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Understanding Rabies in Cats
What is rabies? Rabies is a viral disease (meaning an opportunistic, highly contagious disease) that affects the nervous system of animals and humans who come in contact with a rabid animal. Rabies is always fatal if allowed to reach the brain. Your cat does not have to be bitten by the rabid animal to contract rabies. The rabies just needs a way to enter the body through scratches, or open contact including eating a carcass of an infected host. Who is more susceptible to contracting rabies? Generally, wildlife is at risk. Bats, skunks, foxes and raccoons are the most common carriers. But recent studies show that unvaccinated cats, dogs, horses and cattle are also in the high- risk category. Because outside cats are survivalists, they will hunt. Even a well-fed house cat allowed outside will hunt. They may come across a kill that is infected with rabies and eat their fill. Once they are infected, an unvaccinated cat has no hope of recovery. How will I know if my cat has rabies? Rabies is tricky when it comes to symptoms. Depending on the type of exposure, you could possibly see symptoms immediately, or not for weeks or even months. The virus wants to get into the brain so once inside the host it replicates, spreads and travels along, using the central nervous system. Once it finds placement in the brain, the virus again replicates spreading rapidly throughout the body. The incubation period is 9-51 days. The invasion of the virus occurs in stages once the virus has entered the brain. The virus is slow-moving and symptoms once they do occur can be easily missed. Once the virus has taken hold in your cat’s brain, the virus is then free to travel through the salivary glands. The stages of rabies are:
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