Reply #39: Notice whether the cat eats or drinks.

[NorthernSpy]

A rabid cat or dog usually loses the ability to swallow, and will stop eating or drinking when the virus invades the salivary glands (that's also when the rabies infection becomes transmissible through a catbite or dogbite). From the time that a cat or dog begins to show symptoms, it's usually dead in about a week -- so if that cat is still alive a month from now, then it definitely did not have a transmissible case of rabies at the time it bit you.


However, if you want to be sure right away, then you can have the cat's brain examined for evidence of rabies infection. This service is usually free through state rabies control programs. This involves killing the cat, though.


(Note: the tip about seeing whether the animal can swallow normally does NOT apply to bats, or to judging the likelihood of catching rabies from contact with a bat. Bats apparently have some ability to act as unaffected carriers of the rabies virus. Also, under certain conditions, bats appear to be able to transmit rabies without inflicting a bite, though this is not fully understood. If anyone reading this ever wakes up one night to find a bat in the room -- a common scenario for accidental bat contact -- then the CDC recommends that you receive rabies shots, even if you don't think you've been bitten.)


Also, if for whatever reason you're likely to be in frequent contact with stray animals, then you might want to look into pre-exposure rabies vaccination (a series of three shots often available at travelers' vaccination clinics).