My rabies shots
Hi all,
This has been a very bad last 10 days. The guy I was going out with broke up with me because of the lack of touching and on top of that, I have had to worry about rabies. See, I was stupid and petted an unfamiliar cat. It was a friendly cat, and we thought a neighbor had domesticated it. While I petted it though, I accidently touched an area that was sensitive. It scratched me and went to bite me, but just sorta put its teeth on my skin and not press down.
We never did find the cat. It got into a fight with my cat last wednesday and we haven't seen it since. So on day 10 after the scratch (I waited to see if we could catch it for observation, which we couldn't), I went to the hospital to get their opinion. I described the cat's behavior to the nurse. She said the cat DID show signs of rabies. Apparently if a stray comes up and wants to be petted, scratches, and tries to bite but doesn't, it is a possible sign of rabies. One cat in the area had these symptoms and indeed tested positive. They immediately started me on the treatments.
Its still odd to think that right now I'm going through the series of rabies shots. Today I had 4 shots: 1 on my left hip, 2 on my right hip, and one on my left arm. I have to get another shot on my arm in 3 days, then 7, then 14, then 28.
My right hip is seriously aching. It feels bruised from the shots, and my stomach is making funny noises (even though I had a nice lunch only 2 hours ago).
The good news is that I'm not going to die! I learned a lot about rabies this past week. Though I'll continue to try to help cats, I've learned an important lesson.
If you're scratched or bitten by an unknown animal, don't gamble with your life. Go to the hospital. They won't lecture you, and the shots aren't too bad either. There is only minor aching the first day.
So, what can I say? Lesson learned on two fronts.
This has been a very bad last 10 days. The guy I was going out with broke up with me because of the lack of touching and on top of that, I have had to worry about rabies. See, I was stupid and petted an unfamiliar cat. It was a friendly cat, and we thought a neighbor had domesticated it. While I petted it though, I accidently touched an area that was sensitive. It scratched me and went to bite me, but just sorta put its teeth on my skin and not press down.
We never did find the cat. It got into a fight with my cat last wednesday and we haven't seen it since. So on day 10 after the scratch (I waited to see if we could catch it for observation, which we couldn't), I went to the hospital to get their opinion. I described the cat's behavior to the nurse. She said the cat DID show signs of rabies. Apparently if a stray comes up and wants to be petted, scratches, and tries to bite but doesn't, it is a possible sign of rabies. One cat in the area had these symptoms and indeed tested positive. They immediately started me on the treatments.
Its still odd to think that right now I'm going through the series of rabies shots. Today I had 4 shots: 1 on my left hip, 2 on my right hip, and one on my left arm. I have to get another shot on my arm in 3 days, then 7, then 14, then 28.
My right hip is seriously aching. It feels bruised from the shots, and my stomach is making funny noises (even though I had a nice lunch only 2 hours ago).
The good news is that I'm not going to die! I learned a lot about rabies this past week. Though I'll continue to try to help cats, I've learned an important lesson.
If you're scratched or bitten by an unknown animal, don't gamble with your life. Go to the hospital. They won't lecture you, and the shots aren't too bad either. There is only minor aching the first day.
So, what can I say? Lesson learned on two fronts.