Poor Puppy - Travel Plans Put on Hold
This is a painful story to relate, but it's a valuable reminder to keep your pets up to date on their immunizations. In early March, we had a new 8 week old Brittany join our family. She instantly...
Forum Discussion
Methods and times of quarantine and how they are accomplished and whether or not euthanasia is mandated is pretty much out of control of local vets and officials. State laws differ and mandate how each case is handled. Local health departments may step in with more stringent requirements than state, but never more lax.
When importing dogs into rabies free countries or areas (England and Hawaii come to mind) there is (or used to be) 6 month quarantine even for vaccinated animals.
Incubation time varies by species, but it's thought that a dog exposed will show signs with 10 days. Some species can be carriers of rabies and don't show signs of disease for months and months. I think they pick the 6 month as a fail safe time past which it's just about impossible for the dog to have contracted rabies.
Since rabies is a 100% fatal disease if not treated early (OK- there have been a few documented individuals who survived with extensive supportive care), the health officials error on the side of public safety.
Sometimes the laws and regulations we make and have in place don't match the reality as we know it today.
In this situation, I'd think the local health officials would recommend all the people in the family and anyone even tangentially exposed to the bat should get the human rabies prophylaxis vaccine - the one that animal care workers routinely get.
BTW, Indiana mandates that puppies and kittens be vaccinated for rabies at 12 weeks of age, not 16 weeks. Minor difference but the vaccine is labeled for use in animals 12 weeks and older. The 16 weeks is an older protocol.
Doug, DVM
When importing dogs into rabies free countries or areas (England and Hawaii come to mind) there is (or used to be) 6 month quarantine even for vaccinated animals.
Incubation time varies by species, but it's thought that a dog exposed will show signs with 10 days. Some species can be carriers of rabies and don't show signs of disease for months and months. I think they pick the 6 month as a fail safe time past which it's just about impossible for the dog to have contracted rabies.
Since rabies is a 100% fatal disease if not treated early (OK- there have been a few documented individuals who survived with extensive supportive care), the health officials error on the side of public safety.
Sometimes the laws and regulations we make and have in place don't match the reality as we know it today.
In this situation, I'd think the local health officials would recommend all the people in the family and anyone even tangentially exposed to the bat should get the human rabies prophylaxis vaccine - the one that animal care workers routinely get.
BTW, Indiana mandates that puppies and kittens be vaccinated for rabies at 12 weeks of age, not 16 weeks. Minor difference but the vaccine is labeled for use in animals 12 weeks and older. The 16 weeks is an older protocol.
Doug, DVM
