# Rabies vaccine



## Tashauna Medrano (Jul 23, 2011)

So my friends dog killed an opossum last night and she posted this information on Facebook, another friend of hers told her that she should immediatly take her dog to the vet for a rabies shot even if she was current on her vaccines. I thought this was a ridiculous idea. Does it make any sense to vaccinate a dog after the fact? If it does than why do we use them as preventative measures and not just as an after the fact vaccine and save ourselves the worry of over vaccinating animals (other than the state laws)? The part that really pissed me off is that this friend of hers kept saying how I was wrong in my arguments because she was the "veterinary professional" and simple "pet" owners don't know what they are talking about. What are other peoples opinions on giving your dog a vaccine after possible exposure?


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## Charlotte Hince (Oct 7, 2010)

Was the opossum rabid? If it was, sure go for a booster, otherwise eh I don't see the harm really. I'd probably take the dog in for a titre test if I were the sort to get worried about over-vaccination (I'm not and would just get the dog a booster or get my neighbor to give him one).


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## Tashauna Medrano (Jul 23, 2011)

Animal control out here doesn't test animals for rabies if it's dead because it's too expensive so you have to find a vet that will do it and foot the bill yourself to test it. It's rare for opossums to even carry rabies but as far as she could tell it was healthy until the dog got a hold of it.


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## mel boschwitz (Apr 23, 2010)

I was told that booster after exposure is a common protocol. A friend of mine had a dog get attacked by a rabid skunk, and her other dogs may also have been exposed, and she had to get all of her dogs booster shots and then quarantined for 10 days(which meant they couldnt leave property, not locked up at vets office). My understanding is that the rabies vaccine can be effective after exposure if given shortly after that exposure. Considering what could happen otherwise, the friend that is recommending the booster is probably correct.


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## Charlotte Hince (Oct 7, 2010)

Oh, in that case assuming the dog was up to date, I probably would get around to it eventually but it's not an emergent situation. My neighbor's dog kills squirrels frequently and it's not a big deal.


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## Tashauna Medrano (Jul 23, 2011)

Good to know. I was under the impression that it would make the dogs immune system work twice as hard making antibodies for the vaccine and from the attack and put the dog at risk of overloading its ability to fight off the disease. But I agree a booster after the fact is a much better option than taking the chance of the dog getting rabies.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

From my understanding the chances of a possum being rabid is very, very slight to none. Something to do with their low body temperature.


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Tashauna Medrano said:


> So my friends dog killed an opossum last night and she posted this information on Facebook, another friend of hers told her that she should immediatly take her dog to the vet for a rabies shot even if she was current on her vaccines. I thought this was a ridiculous idea. Does it make any sense to vaccinate a dog after the fact? If it does than why do we use them as preventative measures and not just as an after the fact vaccine and save ourselves the worry of over vaccinating animals (other than the state laws)? The part that really pissed me off is that this friend of hers kept saying how I was wrong in my arguments because she was the "veterinary professional" and simple "pet" owners don't know what they are talking about. What are other peoples opinions on giving your dog a vaccine after possible exposure?


Rabies is highly endemic in my area. Not long ago, we had 10 bats test positive in my county in a year. So when my two dogs tried to kill a skunk (and didn't *quite* succeed since it was gasping and gurgling) about two years ago and my male dog had a small wound on his face (maybe a scratch, maybe a bite, I don't know), I asked the vet school what to do since my dog had been recently vaccinated just a few months earlier. They recommended that I could re-booster him if I wanted to, but since it was a few months, he was probably fine, but had it been nearer the end of the 3 year vaccine period to definitely go ahead and administer one. I declined because he has had a vaccine reaction before, so I was also asked to watch him carefully for the next 45 days. I didn't really want to watch him carefully because he reeked of skunk. 

Since I'm at high risk for exposure, I myself am likewise vaccinated for rabies. But even though I am, I would still have to get the post exposure vaccination series that everyone else gets, just a couple fewer of them. Similar in principle if your dog or cat was exposed to a possibly rabid animal. Because it's 99.99% fatal, you don't want to risk it if they haven't recently gotten a vaccination.


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## Melissa Thom (Jun 21, 2011)

Bob Scott said:


> From my understanding the chances of a possum being rabid is very, very slight to none. Something to do with their low body temperature.


I'm near positive this is the case. Far more likely is a run of the mill infection from any bites.


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## eric squires (Oct 16, 2008)

Possums are known as resistent to rabies or in other words not likely to be infected. Standard protocal is to booster after exposure to animals of unknown status. The bigger issue in most cases that do not involve possums is do you seek treatment as the human if you have been exposed to saliva from the dog or blood. We have had several numerous rabies postive animals this year in my area. Skunks, foxes and raccoons With at least one skunk that was young and very small. That one happened to be a friend and his dog. The dog was current on his rabies vaccination, but my friend ended up getting 7 injections on the first visit with 3 more in the near future.


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## Melissa Thom (Jun 21, 2011)

Here we usually try to test the critter before we start sending people out for injections. Post exposure injections and even pre exposure injections are really expensive.

For instance a few weeks ago here my Dad came home and told me the story of a bat he got in at work at the health dept. Where did the people find the bat? In their 18 month old son's mouth. Apparently Ozzy Osborne impersonators start young. One would assume that a toddler who manages to get a hold of a bat enough to chew on it would probably have a sick/rabid bat on his hands. Nope... test came back negative, I'm sure the bat from bat heaven has a doozy of a story to tell his bat ancestors about his last day on earth.

The moral of the story I suppose is that getting rabies is fairly difficult. The reason possom are so resistant to rabies is that low body temp which is supposedly below the virus's reproduction point. In order for the possom to become a disease vector it must be running a fever - so while it is a mammal and it is possible that a possom could get the virus - it's very unlikely. A bit like the stars aligning - you just really don't want to be on the receiving end when those stars do align.


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## Tashauna Medrano (Jul 23, 2011)

Maren Bell Jones said:


> Rabies is highly endemic in my area. Not long ago, we had 10 bats test positive in my county in a year. So when my two dogs tried to kill a skunk (and didn't *quite* succeed since it was gasping and gurgling) about two years ago and my male dog had a small wound on his face (maybe a scratch, maybe a bite, I don't know), I asked the vet school what to do since my dog had been recently vaccinated just a few months earlier. They recommended that I could re-booster him if I wanted to, but since it was a few months, he was probably fine, but had it been nearer the end of the 3 year vaccine period to definitely go ahead and administer one. I declined because he has had a vaccine reaction before, so I was also asked to watch him carefully for the next 45 days. I didn't really want to watch him carefully because he reeked of skunk.
> 
> Since I'm at high risk for exposure, I myself am likewise vaccinated for rabies. But even though I am, I would still have to get the post exposure vaccination series that everyone else gets, just a couple fewer of them. Similar in principle if your dog or cat was exposed to a possibly rabid animal. Because it's 99.99% fatal, you don't want to risk it if they haven't recently gotten a vaccination.


 
Thanks for the input on this I was hoping you would get in on this thread. I always look forward to seeing your view on a lot of the health and diet issues.


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## Tashauna Medrano (Jul 23, 2011)

eric squires said:


> Possums are known as resistent to rabies or in other words not likely to be infected. Standard protocal is to booster after exposure to animals of unknown status. The bigger issue in most cases that do not involve possums is do you seek treatment as the human if you have been exposed to saliva from the dog or blood. We have had several numerous rabies postive animals this year in my area. Skunks, foxes and raccoons With at least one skunk that was young and very small. That one happened to be a friend and his dog. The dog was current on his rabies vaccination, but my friend ended up getting 7 injections on the first visit with 3 more in the near future.


Great point! I tend to forget about the danger to ourselves while we are trying to treat our dogs after a run in with a possible carrier of rabies.


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## Marta Wajngarten (Jul 30, 2006)

Maren, so the only reason for the booster recommendation is in case the immunity from the most recent shot was wearing off?


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

When I did regular earthwork with my terriers I always got a rabies vaccination for myself.


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Marta Wajngarten said:


> Maren, so the only reason for the booster recommendation is in case the immunity from the most recent shot was wearing off?


Particularly since it's not just "oh, get sick with a mild flu" kind of sick but "die an extremely unpleasant, wish for euthanasia and (almost) always fatal" kind of disease. Although rabies is caused by a virus and tetanus is caused by a byproduct of a type of clostridium bacteria, those are two examples of things that because they are either fatal or really really bad, you want to re-administer the vaccine if you got exposed and it's been a while. I'm a judicious vaccinator myself, but I don't muck around with rabies. My dog that got the small wound by the skunk had a vaccine reaction when he was a pup (to the point I premed him with Benedryl when he gets his 3 year rabies), so if it had been any other of my dogs, I would have re-boostered him.


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Tashauna Medrano said:


> Thanks for the input on this I was hoping you would get in on this thread. I always look forward to seeing your view on a lot of the health and diet issues.


Thanks! :wink:


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