Question:
Hi, I'm 17 years old and I'm a hypochondriac about anything medical. Almost every year, I find something new that starts to worry me! So here's the deal. The elderly man across the street from me owns a cat. Our family has babysat the cat while the owner has left for vacations before. The cat has a tendency of sneaking past his owner when he walks out of his house and he usually roams the neighborhood and doesn't return until he's hungry. This past Friday night, the 11th, my friend, dad and I had just gotten home from a late night walk, and we were stopping to get some water. When we looked out the window we saw that the cat was sitting in the owners driveway. So we decided to go outside and try to get him to come to us, so we could let the owner know he was there. When my friend approached him, she simply put her hand out and he walked towards her, but when she picked him up, he started hissing and got really upset. So I told her I'd take him to the door, and when she handed him to me, he started hissing some more and whacked me in the face with his front paw (he does not have claws in his front paws but does in the back) Now I don't recall if he scratched or bit my arm when I picked him up, but if he did scratch or bite me, I don't believe he broke my skin. He jumped out of my hands and ran into the bushes. It wasn't until later, he finally returned home and he walked back into his house, when the owner got home. Ever since then, by some chance, I've been super worried that the cat might have gotten rabies while roaming around that night, God for bid. I'm super concerned he might have passed the rabies on to me (even if he had any) Like I said though, I don't believe he broke my skin, and the owner told me he's had his rabies vaccinations, but I'm still worried and I can't stop thinking about it. Can you get rabies if a bite or scratch does not break the skin? Can you get it even though the cat was vaccinated? Someone that knows this stuff, please let me know cause I'm really freaked out, and I keep thinking I'm gonna like die of rabies now. Thank you very much!
Answers:You can only get rabies if the saliva or blood of an infected animal somehow gets inside you. If it BITES you, it's saliva gets into your blood and that's how you get it. But you can also get it if it's saliva or blood gets in your eye or mouth. You CANNOT get rabies from a SCRATCH that didn't break the skin. Try to relax.
1. was the animal jitterey and confused like, was it running in circles?
2. if your worried go see a docter before you and please oh please dont get so worried its not very coommon to get rabies that often but.... recomend if you did get bitten and it did brake skin then you have to emedetley go to the doctors! once you start having the symptoms you are out of luck and.
lastly any time you see a animal in running in circles and shivering, shoot it or call animal control because if it bit a pet it could get it then bite its owner and just dont risk it! dont let the you rout of luck thing worry you, its only on rare occasions you die from it so please calm down! ok?Coming from an anxiety sufferer.........I think ur fine!!! I'm a major worry wart but I think ur perfectly fine Any time you have a rabies related question contact your local Health Department, they are the rabies experts. Explain what has happened and they will determine your level of exposure & risk. In addition consult your physician ASAP. Read over this: http://www.cdc.gov/RABIES/exposure/types.htm tl;dr
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