Rabies Vaccine

[MyPemCharlie]

She should do great. Like Peggy said, we hear about the very small percentage of problems now because of the internet. It would be a good time to ask your vet his opinions on future vaccinations. Some vets still want to vaccinate against every possible disease with an alphabet soup of products. Others are more on the minimum requirements side of the table, and some are "in-between".

[Michael Romanos]

Peggy - we are imdeed an island but there are six countries in the world that are rabies-free and one of them is Australia which is a continent and full of four legged wild life. New Zealand does have many foir legged wild animals - such as possum, deer, pig, thar, weasel, stoat, goat, ferel cat, wallaby, horse etc

[Peggy]

Originally Posted by Michael Romanos

Peggy - we are imdeed an island but there are six countries in the world that are rabies-free and one of them is Australia which is a continent and full of four legged wild life. New Zealand does have many foir legged wild animals - such as possum, deer, pig, thar, weasel, stoat, goat, ferel cat, wallaby, horse etc

Australia is also an island. A continent yes, but an island too. No common boundries with another country.

The point is that while you have wild animals and I did not imply you did not, you do not have a border with another country they can cross at will.

It's the countries that have common borders that are not rabies free.

Peggy

[Michael Romanos]

There are currently more than six countries that are rabies-free and therefore rabies inoculation of dogs are unnecessary. They are: New Zealand, Austraila, Fiji, Guam, Ireland, Britain, Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Japan and Taiwan as well as the islands of Hawaii.

Some of these countries have borders with other countires. That is not the point of rabies carrier animals - the point is who these animals are. Mostly the carriers are dogs. Raccoons in the USA are a major carrier of rabies.

[LaRogue]

I don't know where PA rates on the US scale, but we definitely have rabies. Every summer airplanes drop rabies bait along the creeks and and a few years ago a little girl was bitten by a rabid baby skunk. They closed the park, trapped, tested the skunks and some tested positive for rabies. Our rabies vaccine is every 3 years. I don't know if you can get a waiver for it or not.

[Peggy]

Originally Posted by Michael Romanos

There are currently more than six countries that are rabies-free and therefore rabies inoculation of dogs are unnecessary. They are: New Zealand, Austraila, Fiji, Guam, Ireland, Britain, Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Japan and Taiwan as well as the islands of Hawaii.

Some of these countries have borders with other countires. That is not the point of rabies carrier animals - the point is who these animals are. Mostly the carriers are dogs. Raccoons in the USA are a major carrier of rabies.

Now I didn't say that no countries with common borders were rabies free. I said the ones you mentioned the first time were islands and the main reason they are rabies free is due to no common borders. I've not heard that Finland, Norway and Sweden are rabies free.

Skunks are one of the major carriers of rabies in the US, more so than raccoons. Also bats. It's rare for a dog to have rabies to be honest. There aren't many cases of dogs having rabies. Very few if any per year.

Peggy

[MyPemCharlie]

You are both right. Dogs are the largest carrier of rabies...in the world. In the United States, we have very few cases of domestic animal (dogs and cats) rabies. The US rabies has moved to the wild population: skunks, raccoons, and bats (among others).

Austin boasts the largest colony of bats in North America during the Spring and Summer. Thousands of pregnant bats migrate to Austin from Mexico in March/April and by the mid-summer peak there are as many as 1.5 million bats. Tourists congregate at the Congress Bridge (where the bats sleep all day) at sunset. When the sun sets, hundreds of thousands of bats take flight to go munch on insects all night. It's really quite an amazing sight!

Anyway, we had hundreds of documented cases of rabid bats here in 2007, while not one single domestic dog or cat tested positive for rabies during the same year. The health department also thinks that only 50% of dog owners comply with the rabies vaccination law here. Is it possible that generations of immuzing for rabies has caused our dogs to be born with an immunity? Or are the rabid bats just finding other "meals"?

Things that make you go "Hmmmmm"....

[Michael Romanos]

I don't think borders or no borders is the absolute crux for becoming rabies free. Britain has countries within a country and Australia has several states and a large island close to the mainland. NZ is made up of four main islands. Hawaii is similar. The Scandanavian countries are of course connected directly to Europe. It''s a shame that the bats in the USA and probably Canada are rabid rabies carriers because most countries have bats who are not so lethal. Britain have bats who can carry rabies but it has not stopped that nation from becoming rabies-free for dogs.

[MyPemCharlie]

The US is almost rabies-free for dogs. My last post may not have communicated that clearly.

[Chip's Mom]

Has anyone ever seen a rabid animal other then on Old Yeller? A animal no matter what the species is can attack a dog or cat and give them rabies. The vaccine protects them from getting the rabies. There has now been a few reported cases of rabied fox, raccoon, skunk in our area.

[MyPemCharlie]

Other than movie dogs, Old Yeller and Cujo, I've never seen a "confirmed" rabid animal. While I was at University of Texas I saw several live and dead bats on campus...which I would almost assume were rabid.

I will certainly be keeping Charlie "legal" with the rabies vaccine. We haven't had any dogs or cats with rabies here in Austin, but it wouldn't be worth the risk.

Our state health services department publishes a map of confirmed rabies cases with type of animal and the county where the rabid animal was found. I'd expect many states publish the same data for anyone who's curious. I found it kind of interesting.

Link to Texas 2007 "Rabies" maps:

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/idcu/dis..._positives.jpg

[Peggy]

Originally Posted by Chip's Mom

Has anyone ever seen a rabid animal other then on Old Yeller? A animal no matter what the species is can attack a dog or cat and give them rabies. The vaccine protects them from getting the rabies. There has now been a few reported cases of rabied fox, raccoon, skunk in our area.

Nope, and I hope I never do!

Peggy