How can you tell if your cat has rabies or was just scared?

Question

I was in my room and heard a lot of commotion in the living room. I walked out of the room to find that my sister was screaming at our cat. She told me window was blowing and my cat jumped up and got stuck in the window. When she went to help him out, he bite her. He also attacked my minature pincher. I then try to feed the cat and place him in the bathroom away from everyone, and he attacks my leg. We found this cat when he was a just a little kitten outside. He is constantly trying to get outside and sometimes succeeds. This is not normal behavior at all. Could my cat been scared because of the window incident or is there a chance he might have rabies?

Answer 1

he shouldnt have rabies b/c your required by law to get that shot. try taking him to the vet.

Answer 2

It's required by law for all cats, dogs, and ferrets to be vaccinated against rabies. So, if you've been bringing your cat to the vet, than I'm sure he's vaccinated.

More than likely, the poor cat was just frightened. Cats startle easily and will lash out. They will also act aggressively and lash out when they are injured or sick. It is most definitely normal behavior for a feline. You did a good thing by putting him a room alone. This will give him time to calm down and get himself together.

Cammy is mistaken. No shelter would willingly take in an animal that is suspected of having rabies. That would be entirely too dangerous.

If you are still concerned, you can always bring your cat to the vet. He may have injured himself when he got stuck in the window anyway, so it might be a good idea.

*edit*
Cammy, your link just says the animal has to be quarentined. I already knew that and wasn't claiming they shouldn't be. Nowhere does the link suggest you send it to a shelter in order to do that. Shelters don't have enough space for healthy animals, let alone one that could potentially have a disease fatal to humans. A quarentine would not take place at a regular shelter where animals are adopted out of. Quarentine lasts 10 days and would take place at a vet office, or other locations deemed appropriate by the local health department.

Shelters and pounds are two different things. A pound is either city or state owned. A shelter is a non-profit agency that relies on donations to maintain the animals. It is not affliated with any other organization, so the state cannot tell them they must hold a possibly infected animal. There is a huge difference between the two in terms of how long the animals are given to be adopted, and the quality of care they receive.

At no time did I say that rabies isn't dangerous and shouldn't be taken seriously. I said quite the opposite, actually. Our disagrement completely lies in where the animal should be quarentined. If it's not done in a sterile, isolated area, than the rest of the public, and other animals, are at risk. I fail to see how you believe I would be responsible for giving everyone rabies if I was in charge and handled the situation that way.

Well, therein lies the problem. When I say "shelter", I mean humane societies that are fully independent functioning facilities that are in no way affliated with the government. Those facilities would in no way take a rabid, or suspected rabid, animal. Their whole purpose is to find adoptive homes and a rabid animal is not adoptable, as you well know.

Answer 3

Poor cat and human owners.

I am agains animal shelters for many reasons but this may be a time to have them. but hopefully you can try a vet first. A responcible vet, (and also one that does not want to risk being sued) will take your cat and quarenteen it for a certain amount of days. Sorry I dont rember the timeframe from when they can tell if something is rabid. If you don't want to spend any money at a vet then the shelter will keep it to watch it.

As for the humans. You need to make doctors apointments for anyone bitten or scratched if you truly think this animal is rabid.

If your not for sure get him to a vet first and see what they say.

Don't fool around with rabies the longer you wait the more damage it does to a human.

Any pet you keep needs it's rabies shots.

Addittion:
Jenn is wrong the shelter will take the pet if they suspect they have rabies to watch it. It's the law if someone has been attacked and the animal is suspected to have rabies. Call yourself if you don't belive me!!! Thats why I suggested she go to the vet first if she don't want to loose leagal rights to the cat.

Jenn this is not something to fool around with. Check your local laws.

Edit again: All I can say is call your local shelter (you can call it a pound if you want but here local goverment owned area's are called shelters). Thats all I have to say. Im glad your not responsible for community animal healthcare or we would all have rabies.

Im only trying to tell you that government owned agency's that house pets are also called shelters. You should not be upset because the government chooses a different syntax. Also you are the one that said no shelter that adopts out animails would take a rabid pet.

I live very close to a government owned shelter and know by local news footage that a dog near here that attacked a small boy was taken to the shelter to be observed. And this shelter also adopted out pets.

That is why I said what I said Jenn. If this was a small thing I would not make a big deal out of it. But we are talking about rabies not a cold.

Answer 4

Animals with rabies drool all over the place and will lay around a lot. also, may have a foamy drool coming out of it's mouth. I would keep an eye on it and not let it go free for a while. Call a vet and tell them you rescued a stray and do not know if it had rabies shot, but it bit you and your sister. See what you can do, other than just getting rabies shot, which you need to do anyway. If this animal has rabies, it could also have given them to you and your sister.

Answer 5

Your cat does not have rabies; he was just badly frightened, first by getting stuck in the window, then by your sister's screaming. You did the right thing by putting him in a quiet room by himself. Cats like peace and quiet. Have him neutered as soon as you can; this will calm him down quite a bit.

Answer 6

The cat is scared from the window incident and is lashing out from pain and fear. But your cat should be vaccinated for rabies so that you never have to worry about that issue.

Answer 7

Your cat should not have rabies if he's had his shots. If he has not had his shots, please take him to get them. The main reason people don't go to the vet is money. It is much more expensive to treat a sick animal, especially when there are multiple animals in the house. A trip to the vet never hurts...Good Luck!!!!!!

Answer 8

has the cat had a vaccination if so he was just scared and if he doesn't have contact with outside animals to catch the disease he really doesn't have a chance of having it

Answer 9

If he bit her, your sister should be acting strange. [If your dog has rabies]

You can tell if he is foaming.