Exposed to a rabies positive animal!

I've been in the veterinary industry for a LONG time. I've worked at a LOT of different animal hospitals and i've dealt with a LOT of different situations. However, I have NEVER dealt with a confirmed positive rabies case.

To make a long story short, I had a cat that boarded at my animal hospital for about 10 days, ended up developing neurological symptoms, and was then euthanized and sent out for rabies testing (11 week old kitten, found on the street). Yesterday the Broward County Health Department called and told us this kitten tested positive for rabies.

So now that i've been exposed to this cat, I have to go and have my rabies series done again. The last time I had it done, which I think was when I got my certification 11 years ago, I was sick for 2 weeks, and I ended up in the hospital for a few days.

I never thought my job could possibly threaten my life. I'm scared to death.

Wish me luck with the idiots at the health department tomorrow.

Good Luck. I hope everything turns out alright.

Ouch.... I've heard it's a rather difficult and painful series to have to go through. Hope things have changed for the better since I last read up on this and it won't put you down for two weeks again.

Best of luck Maia, hopefully you won't have as bad a reaction as before.


Boy am I glad my snakes can't carry anything like that.....

Wow, that's horrible. Feral cats are the fourth most common vector of rabies in Georgia and it scares me how few people realize that. I hope everything turns out well for you. It may be best for you to invest in getting a rabies vaccine after this. If you're vaccinated, the follow-up shots after exposure are much less painful and intense.

From what I understand, and what i've been told by a few other coworkers that had their treatment done today, it's a total of 20cc in an injection, split up into 3 areas. 8cc on each side of the rear end, and 4cc in whatever arm is opposite to your dominant. The only side effects i've heard is the obvious soreness, feelings of being lightheaded, and just generally "out of it". Due to my previous experience, I will most likely be given something beforehand to lessen the possibility of me having a reaction.

I have to go back and have it done again for a series of 4 in 3 weeks, 6 weeks, and 12 weeks.

I must say, I have learned my lesson, and I will be taking MANY more precautions after this experience.

Thanks for the support, everyone.

I worked with animals in the UK in the 1980s, and I remember getting inoculated when we had mice imported from the USA, which only caused a day or so of mild light-headedness.

At that time the treatment if exposed was a series of injections directly into the stomach muscles ...... so this may be faint consolation but I think it's a LOT less painful now, and probably many more degrees effective.

Good luck, hope you just have a hazy day and are back in action quickly.

You weren't actually bitten or scratched, right? Just handled the animal?

No bites or scratches, but I was giving oral antibiotics at one point.

We also spayed this cat and I placed and removed the tracheal tube, I put it's IV catheter in...I was all over this cat.

I hope all goes well, that you do not have more than local reactions, what a job you have!

The shots are not as bad as they used to be years ago.