rabies. I remember being at Angel Memorial Animal Hospital with my pet macaw for a yearly check-up and grooming and witnessing a rather unsettling incident where one 12 or 13 y/o girl's pet cat had been outdoors the night before, been bitten by some animal and was serioiusly ill. Whether or not this family's pets had been vaccinated, I don't know. However, the 12 or 13 y/o girl was visibly upset, because the mother pointedly said that they were not going to get any more animals if her cat died, because they couldn't afford any more. Admittedly, my heart kind of went out to the girl who owned the seriously ill cat, especially because the younger sister chimed in, rather condescendingly, siding with the mother. I don't know whether the sick cat lived or not.