Got bit by a ground squirrel ...

[TeenageRooster's Dad]

Long story short: walked in the "nursing" coop, grabbed the pet carrier before closing the door, didn't notice a squirrel was staging there... tried to evac it, her leg was stuck, tried to assist "it", got bit...

Director's cut: Wife's on my case to go a get a rabies shot. I laughed... yaddy yaddy yadda... I'm locked in the garage in case I get "symptomatic".

I wish I made this up...

Yet.. nothing better than the "homestead" life...

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

BTDT as a kid when I was messing with the traps I had been told repeatedly to leave alone.....I hid my injury to avoid getting in trouble and luckily did not end up with infection or disease....I'd suggest getting it checked out at least (but very unlikely it was rabid)

 

[A_Fowl_Guy]

BTDT as a kid when I was messing with the traps I had been told repeatedly to leave alone.....I hid my injury to avoid getting in trouble and luckily did not end up with infection or disease....I'd suggest getting it checked out at least (but very unlikely it was rabid)

Kinda laughed at the rabid squirrel but definitely get it checked

 

[ThracianHorse]

Rabies is a disease that if you contract it, it isn't a case of you might die, you WILL die. Worse, you get to feel it as the paralysis takes you one painful inch at a time.

Don't add to the statistics. Go get checked out.

Also, next time... shoot the squirrel.

 

[TeenageRooster's Dad]

BTDT as a kid when I was messing with the traps I had been told repeatedly to leave alone.....I hid my injury to avoid getting in trouble and luckily did not end up with infection or disease....I'd suggest getting it checked out at least (but very unlikely it was rabid)

Good point @Ol Grey Mare ...thank you. jokes aside, I'll keep an eye on it but it's pretty minor. Maybe a local shot of Tylan to be safe. Kinda old school that way.

 

[TeenageRooster's Dad]

Rabies is a disease that if you contract it, it isn't a case of you might die, you WILL die. Worse, you get to feel it as the paralysis takes you one painful inch at a time.

Don't add to the statistics. Go get checked out.

Also, next time... shoot the squirrel.

Ok, I'm little scared now... thanks.

 

[Fishkeeper]

You should probably tell your wife that most of the symptoms of rabies are things like slurred speech, stiff motions, and eventual paralysis. Humans don't often get the "mad rabies" presentation, and if they do, it's way after the other symptoms show up. She's not in any danger of you suddenly biting her.

If it's acting normally, it's unlikely to be rabid. She's not wrong that a rabies shot is a good idea, though. Yes, the chance of it being rabid is tiny, but also rabies is 100% fatal once symptoms show up. It spreads up the nerves to get to the brain, at which point a vaccine does nothing for you, and symptoms only show once it reaches the brain. The only thing a hospital can do for you if you have rabies in your brain is sedate you so you don't suffer. Rabies kills about 60,000 people a year, and 14 people ever have survived it once the symptoms show up.

Again, and this is a very important thing that most people don't know: a bite from a rabid animal doesn't do anything strange at first. It just acts like a bite. Maybe it starts looking infected from something unrelated, maybe it doesn't. By the time anything happens, you CANNOT be cured. You will die, and it will be a slow and painful death, and your family will get to watch.

It's up to you. If I were in your position, I'd be taking a very good look at that squirrel for any sort of strange behavior or odd movement. Stiff motions are a very, very bad sign. Is your area prone to rabies?

 

[A_Fowl_Guy]

Ok, I'm little scared now... thanks.

https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/pets/index.html

An excerpt: Small mammals such as squirrels, rats, mice, hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils, chipmunks, rabbits, and hares are almost never found to be infected with rabies and have not been known to cause rabies among humans in the United States. Bites by these animals are usually not considered a risk of rabies unless the animal was sick or behaving in any unusual manner and rabies is widespread in your area.

 

[ThracianHorse]

https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/pets/index.html

An excerpt: Small mammals such as squirrels, rats, mice, hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils, chipmunks, rabbits, and hares are almost never found to be infected with rabies and have not been known to cause rabies among humans in the United States. Bites by these animals are usually not considered a risk of rabies unless the animal was sick or behaving in any unusual manner and rabies is widespread in your area.

It's unusual in any animal given that most animals that contract it don't survive. The statistics here aren't stacked in our favor as humans are much more likely to encounter animals suffering from rabies than not because of the behavior changes. Any mammal is capable of contracting it, and it comes down to if you are willing to play the statistics game or not in terms of survival. As a former wildlife biologist, I'd sure as **** be on my way to the hospital to get pumped full of titers.

(I should add... Rabies is pretty much why I chose to specialize in birds instead of mammals.)

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

It probably only bit you because it was injured. I wouldn't get a rabies shot...but that's just me. You can look it up, all squirrels can get rabies but they are not carriers. Which means that they probably die shortly after contracting it. Its your body, your decision.