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Understanding Rabies

Before Louis Pasteur developed a vaccine against rabies and treated the first person, Joseph Meister, a nine-year-old kid, rabies struck fear in many people. At that time, there was no known means to cure or to prevent rabies. But this disease, which occurs primarily in dogs, has been known since ancient times. It can also occur in other mammals, like bats, cats, and humans. During the first century A.D., rabies was known as hydrophobia, which literally means “fear of water”. This is because people infected by rabies cringe in terror at the sight or mention of water, no matter how thirsty they feel.

Rabies is caused by a virus that attacks the central nervous system of animals. That is, the fatal microbes head straight towards the brain and the spinal cord. It thrives in saliva and mucous membranes and your pet or you can be infected when bitten by an already rabid animal. An open wound can also make your pet susceptible to the virus.

When infected, dogs, cats, and birds take an incubation period of 14 to 60 days before showing any symptoms. Hogs, sheep, and goats take 21 to 60 days before exhibiting signs. Cows may take up to 80 days, while horses and rabbits may take up to 90 days. But rabies symptoms in rabbits may also show in as short as 9 days.

There are two kinds of rabies; the furious rabies and the dumb rabies. The furious rabies is the more familiar type in which infected dogs feel a restlessness and the need to roam and as they wander aimlessly in the streets, they would fiercely attack anything that gets in their way. Often, they would salivate uncontrollably, and gnaw objects made of wood or rubber, trying to ease whatever doggie pain they feel. And then, they die.

The dumb rabies is also described as paralytic rabies. The infected dog or cat simply loses interest in any activity. The infected cat has been known to seek dark corners and stay there until it dies. Of course, when an unsuspecting master would try to draw his cat out, he might be surprised by a ferocious scratch.

Once the symptoms of rabies appear, treatment is impossible. This is why pet owners must resort to the prevention of this disease. In this case, “prevention is not the best medicine, but the only medicine”. Pets must be inoculated with anti-rabies vaccine.

However, if your pet is a snake, you need not worry about rabies. Reptiles have a natural immunity against rabies.