Posted by Ryan in NJ on Thursday, August 03, 2006 at 6:59PM :
In Reply to: @#$&$* Bat / Off-Topic but important posted by Ken C. on Thursday, August 03, 2006 at 1:50PM :
I am a animal control officer in New Jersey. I run into to this all the time i was actually at the rabies lab today getting 4 tested today,that were killed by a cat. Even if your cat killed the bat and had rabies shots you can still contract it, if any of the bats saliva is left on its fur and you pet it and have an open wound. I'm glad you brought it up to spread the word. Rabies is actually very rare in bats, but since you only have to be exposed to saliva you are most likely to contract rabies from bats because you never know you were exposed. The vaccine prevents you from getting the disease. if you are not vaccinated it is always fatal. Cases of human rabies is extremely rare only about one case per year in the US. That is because we vaccinate our pets and do preventative testing. In alot of third world countries rabies is a huge problem. Don't be surprised if you feel sick the day after the treatments and have a very sore arm it's a common side effect. Once again thanks for bringing this to everyones attention,you did the right thing by getting the shots, it's not really off topic as there is always a possibility of having some type of rabid animal hiding in all those barn fresh trucks we are all after...
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