cat with rabies?!?!

[Pigsfoot]

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hey guys,
so at the ER clinic i work for p/t, there was a cat in last night with a mystery illness-she came in for lethargy and hypersalivation, and over the course of the night looked worse and worse-started spinning in her cage, went limp then would go nuts..her inner eyelid almost entirely covering her eye..she had lots of trouble swallowing and had a constant foam of saliva drooling out of her. they endoscoped her, did x-rays...blood work, a ton of stuff that proved inconclusive except it showed she had some gastric ulcers goin on. Then way later someone realized the chart showed the cat had never been vaccinated, was only 1 year old and was probably an outdoor cat. could it be....RABIES?
she didn't have a high temperature yet but who knows...
anyway-i had a point-i came home and looked for 'rabid cat' videos online and couldn't find anything REAL. they're all joke/funny videos. i wanted to see a real rabid cat video so i could compare that to the cat from last night. does anyone know where i could find actual links to real rabid cat footage? maybe there isn't any out there-but i'd like to see it. thanks!

 

[BlacKAT33]

interesting! it could be. there was a kitten in our clinic about 4 yrs ago that came in with a group of other kitties. after all of the staff had played with them the first day they were there, we found out one of them had rabies and then all of the staff had to get checked and were vaccinated. now my vet only allows interns/volunteers to come if they have their rabies shot (its a lot of buckaroos 🙁 )

 

[Pigsfoot]

we have to get rabies shots before vet school, right?

yea, everything i'm reading points to rabies with this cat. even though she had no obvious bite marks on her-apparently the rabies can take months to travel into the nervous system. ugh. i felt so bad for her she looked really uncomfortable........

 

[cowgirla]

we have to get rabies shots before vet school, right?

yea, everything i'm reading points to rabies with this cat. even though she had no obvious bite marks on her-apparently the rabies can take months to travel into the nervous system. ugh. i felt so bad for her she looked really uncomfortable........

I did a quick search, but couldn't find a video--I guess recording the moment is the last thing on everyones mind!

I think you do need to get vaccinated before school. My insurance only covers part of the cost or something like that--They're making me want to go out and get bitten at work so my boss covers the cost!

 

[twelvetigers]

There's a few questionable videos of 'rabid dogs' but nothing that convincing, one poor quality video of a person (a little boy, basically just thirsty, it's sad) and nothing I've ever seen of a cat. I looked pretty hard when I did a presentation just over a year ago. Nothing, nothing. I settled for the standard, haunting picture of an infected dog:

 

[BlacKAT33]

yea i know i read on VMRCVM that we had to get rabies shots before school but i think they provide them or its covered by our insurance as a student... my guess only.

i looked it up again, here is what it says. not extremely informative though

http://www.vetmed.vt.edu/acad/dvm/rabies.asp

 

[Pigsfoot]

the cat definitely looked somewhat like that dog.....i'm just surprised its so hard to find a video. i guess rabies is something that is so under control with domesticated animals its tough to find a real documented case of a *living* aimal with rabies since the absolute diagnosis doesn't come til post-mortem. geh.

 

[Lckynmbrslefman]

You are required to get a series of 3 shots before school and they won't pay for them for you (at least MSU didn't...). Luckily my insurance covered it because it was needed for school but some of my friends' insurance companies didn't. A lot of schools will provide and administer the vaccine but you still have to pay for them. I think at our school they charged around $190 per shot? It's pricey!!

 

[BlacKAT33]

You are required to get a series of 3 shots before school and they won't pay for them for you (at least MSU didn't...). Luckily my insurance covered it because it was needed for school but some of my friend's insurance companies didn't. A lot of schools will provide and administer the vaccine but you still have to pay for them. I think at our school they charged around $190 per shot? It's pricey!!

ya i just remembered, i DID have insurance the last time i got my shot but it didnt cover it!! i even had really good insurance (BCBS) that is accepted everyone and usually covers 90% of most costs.
Also, i wasn't sure if i was too late for a booster or if i should start over with the first shot. The nurse said that it costs the same amt of money to check if you need a booster or not so i should just get the booster anyway even if there was a chance i needed the first shot.

 

[VeganSoprano]

We had.a rabid kitten a couple of years ago. Her neuro signs were pretty nonspecific. She was euth'ed after a few days in hospital for worsening clinical signs despite aggressive tx. She did bite one person, who was vaccinated. The index of suspicion was high enough that only vaccinated staff were allowed to handle her, but in the end she was euth'ed not for suspicion of rabies but for lack of response to tx. Her body was submitted for testing, and she did test positive. In the 9 years I've been working with free roaming cats, it's the only case I've ever seen. There were no other positive rabies tests in cats during that time period.

 

[causticus]

There is actually a pretty severe shortage of rabies vaccine right now. I've heard (just through the grape vine, no idea how valid this is) that some schools aren't currently requring them because of the shortage? Can anyone confirm/deny?

 

[BlacKAT33]

thats odd. i got mine 6 months ago and there was no shortage, maybe its a more recent thing?

 

[Walsh1122]

I received my pre-exposure rabies vaccine through my undergrad institution. I had my health insurance through the school and the insurance company covered the $500 cost (for all three shots). I just had to front it and then was repayed a few weeks later. The following link is to the CDC website which gives you information on who should get the vaccine and when/if you should get a rabies titer/booster shot. From what I was told by the St George's University health dept they requires a booster or titer every two years (going to get mine tomorrow).

http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/exposure/preexposure.html

 

[Walsh1122]

In regards to the shortage I just found this posted on the CDC website. Top of the page where it says spotlight.

http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/

 

[Pigsfoot]

I heard that the aforementioned unfortunate cat was euthanized sometime last night, decap't and her head sent in to the lab for analysis. If she comes back positive, while sad, I will be very glad to know what the warning signs of rabies look like in real life! If they come back negative...well..........weird!

 

[HopefulAg]

We had a similar cat and did the same thing. Euthed, decapped (and scared the **** out of the new kid!), and sent it off to KSU. Turned back with Rabies.

There is actually a pretty severe shortage of rabies vaccine right now. I've heard (just through the grape vine, no idea how valid this is) that some schools aren't currently requring them because of the shortage? Can anyone confirm/deny?

I used to work at a clinical pathology lab and we were supposed to be vaccinated for rabies (since we handled blood) but never got it due to the shortage. There were vet students that couldn't even get it and I was further down the totem pole than that.

 

[eventualeventer]

Wow, I'm glad I got vaccinated last year. My job pays for vaccines and titers for all employees, so that's one less thing to worry about when (!) I get to vet school.

 

[sumstorm]

Not all schools require rabies vax. In some it is STRONGLY recommended, and you may be banned from some activities without it. I had mine over the summer before.

 

[Pigsfoot]

i haven't found one of rabies yet-BUT-here is an interesting archive of videos online from UMN of various symptoms of disorders! woot!

http://xvanat.cvm.umn.edu/neurolvideo/Specie.html

 

[twelvetigers]

I used to work at a clinical pathology lab and we were supposed to be vaccinated for rabies (since we handled blood) but never got it due to the shortage. There were vet students that couldn't even get it and I was further down the totem pole than that.

Ditto! We also handled CSF, which is worse than blood. Actually had a rabid cow (of all things) come through the clinic. Everyone was supposed to get vaccinated because we had touched the unopened tube, but the company that owned said lab would not pay for it. So... if I have a raging case of rabies in a year... the husband knows who to sue.

 

[deleted266066]

I had to get the vaccinations to work in my research lab this year at school (the research involves handling bat blood and trapping/tagging/taking samples from bats). Unfortunately, the lab didn't pay for any of the rounds 🙁 My parents were very nice and paid for it though, and justified it as just part of my "school supplies" for the year lol. I was pretty grateful!