Signs & Symptoms of Rabies in Felines
Rabies is a viral disease that can infect pets, such as cats. It is important to vaccinate cats for rabies because the disease can be spread to humans and is deadly in cats.
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Significance of Disease
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Because of vaccination programs, rabies is rarely found in household cats. It is more common among wild animals, such as stray cats, raccoons, skunks, foxes and bats, but it is possible for wild animals to spread rabies to domestic pets.
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Types of Symptoms
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About two to six weeks after contracting the rabies virus, cats with rabies experience symptoms such as a fever, irritability, anxiety, aggressiveness, sensitivity to sights and sounds, conjunctivitis, movement problems, disorientation, seizures, difficulties with swallowing food, paralyzed muscles in the face and breathing problems. They may also bite household items and have leg problems that restrict their movements.
Diagnosis of Symptoms
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The only test that veterinarians can use to definitely diagnose rabies in cats is performed on the animals after they are dead. This test examines cats' brain tissue for the rabies virus.
Treatment of Symptoms
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There is no treatment for the disease or its symptoms. If cats contract the rabies virus, they should be euthanized, according to Peteducation.com and Petplace.com.
Prevention of Symptoms
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It is possible to prevent rabies in cats by getting the animals vaccinated when they are between 8 and 10 weeks old and then every year after that, according to the Cat Health Care Guide.
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References
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- Photo Credit "Because I'm handsome" is Copyrighted by Flickr user: Mel B. (Melissa Wiese) under the Creative Commons Attribution license.
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Comments
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My cat has a drooling problem lately...an for awhile was not eating dry cat food we gave her. She is an outside cat so I was concerned that she may of gotten rabies.We tried canned cat food which she does eat better. We also thought it might be her teeth were going bad since she was not eating the dry food. Is drooling a sign or could it be something else?
