How can you tell if a rabbit has rabies without taking it to the vet...read for more info?

Question

I work at a place where people bring in stray animals all the time and before we take them to the Humane Society, we can decide if we want them or not. Well someone brought in a pretty white rabbbit that you can tell was someone's pet and said they found it outside by a garbage can. The people who were there when the rabbit was brought in are not sure if they believed the kids story, but I decided to take the rabbit home.
I then began to worry about if the rabbit might have rabies. It's very friendly and has not bitten me yet and it was pretty clean and obviously well taken care of. Does anyone know of ways to tell if it may have rabies without taking it to a vet just by it's actions?

Answer 1

According to Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies - "rabbits are very seldom infected, perhaps because they would not usually survive an attack by a rabid animal." In other words, you need to be bitten to contract rabies, and if small animals such as rabbits are attacked by any larger animal carrying rabies, the rabbit would most usually killed by the attack. So it would be very unusual for a living rabbit to survive an attack and have rabies.

Here's more details of symptoms, etc - they also confirm that there have been no cases of rabies in rabbits for a long time -
http://www.cah.com/dr_library/rabiesquestions.html
http://www.idph.state.il.us/public/hb/hbrabies.htm

Answer 2

rabies is very rare in rabbits! Probably not rabies! may be distemperment.

What are the signs of rabies in an animal?

The first sign of rabies is usually a change in the animal's behavior. An animal need not be "foaming at the mouth" to have rabies. Other signs include difficulty walking, a general appearance of sickness or a change in the animal's normal behavior. For example, if an animal that is normally wild and avoids contact with humans approaches a picnic area, campsite or home and appears tame or friendly, consider it rabid. Conversely, if a normally tame and friendly animal becomes hostile or aggressive without provocation, it too should be considered rabid. A rabid animal usually dies within one week after showing signs of the disease

Answer 3

RE:
How can you tell if a rabbit has rabies without taking it to the vet...read for more info?
I work at a place where people bring in stray animals all the time and before we take them to the Humane Society, we can decide if we want them or not. Well someone brought in a pretty white rabbbit that you can tell was someone's pet and said they found it outside by a garbage can. The people...

Answer 4

I don't think rabies is very common in rabbits,as if it were bitten by something with rabies,it would most likely die from the bite.If it's acting OK;eating and drinking,then just watch it for a week or so .If it still acts normal,then I doubt very much that it's rabid.

Answer 5

rabbit rabies vetread info

Answer 6

Rabid Bunny

Answer 7

Well if its not foaming at the mouth and isn't acting weird it should be ok. You should bring it to the vet though. It could have other problems that you aren't aware of. http://www.rabbit.org

Answer 8

ways to tell are foaming at the mouth, aggresive behavior, it is best to take it in and have it checked if you do decide to keep it.

Answer 9

if its not acting funny id say its fine.. u would def c something wrong if it had rabies

Answer 10

he would just die within 10 or 14 days