Pet Lovers

[Foxxee]

Your cat might only need an antibiotic for an infection starting at the wound.  

My sister's neutered male cat was always getting in fights with neighbor cats...he didn't want them or anybody he didn't know on HIS property, particularly when he was out GUARDING at night. 

Sometimes she'd hear them fighting, Nutsy, his name, an orange cat, screaming at the top of his lungs.  My sister would grab her flashlight and run outside to get him.  He wasn't at all happy about that. 

Meanwhile, his sister cat, not his real sister, Tweety with Tweety black and white colors, was sleeping soundly inside the house like a good girl. 

One time I stayed with her a few nights when Nutsy made himself comfortable on the roof of my car.  I guess he had a better vantage point for seeing if anyone was sneaking around HIS house.  I think he thought of himself as a security camera.  

I wouldn't have let him out at night, but he wasn't my cat.  

At times, he did have a temperature.  The vet treated his wounds and gave him an antibiotic and all was well.  Immunity from vaccinations often last much longer than expiration dates.  

I'd change vets.

Prayers for Bud.  

[ThinkingOutLoud]

I'd report this vet to the state! Who knows how many others have gotten the same treatment or how many more will if someone doesn't speak up.

[Mindy D]

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@SXMGirl wrote:

@happycat  Bud was a stray and got his vaccines before he ever came into our home.  I took him to the vet as soon as he would let me pick him up.  I have no idea whether this is being overly cautious or new policy in this day and age.  I really feel that if this is a state policy that they are really overstepping.  

Starting tomorrow, I will probably set him up in one of the bedrooms so that he has more freedom.  What I am really hoping is that we get a call from the vet very soon stating that he can be out of quarantine, just so that he can wander in the house.

@DiAnne  They seem to go hand-in-hand, but the shot seemed to be the bigger deal.

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@SXMGirl It could be because there is a rabies alert in your area. 

[SXMGirl]

@Mindy D  Nothing that I could find on a rabies alert or outbreak in our state.

@Foxxee   I believe that he received an antibiotic in the office, along with the rabies shot, in all of the 5 minutes that he was in the office.  I was surprised that they did not send him home with more meds other than pain.  In fact, since I do not hear very well, I asked DH if he was sure that they were pain pills, and he told me that it was only if Bud seemed to need them.

[Marp]

@SXMGirl,  could the quarantine be because your cat clearly has a bite injury but you could not definitively tell the vet the source of the bite?  That, coupled with him being an inside/outside cat could make the vet consider a rabid animal bite.

If it is the rabies vaccination that was days past due you could have the vet titer to determine if the last vaccination is still therapeutically active.

[SXMGirl]

@Marp  It is possible, but not probable, that the bite came from a rabid animal.  I feel sure that it came from our old cat, who has a tendency to snuggle up to any of the pets (and me), and then take a bite.  One bite and the rest steer clear of her for a while until they forget.  She and Bud have never really gotten along.

I could have the vet titer, but I still do not think that a few days would make a difference in effectiveness of the vaccine.

[Marp]

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@SXMGirl wrote:

@Marp  It is possible, but not probable, that the bite came from a rabid animal.  I feel sure that it came from our old cat, who has a tendency to snuggle up to any of the pets (and me), and then take a bite.  One bite and the rest steer clear of her for a while until they forget.  She and Bud have never really gotten along.

I could have the vet titer, but I still do not think that a few days would make a difference in effectiveness of the vaccine.

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@SXMGirl,  are you by chance in North Carolina?  I agree that your cat being bitten by a rabid animal is highly unlikely but if you are in NC the laws are anachronistic.  The state will not accept titering for rabies vaccine.

My cat is 100% inside but I still have to keep up her rabies vaccines because she has seizures (controlled).  If she should have a seizure and she should scratch or bite me and I require medical attention she would have to be quarantined for 60 days--no exceptions--if her rabies vaccine is not current.  I live in NC.

[Icegoddess]

Wow, I have let mine lapse several times, and even on purpose since I have indoor-only cats.  It's never been a problem.  I have even gotten a letter a couple of times to excuse my cat (two different cats at different times) from getting vaccines because they were in poor health.  I always get the 3-yr vaccine now although I do still take them in once a year.  Can the cats take turns in the cage?  Sounds like it's a big one.

[SXMGirl]

@Marp  I am in Delaware, and our state accepts titering for older pets.  While I do not know how old Bud really is, I think he is probably about 9 years old.

I am home all day and am out and about in our yard.  Bud usually just sits on the deck or he will go out in the yard with our dogs.  When he decided that he liked our home and just moved in, I had been feeding him outside (with a heated house for him to sleep) for almost a year.  Once he walked in the house, I did not want him wandering, especially at night.  Being a former city girl, I would yell out the door (I am sure that the neighbors loved it) "Bud, last call."  Bud would come running.  So, Bud spends a lot of time in the house, and more now that he is older.

I think that I am just finding this entire situation hard to believe--not that he had a bite, but it just seems to have blown up into something much bigger.  Luckily, he is sleeping and I know that he is already feeling better.

[SurferWife]

That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.  A few days late on his vaccinations?  Oh please...I know many pet owners who don't even have their pets vaccinated.  They are riskier to be around than one whose vaccinations were a few days late.  This is pure madness.