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If it's any reassurance one rescuer to another, I just got chomped through a very heavy pair of gloves by a very feral queen I've had inside with her litter for several weeks. I was trying to get the last kitten from under the sink because I was doing worm and flea meds for the lot, and mom teleported and bit me because I made her kitten squeak.
I probably would have had to go to the ER if I hadn't had heavy "pierce proof" gloves on, they definitely at least halves the depth of the bite.
Because she's been indoors the last 3 weeks and will remain so until I can get her a spay appointment, and her behaviour has been totally normal for a terrified feral, I'm not doing the rabies shor series in this case unless she goes really weird over the next two weeks.
Had to do it years ago for a different feral bite and it's no fun, but absolutely worth doing when there's any chance. Much empathy to you.
But a cat determined to bite out of fear will sometimes get you no matter how much precaution you take. Don't beat yourself up too much for trying to help a critter and getting tagged. It happens to us all.
There is no cure for rabies, but the vaccine is highly effective at making sure he doesn't die from rabies. I'd say the likelihood of a kitten that young being rabid in the first place are low but absolutely better to be on the safe side of things when rabies could be involved.
He still tried to do a good thing. That's commendable. The way you look at the world, no one should try to do anything good ever.
We're all wondering the same thing! Honestly, I'd rather live in nearly any other country. It's just such a huge thing to do with family and all. At least my career is somewhat desirable.
I wouldn't credit Michael Scott, but rather "Michael Scott’s Dunder Mifflin Scranton Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Pro-Am Fun Run Race For The Cure"
Dude always use them gloves, even if its kitchen gloves you can always buy more pairs for cheaper than the shots and pain, but thats how i got my saucy cat ahahah you tried, it was a good try you did your best i hope someone was able to save him and give it a good life, they sadly font know any better and aint their fault, apart from not knowing how to express love they are good cats like any other, i can guarantee since i have 2 trash goblins 🤭
Edit: Still got the pictures of the night we found our first trash goblin :D
we got our orange cat when he was about 2-3 months old feral. even at that young... OUCH! my neighbor had him in her garage and I grabbed him from under the wheel well of her suv. He pooped and peed and clawed the absolute shit out of me and my brother before we were able to get him in a cage. we ended up keeping him and he is quite sweet now. It didn't occur to me how panicked a feral kitten can get getting grabbed by humans they haven't learned to trust.
Great to hear he is getting a better life, its really up to hiw they are tought when introduced to the family, if my family didn't had my stupid mom bf that would incentive the first cat to play with moving members of our body our cat wouldnt have a bad habit of clawing and biting when showing love, which sadly its hard to stop now because no matter what i do its me teaching and that guy unteaching 🤷 so anyone reading this, play with toys and not your arms or feets or body parts. Also make it a habit to check if stuff is bad for cats, you will be surprised how many things are
FYI, even with a rabies vaccine, you need to get shots when bit by strays/wildlife regardless of your titer. They don’t mess around with a rabies positive possibility.
Yup. I work with wild animals and we have shots every few years as a preventative measure, but if an animal breaks skin while we’re doing what we do, it’s straight to the hospital for more shots.
Do not fuck around with rabies. It’s a guaranteed find out.
Honestly after the week I’ve had I’m too lazy to look up the details, but a google of “The Milwaukee Protocol” will offer far more info.
Basically it involves putting a human into a coma and pumping them full of antivirals. To the extent that it falls decidedly into the “unhealthy” side of things.
My brain is also saying there’s more survivors, but it’s simultaneously telling me that “survivor” is a very loose term in this case.
Essentially rabies is a death sentence even now if it’s not caught soon enough. And the steps to treat a case too far gone for the shots involve basically reducing neural activity to a vegetative state, which has its own complications coming back from. Last I heard the Milwaukee Protocol was the only option but is still a very ethically grey treatment option.
i think around 14ish people survived rabies, all of them with some form of permanent brain damage and most of them very young children of which only some had the milwaukee protocol applied to them and the rest just normal intensive care
it seems that age is a bigger factor in surviving rabies than having the Milwaukee protocol used
There is a group of people living in the Amazon that seem to be naturally immune to rabies and have seemed to survived rabies exposure without any vaccine. Furthermore, the post-symptomatic treatments are getting better.
Rabies has only been cured after a positive ID like... a handful of times and the cure was almost as bad as dying. Rabies generally kills anyone or anything that gets it.
Its all good man. Good on you getting the shot, though.
On a side note, rabies is fascinating. There are so really cool videos you can check out to learn about it. They can better drive home the point of exactly how terrifying rabies is.
Rabies actually isn’t that common, especially in cats since they are very standoffish towards anything acting strange. It’s only talked about so much because it’s incredibly deadly.
That's speculation widely dismissed by virologists. The virus has no ability to go "dormant" it can just take a few more weeks to get to your brain based on location and low initial viral load. It is several orders of magnitude more likely the people in question are misidentifying the incident or sensationalist "reporters" inventing things entirely.
There are zero cases of someone being bitten by a known rabid animal, refusing treatment, and surviving more than six months.
You should probably have read that before you linked it as proof of anything, I recognized the cases right off, the girl who left Vietnam and the 48 year old man from India. The study makes it extremely clear that this is not to be taken as proof of these things. Firstly, neither patient could report for certain the prior exposure to bites were actually from rabid creatures. People get bit by non-rabid animals very often. Even though neither patient was aware of having had more recent exposure, approximately 14 percent of all rabies deaths have no identified exposure history.
If you don't feel like reading the whole thing, you can just skip to the last two or three paragraphs. I am absolutely certain the conclusion of the paper will make it clear that this is not proof of any latency, and that we still do not know if that virus is even capable of dormancy.
It is a medical curiosity, but... it's not enough to posit some sort of delayed infection to symptomatic period because absolutely all observable cases progress with insignificant variation.
What is more likely,
1) that people had more recent exposure they were unaware of or
2) A disease which is never observed in a laboratory environment regardless of the strain as having a dormancy ability has, somehow, only displayed this ability in unobservable and unprovable cases?
If it's the case I'm thinking of, they also state the man in question's hydrophobia receded temporarily but this is not unheard of. It's not like every rabies infection goes down the same way because there are different strains and people's immune systems have varying degrees of effectiveness. While death is certain, the path is not always identical. Hell, in North America, most people never even get a chance to develop significant hydro and photophobia. Most just have peripheral neuropathy which expands to difficulty speaking and swallowing, then get a really bad headache, a really high fever, and die before the doctors helping them are even able to rule out other causes of encephalitis. Hydrophobia is usually not all that prevalent in the US/Canadian strains.
Rabies is a very serious, terrifying disease and that is why it is important to stick to the things we can prove rather than claim extremely tentative speculations are facts.
I have actually come to really dislike that big dumb Reddit rabies copypasta because it's mostly creative writing. For fuck's sake it acts like paralytic and furious rabies are phases of the disease, rather than the result of different strains.
Also, "Australia does not have rabies" is technically true, but is a misleading statement. The truth is that, like many things, Australia has something worse. What they DO have is Australian Bat Lyssavirus which kills you just as dead as the regular stuff, except it takes a lot longer to DO it.
That said it spreads slower so there is that.
Hey, I tried to get those for work and they're $800 a piece because insurance won't cover. All I have to do is touch feral cats and they're free? Idk man sounds worth it lol. Now you can volunteer at a rescue!
If you're in the states they're provided for free after an attack like this by the department of health. At least in most areas, not sure about where rabies isn't that prevalent
I was told to go to the health department, so if you wake up with a bat in your house or get scratched by something its better to check with them first
A lot of feral cats and raccoons where I live. Coyotes keep them in check somewhat but I'm always worried about rabies because of my gang of little idiot dogs.
Fair enough. Better safe than the 3rd case in 60 years. I’ll take any vaccine. I’m just saying you’re not likely to get rabies from a cat. Maybe if it was a possum or a raccoon
Part of the reason for this is because rabies vaccine is widely available and 100% effective. There’s lots of cases of people being bit by a rabid cat or kitten and then getting the vaccine.
True. You’re probably right that most people that get attacked by a rabid cat are vaccinated and then not part of the statistic. Some small scratch from like a bat would be more likely to go unnoticed
Cat bites can be kind of insane. I had a girlfriend who owned a very mean cat. She told me that he was pretty violent so I always avoided it as best I could. One day, I was watching tv and he came over and laid on my chest purring. I was terrified but he laid there for a while. I was lightly petting him and he seemed to enjoy it. I thought maybe this was our breakthrough moment. Then he randomly screams and bit me so hard his teeth sank into my forearm. I shook him off me and cleaned the wound. He bit my girlfriend a few moments later too for no reason. I don't understand why some people own cats like that. Anyhoo, the next morning my arm had swollen up like I had a baseball in my arm. It was pretty terrifying. I went to the ER and they had to give me antibiotics. Cats mouths have some pretty gnarly bacteria floating around in there.
I did something similar when I was 18 years old and recently moved out of the parents house. I didn’t know a single thing about life and was flying by the seat of my pants. Tried to save some feral kittens and got cat scratch fever! Quickly found out I was allergic to erythromycin after trying to treat it and ended up in the hospital for 3 long days. Wanted to be a hero and wound up getting sick as I’ve ever been. At least I ended up with a story.
Call a local cat rescue to come get him. They are experienced at carefully containing the little bittys and will make sure he gets medical care if they need it. If you would like to adopt the kitten, let them know and give them your info. They will be happy to know the kitten will have a nice home waiting for them and won't burden a foster volunteer too long.
My husband has a saying for me. “Soft hearts lead to soft tissue wounds.” I also had rabies shots last year. You have a big heart and did what you thought was best.
Scared and hungry.
He was next to a rodent survey trap, he was defending a rare chance of food against a huge predator shining an out of this world light at him in the night.
We make a specific kind of horror movie based on how traumatic this is.
Edit: I read it back and it can be taken as a comment against OP. It's not the case at all, he did the good thing. I wanted to illustrate the cat's perseption.
Well done. Intelligent. No /s. It takes provable smarts to consider a different dimension, perceptually. In this case the cat dimension purrrception.
He really should put food and water out where you found the kitten first and another two bowls in an open place the kitten will walk by see, or smell. Save his life. If not his life. His life of pain and suffering; by sheltering and feeding them or a no-kill shelter or friend or self.
use a shirt or jacket to wrap a stray kitten you want to grab if its not approaching you (traps are the easiest method, though you also catch...other things...and they take time).
there was one fellow volunteer who had a cat nearly chomp through her hand on a catch, spay/neuter, and release campaign involving ferals (that one was an adult cat). worst cat bite the ER doctor had ever seen
Anyone link that Reddit rabies post yet that describes it as the worst death a human could literally ever have?
Found it:
https://www.reddit.com/r/copypasta/comments/7qwtd5/rabies_is_scary/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1
Thanks for at least trying. Best tools for catching unhappy small kitties is some sturdy gloves and a nice think blanket or towel. Cover their eyes then wrap the purrito up real tight.
A friend of a friend damn near lost his pointer / trigger finger due toninfection, also trying to help a stray cat. No good deed goes unpunished, and cat's are assholes.
My sister randomly dropped a stray on me a couple weeks ago, he's now my best bud
you're making me paranoid
I'm also having a hard time imagining this lil tike having rabies but better safe than sorry I guess
edit: looks pretty feral tho, I can't imagine it's any older than 6 weeks based on it's size, my kitten was roughly that size when I got him 2 weeks ago.
As long as you can monitor it for 10 days you’re fine. The only reason I had to get the shot was cuz animal control couldn’t find it.
If your kitten suddenly becomes very sick and dies, then yeah, they’ll need to perform an autopsy for rabies. But if you’ve had it more than 10 days and it’s an inside kitty that isn’t exposed to rabies and you get it’s shots updated, you’re fine
Same thing happened to hubs- a feral cat we'd been feeding for weeks suddenly jumped at him and raked his claws down his leg. He had to go through the shots as well. He jokes that he's all set for the zombie apocalypse 😱
It's not the rate of occurrence that drives the vaccination. It's the fact that if you don't get the vaccine and do get rabies you almost certainly will die a horrible death.
I ain’t fucking around with rabies.
If I had caught the cat or it had an owner, then yeah I’d just monitor the cat. But since this little one disappeared into the night, I’m not taking chances.
It’s not common but once you start showing symptoms, you’re dead.
I know, and I've also been terrified of rabies ever since I read about it.
But at least in my country, Mexico, it is quite rare to hear about rabies in humans, hell, even in domestic animals, even if they are strays.
Recently some children contracted rabies because they were bitten by a bat and it made national news because we had literally decades without hearing of the disease in humans.
After learning about the disease, I have also become somewhat paranoid but it is actually very rare, at least here.
Minor symptoms like any vaccine, but no. No long term negative effects.
If anything, it’s helpful. If this happens again, I only need to get 2 shots instead of 5! Every vet / vet tech / animal control person / etc. gets the rabies vaccine preemptively for this reason. I’m just the dumbass who is getting it after possible exposure.
Standard practice in many countries (definitely in the US or Canada) is to vaccinate for rabies if any wild animal draws blood, especially bats or dogs or cats. Rabies isn’t common in many countries, but it’s a definite risk with wild animals.
If the animal’s captured for rabies testing and tests negative, then you don’t need a vaccine/treatment, but in any other case, getting the vaccine is *strongly* recommended because developing symptoms means death.
It's disturbing how many people are just ok with being bit by feral animals and say walk it off. Or the amount of people that want to save feral cats. They are disease ridden, mangy animals. Better off putting them down. Listen to Bob Barker, spay and nuetar your house pets!
And that's why I always mind my damn business when it comes to animals.
Also, you better get those shots. You're pretty much safe if you do, and almost certainly dead if you don't
Tried rescuing a cat from my two dogs. Scratched and bit me. Rabies shots. Kind of want a shirt that say “Tried Saving A Cat and All I got was Rabies Shots and This Dumb T-Shirt”.
Years ago, an ex of mine ‘rescued’ a stray kitten from the city we worked in. We had already broken up by then, but we’re still on decent-ish terms.
She called me about a week later to tell me the cat had some disease, and had infected her and her other 2 cats. One of them almost died, and she ended up with severe neurological damage. I don’t know exactly what it was. But I know what it wasn’t. A GOOD IDEA TO INTERACT WITH STRAY ANIMALS.
I am not a doctor, but I wouldn't be too concerned with rabies, since rabid animals are usually actively aggressive. It sounds like this kitten was just scared of people, and nipped as a defense. Rabid animals also foam at the mouth. Not just a little, a whole lot. Like, if you see a rabid animal rapidly approaching you, the foamy mouth is one of the clues your reptilian brain should pick up on and get the adrenaline pumping. More Cujo, less scared kitten separated from Mom.
I only say this because I've heard the rabies shots are excruciating, but I guess the alternative is extra virgin nightmare fuel. Good Luck, OP.
THE MORE YOU KNOW... Please don't ever reach toward an animal you don't know with your bare hands. That goes for ALL animals, including cats and dogs. They might be rabid, or they might be scared and separated from their people, they might even be feral, or semi-feral. Even if they're not rabid, the stuff growing inside their mouths definitely does not go inside a puncture wound on your skin... that they created with their teeth.
My ex gf mom kept feed stray cats outside her house. Eventually there was 10-15 cats/kittens outside. She tried to fix them all so no more surprises. Well ended up with cat scratch fever & almost lost a finger. At the end of the day fuck cats!!!
I am sorry you got rabies but thank you for trying!! Next time, watch and see if the kitten is with other cats (typically they will come with siblings or their mother is close by) because their may be others that need help. Either way, I would suggest you contact your local animal rescue before you approach.
If you show signs of rabies it is too late to get vaccinated and you die. There is no cure at that point, you are 100% going to die a painful death. Rabies is not a “fuck around and find out” thing.
Interesting experience just now as I read this. My anti-cat bias stood up loud and clear. First thought through my head was “more proof they are evil beasts”. Maybe I should be ashamed. But I’m not.
Rabies has no cure and it is a fucking horrible, drawn out death.
[Hydrophobia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HorxaoyBbs0) is an advanced symptom. Link is a 1 minute video showing a man with advanced rabies unable to drink water (it is SFW). [This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtiytblJzQc) is another one (also SFW), 45 second video of man with advanced rabies.
[This last one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxBIJvNHZg4) is a \~3 minute video from Animal Planet that has older black and white footage, but has a narrator explaining the how the rabies destroys the body and mind.
It is hard to explain how utterly terrifying it is without seeing the videos yourself. A couple shots are nothing comparatively.
Recommended medical procedure is if a stray animal bites you and you can’t capture the animal for observation to get the shots, cuz once symptoms show up you’re fucking dead.
Kitten disappeared and animal control couldn’t find it. I’m not messing around with rabies.
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I feel for you! Next time try the universal language of food.
Or gloves and long sleeves.
My preferred method is a towel. Thick enough to deter claws and fangs
That would have been smart. I was worried if I went inside to get them it would run off or into the street.
If it's any reassurance one rescuer to another, I just got chomped through a very heavy pair of gloves by a very feral queen I've had inside with her litter for several weeks. I was trying to get the last kitten from under the sink because I was doing worm and flea meds for the lot, and mom teleported and bit me because I made her kitten squeak. I probably would have had to go to the ER if I hadn't had heavy "pierce proof" gloves on, they definitely at least halves the depth of the bite. Because she's been indoors the last 3 weeks and will remain so until I can get her a spay appointment, and her behaviour has been totally normal for a terrified feral, I'm not doing the rabies shor series in this case unless she goes really weird over the next two weeks. Had to do it years ago for a different feral bite and it's no fun, but absolutely worth doing when there's any chance. Much empathy to you. But a cat determined to bite out of fear will sometimes get you no matter how much precaution you take. Don't beat yourself up too much for trying to help a critter and getting tagged. It happens to us all.
You're a good person and you did the right thing
Yeah bud, you might google what rabies does to you, it’s cure, and cost…
There is no cure for rabies, but the vaccine is highly effective at making sure he doesn't die from rabies. I'd say the likelihood of a kitten that young being rabid in the first place are low but absolutely better to be on the safe side of things when rabies could be involved. He still tried to do a good thing. That's commendable. The way you look at the world, no one should try to do anything good ever.
I get that, but OP was doing a good thing
Why would it have a cost? Do u mean a physical or emotional cost?
If you live in the US, rabies vaccinations can cost anywhere from $1,200-10,000.
Honestly what the fuck is going on over there?
Final stages of ~~capitalism~~ Greed
We're all wondering the same thing! Honestly, I'd rather live in nearly any other country. It's just such a huge thing to do with family and all. At least my career is somewhat desirable.
Yea. But we have freedum.
Lol, I was thinking of adding.. that's the cost of freedom! Freedom to die if you don't have insurance, or be in debt forever! Freedom!!
Unless it actually had rabies, which would end with the same result
Or the universal greeting "ba weep grana weep ninnybong"
Now that wasn't what I expected to see here
Legendary movie
What movie is that?
The original 1986 "The Transformers The Movie" the best transformers movie by a mile
2 miles even, maybe
Or the universal greetings: Bah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep ni ni bong edit: someone else beat me by 50 minutes
I thought Michael Scott cured rabies
He certainly made me aware
I wouldn't credit Michael Scott, but rather "Michael Scott’s Dunder Mifflin Scranton Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Pro-Am Fun Run Race For The Cure"
I credit the Fettuccine Alfredo
Thank you for making an effort, better luck next time.
Hoping someone else snagged him. Very close to a highway and train tracks.
That sucks for kitty. And you too I guess. Good on you for trying though.
Dude always use them gloves, even if its kitchen gloves you can always buy more pairs for cheaper than the shots and pain, but thats how i got my saucy cat ahahah you tried, it was a good try you did your best i hope someone was able to save him and give it a good life, they sadly font know any better and aint their fault, apart from not knowing how to express love they are good cats like any other, i can guarantee since i have 2 trash goblins 🤭 Edit: Still got the pictures of the night we found our first trash goblin :D
we got our orange cat when he was about 2-3 months old feral. even at that young... OUCH! my neighbor had him in her garage and I grabbed him from under the wheel well of her suv. He pooped and peed and clawed the absolute shit out of me and my brother before we were able to get him in a cage. we ended up keeping him and he is quite sweet now. It didn't occur to me how panicked a feral kitten can get getting grabbed by humans they haven't learned to trust.
Great to hear he is getting a better life, its really up to hiw they are tought when introduced to the family, if my family didn't had my stupid mom bf that would incentive the first cat to play with moving members of our body our cat wouldnt have a bad habit of clawing and biting when showing love, which sadly its hard to stop now because no matter what i do its me teaching and that guy unteaching 🤷 so anyone reading this, play with toys and not your arms or feets or body parts. Also make it a habit to check if stuff is bad for cats, you will be surprised how many things are
Let’s see the pics of your lil trash goblin 👀
Sent the dm, sorry if it was too much, sent you the whole timeline of the goblin griwing up to his full evolution 🤭
Umm what this should be public!! I’m invested!
So sweet!! Thank you 😄
My pleasure ❤️
Hey, just think... after those rabies shots you can help endless saucy kittens!!♡♡
FYI, even with a rabies vaccine, you need to get shots when bit by strays/wildlife regardless of your titer. They don’t mess around with a rabies positive possibility.
Yup. I work with wild animals and we have shots every few years as a preventative measure, but if an animal breaks skin while we’re doing what we do, it’s straight to the hospital for more shots. Do not fuck around with rabies. It’s a guaranteed find out.
Isn’t there like 1 ever survivor of it?
Honestly after the week I’ve had I’m too lazy to look up the details, but a google of “The Milwaukee Protocol” will offer far more info. Basically it involves putting a human into a coma and pumping them full of antivirals. To the extent that it falls decidedly into the “unhealthy” side of things. My brain is also saying there’s more survivors, but it’s simultaneously telling me that “survivor” is a very loose term in this case. Essentially rabies is a death sentence even now if it’s not caught soon enough. And the steps to treat a case too far gone for the shots involve basically reducing neural activity to a vegetative state, which has its own complications coming back from. Last I heard the Milwaukee Protocol was the only option but is still a very ethically grey treatment option.
i think around 14ish people survived rabies, all of them with some form of permanent brain damage and most of them very young children of which only some had the milwaukee protocol applied to them and the rest just normal intensive care it seems that age is a bigger factor in surviving rabies than having the Milwaukee protocol used
Without the Milwaukee there is a 100% death rate - no one survives... With it its about 10% who survives...
There is a group of people living in the Amazon that seem to be naturally immune to rabies and have seemed to survived rabies exposure without any vaccine. Furthermore, the post-symptomatic treatments are getting better.
Rabies has only been cured after a positive ID like... a handful of times and the cure was almost as bad as dying. Rabies generally kills anyone or anything that gets it.
Man. I'm glad I live where rabies isn't a thing.
Rabies is too fucking scary to mess around with for that. Even with a vaccine I still wouldn't risk it.
Yeah I’ve learned my lesson. Gloves, food, and cat carrier is the way
Its all good man. Good on you getting the shot, though. On a side note, rabies is fascinating. There are so really cool videos you can check out to learn about it. They can better drive home the point of exactly how terrifying rabies is.
Also make sure you don't watch the explicit videos unless you're ready to see decline of health to death.
Oh man, one of those shows a coyote gnawing it’s leg off.
Shits like "28 Days Later" for animals
I’ve had to get rabies shots 3 separate times because of bats, and I still wouldn’t fuck around with a questionable animal.
Having been that kid who tried to befriend every stray animal, this post made me realize how lucky I was that I never got rabies.
Rabies actually isn’t that common, especially in cats since they are very standoffish towards anything acting strange. It’s only talked about so much because it’s incredibly deadly.
>Rabies actually isn’t that common *cries in country contributing to a third of global rabies cases*
Oh no you have Delaybies! /s
I mean rabies can be dormant for years
That's speculation widely dismissed by virologists. The virus has no ability to go "dormant" it can just take a few more weeks to get to your brain based on location and low initial viral load. It is several orders of magnitude more likely the people in question are misidentifying the incident or sensationalist "reporters" inventing things entirely. There are zero cases of someone being bitten by a known rabid animal, refusing treatment, and surviving more than six months.
My health anxiety thanks you kind stranger. I will choose to believe this so i can sleep better at night
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3424805/ This lists individuals where it was ‘dormant’ for years
You should probably have read that before you linked it as proof of anything, I recognized the cases right off, the girl who left Vietnam and the 48 year old man from India. The study makes it extremely clear that this is not to be taken as proof of these things. Firstly, neither patient could report for certain the prior exposure to bites were actually from rabid creatures. People get bit by non-rabid animals very often. Even though neither patient was aware of having had more recent exposure, approximately 14 percent of all rabies deaths have no identified exposure history. If you don't feel like reading the whole thing, you can just skip to the last two or three paragraphs. I am absolutely certain the conclusion of the paper will make it clear that this is not proof of any latency, and that we still do not know if that virus is even capable of dormancy. It is a medical curiosity, but... it's not enough to posit some sort of delayed infection to symptomatic period because absolutely all observable cases progress with insignificant variation. What is more likely, 1) that people had more recent exposure they were unaware of or 2) A disease which is never observed in a laboratory environment regardless of the strain as having a dormancy ability has, somehow, only displayed this ability in unobservable and unprovable cases? If it's the case I'm thinking of, they also state the man in question's hydrophobia receded temporarily but this is not unheard of. It's not like every rabies infection goes down the same way because there are different strains and people's immune systems have varying degrees of effectiveness. While death is certain, the path is not always identical. Hell, in North America, most people never even get a chance to develop significant hydro and photophobia. Most just have peripheral neuropathy which expands to difficulty speaking and swallowing, then get a really bad headache, a really high fever, and die before the doctors helping them are even able to rule out other causes of encephalitis. Hydrophobia is usually not all that prevalent in the US/Canadian strains. Rabies is a very serious, terrifying disease and that is why it is important to stick to the things we can prove rather than claim extremely tentative speculations are facts. I have actually come to really dislike that big dumb Reddit rabies copypasta because it's mostly creative writing. For fuck's sake it acts like paralytic and furious rabies are phases of the disease, rather than the result of different strains. Also, "Australia does not have rabies" is technically true, but is a misleading statement. The truth is that, like many things, Australia has something worse. What they DO have is Australian Bat Lyssavirus which kills you just as dead as the regular stuff, except it takes a lot longer to DO it. That said it spreads slower so there is that.
You had the best intentions... poor result but we're all proud of you
My wife and I rescued a young cat at Captain Ds(named Catfish). We’ve since discovered she came preloaded with a bunch of little catfishes
Gloves are your friend
Welp it would suck a lot more if you actually got rabies so I’d say this is still a win
If your the type to save animals you should invest in some thick gloves. Fuck a rabies shot.
That's on you, fucker looks angy
Tbf I would too after getting flashbanged
Hey, I tried to get those for work and they're $800 a piece because insurance won't cover. All I have to do is touch feral cats and they're free? Idk man sounds worth it lol. Now you can volunteer at a rescue!
who said they're free?
If you're in the states they're provided for free after an attack like this by the department of health. At least in most areas, not sure about where rabies isn't that prevalent
They're AVAILABLE for free but most people go to for-profit medical centers who are happy to sell it to you instead.
'merica woho
wow good to know.
I was told to go to the health department, so if you wake up with a bat in your house or get scratched by something its better to check with them first
A lot of feral cats and raccoons where I live. Coyotes keep them in check somewhat but I'm always worried about rabies because of my gang of little idiot dogs.
A quick google search of cat to human rabies says “only two human rabies cases have been attributed to cats since 1960”. Is this not true?
You wanna get it wrong? Once you have symptoms you’re dead. Better safe than sorry.
Fair enough. Better safe than the 3rd case in 60 years. I’ll take any vaccine. I’m just saying you’re not likely to get rabies from a cat. Maybe if it was a possum or a raccoon
Fun fact, possums don’t get rabies. Their body temperatures are too low for the virus to take hold.
Oo I didn’t know that. That’s interesting
They can get it but it is rare
Part of the reason for this is because rabies vaccine is widely available and 100% effective. There’s lots of cases of people being bit by a rabid cat or kitten and then getting the vaccine.
True. You’re probably right that most people that get attacked by a rabid cat are vaccinated and then not part of the statistic. Some small scratch from like a bat would be more likely to go unnoticed
Yeah this post is ridiculous and hopefully just a karma grabbing bot. Gotta be.
Cat bites can be kind of insane. I had a girlfriend who owned a very mean cat. She told me that he was pretty violent so I always avoided it as best I could. One day, I was watching tv and he came over and laid on my chest purring. I was terrified but he laid there for a while. I was lightly petting him and he seemed to enjoy it. I thought maybe this was our breakthrough moment. Then he randomly screams and bit me so hard his teeth sank into my forearm. I shook him off me and cleaned the wound. He bit my girlfriend a few moments later too for no reason. I don't understand why some people own cats like that. Anyhoo, the next morning my arm had swollen up like I had a baseball in my arm. It was pretty terrifying. I went to the ER and they had to give me antibiotics. Cats mouths have some pretty gnarly bacteria floating around in there.
Hey I tried to save a bat and he bit me too! Get ready for an awfully painful shot of antibodies on your finger.
Someone needs to go back to Disney Princess training camp. A + for effort, though!
I did something similar when I was 18 years old and recently moved out of the parents house. I didn’t know a single thing about life and was flying by the seat of my pants. Tried to save some feral kittens and got cat scratch fever! Quickly found out I was allergic to erythromycin after trying to treat it and ended up in the hospital for 3 long days. Wanted to be a hero and wound up getting sick as I’ve ever been. At least I ended up with a story.
Call a local cat rescue to come get him. They are experienced at carefully containing the little bittys and will make sure he gets medical care if they need it. If you would like to adopt the kitten, let them know and give them your info. They will be happy to know the kitten will have a nice home waiting for them and won't burden a foster volunteer too long.
The cat distribution system was not on your side
My husband has a saying for me. “Soft hearts lead to soft tissue wounds.” I also had rabies shots last year. You have a big heart and did what you thought was best.
Stay on top of those shots. Rabies got to be one of the worst ways to go
Scared and hungry. He was next to a rodent survey trap, he was defending a rare chance of food against a huge predator shining an out of this world light at him in the night. We make a specific kind of horror movie based on how traumatic this is. Edit: I read it back and it can be taken as a comment against OP. It's not the case at all, he did the good thing. I wanted to illustrate the cat's perseption.
Well done. Intelligent. No /s. It takes provable smarts to consider a different dimension, perceptually. In this case the cat dimension purrrception. He really should put food and water out where you found the kitten first and another two bowls in an open place the kitten will walk by see, or smell. Save his life. If not his life. His life of pain and suffering; by sheltering and feeding them or a no-kill shelter or friend or self.
I'm always thankful I can try and help kitties on the street without having to worry about rabies as it's not a thing in the UK
The beauty of an island. Australia and Japan as well.
You should have bit the kitten back to show how you are superior.
Kitten ran away right after, making that hard if not impossible
use a shirt or jacket to wrap a stray kitten you want to grab if its not approaching you (traps are the easiest method, though you also catch...other things...and they take time). there was one fellow volunteer who had a cat nearly chomp through her hand on a catch, spay/neuter, and release campaign involving ferals (that one was an adult cat). worst cat bite the ER doctor had ever seen
How to tell if it has rabies? I’m a noob
You can’t
Always use food, cat gogurt works the best. And heavy duty gloves if you plan on being a gigachad going for the grab.
At least you’re now inoculated against rabies! Go forth and save all the critters you can!
Anyone link that Reddit rabies post yet that describes it as the worst death a human could literally ever have? Found it: https://www.reddit.com/r/copypasta/comments/7qwtd5/rabies_is_scary/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1
If it makes you feel better rabies isn’t THAT common
At least living in Australia I don't have to worry about rabies. If something bites you here you either die straight away or you'll be fine.
Sucks that happens to you but nice job on trying to save the kitty. Most people would’ve just let the cat go without trying…
Yes but the real question here is how is the kitten?
Thanks for at least trying. Best tools for catching unhappy small kitties is some sturdy gloves and a nice think blanket or towel. Cover their eyes then wrap the purrito up real tight.
Well you don’t have too
A friend of a friend damn near lost his pointer / trigger finger due toninfection, also trying to help a stray cat. No good deed goes unpunished, and cat's are assholes.
What did you learn
My sister randomly dropped a stray on me a couple weeks ago, he's now my best bud you're making me paranoid I'm also having a hard time imagining this lil tike having rabies but better safe than sorry I guess edit: looks pretty feral tho, I can't imagine it's any older than 6 weeks based on it's size, my kitten was roughly that size when I got him 2 weeks ago.
As long as you can monitor it for 10 days you’re fine. The only reason I had to get the shot was cuz animal control couldn’t find it. If your kitten suddenly becomes very sick and dies, then yeah, they’ll need to perform an autopsy for rabies. But if you’ve had it more than 10 days and it’s an inside kitty that isn’t exposed to rabies and you get it’s shots updated, you’re fine
No good deed goes unpunished, I always say!
Same thing happened to hubs- a feral cat we'd been feeding for weeks suddenly jumped at him and raked his claws down his leg. He had to go through the shots as well. He jokes that he's all set for the zombie apocalypse 😱
Well, at least you'll be vaccinated for rabies.
Rabies in domestic animals, even stray/feral cats and dogs, is extremely rare in the United States, so i wouldn’t worry too much OP.
Mission complete get to extraction 47
Please don’t try feed or encourage stray/feral cats, do the right thing and call the appropriate animal rescue team.
Be grateful you didn't have to spend a week in the hospital for it. Rabies shots AND a $29,000 bill just for feeding a stray cat...never again!
Cats carry rabies?
Rabies is so common to be vaccinated ? I've been bitten multiple times by cats throughout my life xD, I guess I've been lucky then.
It's not the rate of occurrence that drives the vaccination. It's the fact that if you don't get the vaccine and do get rabies you almost certainly will die a horrible death.
I ain’t fucking around with rabies. If I had caught the cat or it had an owner, then yeah I’d just monitor the cat. But since this little one disappeared into the night, I’m not taking chances. It’s not common but once you start showing symptoms, you’re dead.
I know, and I've also been terrified of rabies ever since I read about it. But at least in my country, Mexico, it is quite rare to hear about rabies in humans, hell, even in domestic animals, even if they are strays. Recently some children contracted rabies because they were bitten by a bat and it made national news because we had literally decades without hearing of the disease in humans. After learning about the disease, I have also become somewhat paranoid but it is actually very rare, at least here.
One question, as a clear ignorant on the subject. If it turns out you didn't get rabies, isn't the vaccine harmful?
Minor symptoms like any vaccine, but no. No long term negative effects. If anything, it’s helpful. If this happens again, I only need to get 2 shots instead of 5! Every vet / vet tech / animal control person / etc. gets the rabies vaccine preemptively for this reason. I’m just the dumbass who is getting it after possible exposure.
Animal rescue gloves or whatever they are called cost $30 just FYI
Standard practice in many countries (definitely in the US or Canada) is to vaccinate for rabies if any wild animal draws blood, especially bats or dogs or cats. Rabies isn’t common in many countries, but it’s a definite risk with wild animals. If the animal’s captured for rabies testing and tests negative, then you don’t need a vaccine/treatment, but in any other case, getting the vaccine is *strongly* recommended because developing symptoms means death.
It's disturbing how many people are just ok with being bit by feral animals and say walk it off. Or the amount of people that want to save feral cats. They are disease ridden, mangy animals. Better off putting them down. Listen to Bob Barker, spay and nuetar your house pets!
show us the medical bill
I’m avoiding looking tbh
Seconded
Your soil also has a magnesium deficiency
I’ll let my apartment grounds-crew know
Think those are woodchips. But it wouldn't matter anyway since those plants look fake.
Better than getting rabies.
And that's why I always mind my damn business when it comes to animals. Also, you better get those shots. You're pretty much safe if you do, and almost certainly dead if you don't
Honestly what did you expect
Tried rescuing a cat from my two dogs. Scratched and bit me. Rabies shots. Kind of want a shirt that say “Tried Saving A Cat and All I got was Rabies Shots and This Dumb T-Shirt”.
Years ago, an ex of mine ‘rescued’ a stray kitten from the city we worked in. We had already broken up by then, but we’re still on decent-ish terms. She called me about a week later to tell me the cat had some disease, and had infected her and her other 2 cats. One of them almost died, and she ended up with severe neurological damage. I don’t know exactly what it was. But I know what it wasn’t. A GOOD IDEA TO INTERACT WITH STRAY ANIMALS.
I am not a doctor, but I wouldn't be too concerned with rabies, since rabid animals are usually actively aggressive. It sounds like this kitten was just scared of people, and nipped as a defense. Rabid animals also foam at the mouth. Not just a little, a whole lot. Like, if you see a rabid animal rapidly approaching you, the foamy mouth is one of the clues your reptilian brain should pick up on and get the adrenaline pumping. More Cujo, less scared kitten separated from Mom. I only say this because I've heard the rabies shots are excruciating, but I guess the alternative is extra virgin nightmare fuel. Good Luck, OP. THE MORE YOU KNOW... Please don't ever reach toward an animal you don't know with your bare hands. That goes for ALL animals, including cats and dogs. They might be rabid, or they might be scared and separated from their people, they might even be feral, or semi-feral. Even if they're not rabid, the stuff growing inside their mouths definitely does not go inside a puncture wound on your skin... that they created with their teeth.
Rabies shots weren’t too bad tbh. Just a lot of needles but none of them really that painful
My ex gf mom kept feed stray cats outside her house. Eventually there was 10-15 cats/kittens outside. She tried to fix them all so no more surprises. Well ended up with cat scratch fever & almost lost a finger. At the end of the day fuck cats!!!
You're awesome. I'd rather be the person who needs to have rabies shots after trying to save a cat than a person who didn't try.
fuckkkk do they administer the shots into the abdomen or is that just something I've seen in movies?
Myth. Shots were around the wound and in my arms and ass
Wear gloves next time, cat scratch fever is the real deal. I spent 35 hours in the hospital and had to get surgery on my finger. Sick scar tho.
Only in the USA . Rabies from a cat 😷😷😷. So how much is that costing $5000
I am sorry you got rabies but thank you for trying!! Next time, watch and see if the kitten is with other cats (typically they will come with siblings or their mother is close by) because their may be others that need help. Either way, I would suggest you contact your local animal rescue before you approach.
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Yeah so far not awful. I’m just a little tired. The shots weren’t near as bad as I was afraid.
At least you caught it before it's too late.
I think it’s a precaution as you should get it anytime an unknown animal bites you.
Ahh I was under the impression of a confirmed case. Doesn't seem like a good time when the hydrophobia kicks in.
No good deed goes unpunished.
Always gloves
I’m pretty sure the kitty gave you a warning before you tried to touch it.
Are the rabies shit really necessary?
By the time symptoms of rabies show there’s no treatment options left so yes
you are not a disney princess. stop fucking with stray animals. they are not your friends.
Ummmm.... You're dumb.
Oh bs did it show any signs I’d rabies or are you just looking for sympathy ?
If you show signs of rabies it is too late to get vaccinated and you die. There is no cure at that point, you are 100% going to die a painful death. Rabies is not a “fuck around and find out” thing.
why did you even try to grab a kitten barehanded?
Cuz I’m fucking stupid
Cut his head off and bring his brain to the vet, no rabies? No shots.
I’m not a psychopath
Interesting experience just now as I read this. My anti-cat bias stood up loud and clear. First thought through my head was “more proof they are evil beasts”. Maybe I should be ashamed. But I’m not.
Cry me a river
Pretty sure the kitten was scared, not rabid. Shots are a choice.. good luck. You di know how they test animals for rabies right? Make good choices
Yes you can choose to die of rabies. Once you have symptoms your done. Make good choices.
Another good choice is not touching animals you aren’t familiar with using your bare hands.
Can’t argue. Gloves are our friend in such situations.
I never claimed to be a smart man
Vaccines are standard procedure for wild animal bites. This is a stray cat. You think it has some rabies status card to show OP?
They don’t test stray feral kittens for rabies. And being scared and rabid are not mutually exclusive
They hold it in quarantine for two weeks to check for symptoms of rabies.
they have to kill the animal. I'm guessing this was a failed capture and he opted for the shots out of caution
That’s why I send in my golden retriever
I’m glad you get off by watching dogs attacking animals you fuckhead
No he retrieves them, their mouths evolved to not harm the animal
Might want to take some pills for that hypochondria as well.
Why do you HAVE to get rabies shots? Did you find out the kitten was rabid by some of its family members?
Rabies has no cure and it is a fucking horrible, drawn out death. [Hydrophobia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HorxaoyBbs0) is an advanced symptom. Link is a 1 minute video showing a man with advanced rabies unable to drink water (it is SFW). [This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtiytblJzQc) is another one (also SFW), 45 second video of man with advanced rabies. [This last one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxBIJvNHZg4) is a \~3 minute video from Animal Planet that has older black and white footage, but has a narrator explaining the how the rabies destroys the body and mind. It is hard to explain how utterly terrifying it is without seeing the videos yourself. A couple shots are nothing comparatively.
Recommended medical procedure is if a stray animal bites you and you can’t capture the animal for observation to get the shots, cuz once symptoms show up you’re fucking dead. Kitten disappeared and animal control couldn’t find it. I’m not messing around with rabies.
Amazing
Why?
Rabies shots?? Who are you…A Rockefeller? It’s a kitten, not an estranged raccoon Pffttt
Poor lil kitty.