Saving My Cat From A Possible Bat Bite and Rabies
By Kimberly Roush
I had 4 cats prior to my current cat. I learned early on about cutting
back on vaccines - I think I stopped the vaccines around age 3 on my previous
cats, and I followed Dr. Pitcairn's raw meat recipes and grain free diets when I could.
With my new cat, I wanted to do give him even more of a healthy life. One of the toughest decisions was
the rabies vaccine. I got my male from a humane shelter that had only given
him 1 5-in-1. I signed a contract to give him a rabies vaccine. Yea, I
was off to a good start.
We have a very low incidence of rabies in Utah, only in bats, except
one fox this year showed up. Rabies vaccines is required by law for cats
in Utah. I did not vaccinate largely at the strong advice of Dr. Marlice Vonght, Dr.
Falconer and a few others mentioned on your website,
and others not mentioned but who are well known alternative vets who are warning their clients about the
severe adverse reaction to rabies vaccines. I walk
my cat on a leash, he is 1/2 ocicat, and still a great hunter even on lead.
(I do not let him catch birds) I have to admit I was nervous - what if
he grabbed a bat in the grasses before I could see what he was after?
This summer Sundance was with me in the living room. He then walked
into the kitchen, jumped up on the kitchen counter to eat, and I heard
him jump down. But, this time he kept jumping. I ran into the kitchen after
about 3 jumps and to my horror there was bat lying around. I grabbed Sundance,
I had no evidence he had touched the bat or vice versa, but could not prove
it. I ran into the bathroom hugging Sundance, "What am I going to do now?"
My entire concern was saving Sundance. I locked him in the bathroom
while I tried to find the bat. I could not find the bat. I kept Sundance
by my side or in my arms constantly when I moved him to the bedroom. He
was then locked in my bedroom, making sure the bat was not in the bedroom,
and we slept with the door closed the entire night. In the morning I found
the bat in the kitchen sink, as predicted by the bat websites, who
said they will frequently be found near water sources. I also learned from
my biologist friends that bats will die of starvation in 3 days if not
enough food in your house.
As instructed by the bat international website,
I put on heavy gloves, and heavy sweater and took a large yogurt container,
put it over the bat which was conveniently resting on the rubbermaid mat.
I lifted the mat and dumped the poor bat out the window. I did not want
to save the bat as I could not in my panic figure out how to have the bat
tested and not have the state know about Sundance not being vaccinated.
Having had the bat tested may have saved me from going through the vaccine
series but I was only thinking of saving Sundance.
The bat did not immediately fly off. Some guessed this indicated the bat was sick.
Others said bats need to launch from a vertical surface
and I later saw it trying to climb the side of the house. I did not see
it after that. At the urging of a friend, I made the mistake of telling
my mainstream vet who said she was going to turn Sundance in to the state.
That would mean 6 months of quarantine which I am told costs about $2000.00
a month. I talked her out it, telling her I had listened to Dr. Dym's advice
not hers and she was not responsible. If she did try to turn him in I was
going to disappear to another country with him. I also told her she was
no longer my vet, relieving her of all responsibility.
Dr. Dym said we had no evidence that Sundance and the bat had contact
and no reason for a quarantine. I had to go through the rabies vaccine
series myself because, after thinking all this through, a day or two prior
to finding the bat I had awoken with an unexplained, bloody scratch on
my forehead. Sundance does not sleep with me in heat of summer, so the
bat could have been upstairs and Sundance, the hunter, would not have known.
There have been incidences of people contracting rabies from bats without
evidence of bite or barely a scratch. All the doctors I spoke with decided
it was safest for me to go through the rabies series. I was quite sick
all summer from the vaccine. The shots are not painful, I was sick sick.
I seem fine now.
Dr. Dym thought all of this was a mainstream, over-reaction. Thanks
to the woman at Brighthaven I found Dr. Diana Bochenski. Dr. Diana is a
wonderful homeopathic vet; very kind and wise. We determined how we would
handle a 6 month at home quarantine to be very safe. Sundance made it through
the quarantine just fine. I on the other hand was extremely stressed and
afraid until we got a few months past the bat in the house incidence, when
it was less and less likely he would have actually contracted rabies.
After getting started on my own vaccine program, I then quickly researched
rabies vaccines for Sundance. Almost all of the highly concerned cat friends,
breeders and vets I know recommended the Merial Purevax. The trick was
then to find a vet that had the vaccine and, most importantly, I could
not mention that he had never been vaccinated for rabies. I did make the
mistake of trusting Dr. Hanneman, a well known "alternative" vet who Dym
recommended. Henneman's office told me on the phone that they did not vaccinate
cats. So I felt safe telling the story. Their response was then that they
would have to turn Sundance in. I told them they misled me as they said
right up front they do not vaccinate cats, that Sundance did not have contact
with the bat, only I possibly did, and I quickly hung up.
I found a vet with the Merial Purevax vaccine, he never asked about
the vaccine history, as I walked in with this gorgeous, healthy, highly
loved cat that I am sure no one would question if I had "neglected" vaccines.
I never felt so happy to have my cat vaccinated. One additional note: my
mainstream vet had researched the rabies vaccines once a potential exposure
had occurred. She said there had never been an incidence of an animal contracting
rabies if they had had at least one rabies vaccine. And, she said there
was some evidence that a series of shots after an exposure for an unvaccinated
animal may prevent rabies. Dr. Diana and I decided, or betted on our hunch,
that the bat and Sundance did not have contact and we stuck to the one
vaccine.
The vets listed on your website are nonchalantly
recommending not to vaccinate but one needs to know the cost of a 6 month
quarantine in comparison to the risk of vaccinating. And, you know, bats can have rabies,
and the horror of contracting rabies could be the
worst scenario of all. The guilt I felt for not having protected him from
something I could have protected him from (both rabies and the law) so
easily was hard to live with. I never would have imagined a bat would have
come into my house. During my decision process prior to this incidence,
a friend tried to tell me a bat could get into my house. My response, "Yea,
sure." We rarely even see bats outside of our house.
I do not know the laws and they vary from state to state. I do not know
if some states will accept titers. I know my mainstream vet will accept
titers after the first vaccine. But, the law may not. If your animal reacts
to a vaccine, a vet can write a letter, and exempt your animal from requiring
further vaccination, I believe. I also think it is important to find the
safest form of the vaccine. When doing my research it seemed the Pfieffer"
vaccine caused the most reactions. Sundance was a bit sleepy the morning
after his Merial Purevax vaccine, and that was it. Dr. Diana said that
was okay and maybe a good sign. Oh, he did get the sneezes for a week shortly
after the shot, but there were many stress factors at the time, I cannot
prove a relation to the vaccine.
On a side note, I had a tetanus titer done since I had been so sick
from the tetanus shot I had 17 years ago. My titer was high at 12.4 after
17 years!!. You are considered covered with a titer over 3. While it was
hard convincing my doctor to do the test, or even finding someone that
knew what a titer was, it was well worth it. I also know a breeder that
vaccinates with the Merial Purevax every year (I believe it is being licensed
as a 3 year vaccine) and she had not had any problems. She will not use
certain other vaccine which have caused death in some of her cats. But
she is confident with the Merial Purevax rabies vaccine. It was important
to note that when I made the decision to vaccinate for rabies the homeopathic
vets could not guide me on the safest vaccine to use. One local alternative
vets actually claimed there was not difference between the vaccines and
she used that Pfieser - what ever the name of the company is - the one
I heard is one of the worst for causing problems. Whereas, the mainstream
vets doing the vaccines regularly were able to verify they saw a lot fewer
problems with that Merial product.
RABIES
CHALLENGE PROJECT
The rabies vaccine research project to address the duration of immunity
actually conveyed by rabies vaccine will be performed by Dr. Ronald
Schultz, Chairman of Pathobiology at the University of Wisconsin
School of Veterinary Medicine.The second phase of the project will
finance a study of the adjuvants used in veterinary vaccines, and
establish a federal adverse reaction reporting system for rabies
and other vaccines.