Should I be worried about rabies?
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Occasionally I have to put my new puppy outside on the back porch so she will actually calm down and eat her food. Yesterday I had her outside and put her back inside when I had to leave. When I came back home, there was a bat hanging from one of our bottom steps. Well a rabid bat had been found at my kids school which is like 5 miles away. So I called to have someone come get the bat. My neighbor came home before anyone came for the bat and he disposed of it. I don't know if this bat or any bat had been around my dog since she was up on the baloney and the bat was downstairs. I'm just freaked about the whole rabies thing since she doesn't have her shots. Shes so hyper that she's already chewed on me and my kids since this happened yesterday. I know the chance is probably slim that she had some contact with this bat, but should I be worried? I really would hate for any of us including her to get sick.
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Her name is Dababa (it's what my daughter started calling her and it stuck). No, I doubt I could get it back. He more than likely put it in the dumpster. I thought he had knocked it off into the grass but I couldn't find it before I had left. I guess I'll call and see by chance if someone did come and pick it. Hopefully, but I have a feeling they didn't. I just have bad feeling about it coming out in broad daylight to come die by a bunch of humans and dogs. I guess I'll call the vet and see what they say. I tried to look her over for any little bites but of course she won't hold still.
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I would check her over for bites. If she did get bit she would probably be trying to lick or nibble at the spot where she was bit and it might be a little tender there. If she wasn' bitten then I would not worry too much about it. Like the others said the best way would be to test the actual bat. Just keep an eye on your backyard when you let her out until she can get all of her shots up to date.
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The trouble with bat bites is that they can be hard to see. The teeth are sharp and narrow…...bit like getting an injection. In Ontario there is a major concern if a bat has been in a room with someone who is sleeping, e.g. a baby. If the bat tests positive the person may receive prophylactic rabies shots just to be sure. I would worry more if the bat had been found on the ground, although it may have been on the ground and crawled up to where the OP found it. (bats have difficulty flying from the ground.....they need to drop from a height to take off). Just FYI, always best to try to capture a bat found indoors for testing, if there is any chance a person or animal has been exposed to it. I've done this a lot (benefit of living in an old farmhouse!) as we get bats periodically in the house. Usually it is "catch and release" if I am sure nobody has been exposed, but I have sent them for testing on occasion.
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Texas does have a history of rabies with wild animals. I would make sure that your dog gets it rabies shot at 4 months of age. I believe this is the requirement for TX. I used to live in Houston and I always made sure my dogs received their rabies vaccine. Also the dog can be quarrantined if you do not have proof of rabies. Any dogs I rescued from the dog auctions in MO would get their rabies vaccine before I brought them into the state. I took no chances!
Jennifer
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This sucks! I can't find any evidence of bat poop on my balcony anywhere. There's also really no where for them to hide. The bat was found where it could have possibly come off my balcony where the pup was. She was on the third floor balcony, and the bat was all the way downstairs, probably about three feet from the beginning of my actual balcony. When you come downstairs, there's a little step leading down to the sidewalk. The bat was perched on this part of the sidewalk, hanging upside down. I could have sworn it was slightly twitching when I first saw it, but it could have been the wind. I sat outside to warn my neighbor, because they also have kids and would have to step right where the bat was. When he came home and I warned him, he smacked the bat down with a piece of wood he just do happened to be carying. I asked him of it was alive and he said it was dead. I told him I had called someone to come get it, but I guess he took things into his own hands.
I called the vet but of course they were closed. So I left a message explaining what happened and asked what he thinks I should do. They have an emergency clinic but since I don't even know if her and the bar had actual contact I'm not considering it an emergency, unless she shows some dramatic behavior change between now and Monday. Everything I've been able to find online seems to say that a 10 day confinement to check for symptoms is fine.
