PRESS RELEASE

This information is provided by the Texas Department of State Health Services:

"To Animal Control Officers, Local Rabies Control Authorities and Veterinarians in DSHS Region 6/5 South: 

We recently had a confirmed case of a rabid cat in Huntsville/Walker County in a 18 month-old male indoor/outdoor cat that had never been vaccinated. 

On October 14 about midnight, the owner found the cat fighting with one of her dogs in the living room.  She noticed that the cat was folding its ears back and moving its had in an odd manner.  She began petting the cat, and it latched onto her arm, biting and scratching her.  She ran back to her bedroom, closed the door, and called the Huntsville Police Department.  When she opened the bedroom door to see if the cat was still in the living room, the cat charged towards her.  She closed the door before the cat could enter the room.

Although we see domestic animal rabies every year in Texas, the odd thing about this case is that the strain of rabies associated with this cat is the Eastern Pipistrelle Bat rabies.  Although this is not the Mexican Freetail Bat strain of rabies that we most commonly see in the Houston metro area, it is still odd fro bat rabies to infect a domestic animal. 

We will never know if she had gotten the cat vaccinated whether it would have developed rabies, but it is a nice reminder about the importance of rabies vaccines.  They are definitely important in the rural areas where skunks are more of a problem, but even in the cities and suburbs bats are everywhere and we cannot control what our curious pets find and play with."