How do I keep my pet from
getting rabies?
The best way to prevent rabies is to make sure
your pets get and stay vaccinated against rabies!!
Other ways to prevent rabies in your
pets:
Walk your dog on a leash. Never let them roam freely where
wildlife may be present.
- Consider keeping your pets indoors.
- Call animal control to take wild or stray animals away,
especially if you see an animal acting strangely.
- If an animal bites your pet, handle your pet carefully so you
do not get bitten. Get a rabies booster vaccination for them. Even if they have had the
rabies vaccination, a booster shot will help them fight off the disease better.
- Get your pets spayed or neutered. Pets that are fixed
are less likely to leave home, become strays, and make more stray animals.
Make sure your pet gets and wears their rabies
vaccination tags. They should also wear a tag with their name and your address and
phone number. Keep them in a fenced yard or on a leash.
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How do I keep from getting rabies?
- Never touch unfamiliar or wild animals. Enjoy wild animals
from afar.
- Avoid direct contact with stray animals. Stray cats and
dogs may not have been vaccinated against rabies.
- Never adopt wild animals or bring them into your home.
- Do not try to nurse sick animals to health. It is common to
want to rescue and nurse a hurt wild animal, but that animal may have rabies. Call an
animal control person or animal rescue group if you find a sick animal.
- Make sure that your trash cans and pet foods are secured so
that they do not attract wild animals.
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What do I do if I am bitten by an
animal?
- If you are bitten by an animal, tell an adult immediately!
Have the adult wash the wound well with soap and water for at least five minutes. You
should then see a doctor as soon as possible for additional evaluation of the wound.
- Have an adult contact your local animal control
officer. If the animal that bit you is a pet (dog, cat, or ferret), the animal may be
watched for signs of rabies for about 10 days. If it is a wild animal, the animal
control people may need to euthanize the animal to test its brain for rabies.
- Bites from bats are the main source of rabies in humans in
the United States today. It is possible, but rare, that someone might be bitten
by the bat and not know it. If you discover a bat in the house, especially in the
room of a sleeping person or child, treat this situation as though an actual bite has
occurred. This is especially true if the bat is acting strangely (unusually tame).
- Contact your local or state health department for more
information.
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Other prevention activities: Oral
vaccine program
 |
| Here a raccoon eats some bait with a rabies vaccine in it. |
Today, many states are vaccinating animals in the wild to
prevent the spread of rabies. This is done by putting oral vaccines in a special bait. The
baits are then dropped from airplanes or placed in areas where wildlife are likely to be.
The wild animals then eat the food with the vaccine in it. This keeps them from getting
rabies if they are bitten by a rabid animal. This method has worked well in both Europe
and Canada.
Original art by Omar Rayyan.
The idea behind oral rabies vaccination programs is that if
enough animals in an area without rabies become vaccinated against the disease, they will
create a barrier. Those animals vaccinated against the disease will defend their
territory against animals with rabies. This will slow or stop the rabies outbreak.
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Viral and Rickettsial Zoonoses Branch (VRZB)
Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases (DVRD)
National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Mailing address:
Rabies Section MS G-33
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
1600 Clifton Road, NE
Atlanta, GA 30333
(404)639-1050
URL: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabies
This page
last reviewed February 6, 2003
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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