Can a cat be a carrier of rabies without showing symptoms?
i got bitten by a cat that wasent given the vaccination for rabies. my bite is swollen hurts and i have a slight fever. can my cat be a carrier of rabies without showing symptoms?
According to web pages I have found – yes, a cat can be a carrier of rabies without symptoms.
I did a Google search on:
rabies cats carrier "no symptoms"
Here is the first page of the search google.com/search?hl=en&num=5…
The statements I've found range from "cats can be life long carriers" to "most infected cats die"
Go read the pages that Google search found.
If you have any doubt about this – contact your vet and discuss it. They should be able to give you very good advice on the matter.
But then, a vet may "knee jerk" react and immediately tell you to contact animal control and see a doctor right away. Most vets I've ever known were quite paranoid about any time of bite.
If you don't have a vet, call one in the telephone book.
If you are really worried, you could contact animal control in your area but be aware that they treat animals bites very seriously.
They will probably want to take the cat and quarantine it for some period of time to see if it develops rabies.
You also need to know that your not having gotten your cat vaccinated for rabies may be a violation of local laws and you may be fined.
NOW – having said all of this, I really doubt your cat has rabies. Rabies is not very common in cats and if there were cases rabies in animals in your area, you can be sure that the news would be full of reports of the cases.
The odds are probably all in your favor that your cat does not have rabies.
However, an infected bite is a serious thing on its own. If your wound does not start to heal in the next few days, or gets worse, you need to have it examined by a doctor. They will probably want to start you on antibiotics.
RAbies freezes the throat muscles so they can't swallow. The cat will look sick and act sick. They die in less than 10 days.
If your bite is swollen you didn't get all the bacteria out and likely need antibiotics to clear it up.