Chickenboy
Posts: 24520
Joined: 6/29/2002
From: San Antonio, TX
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Onime No Kyo
quote:
ORIGINAL: Chickenboy
Right then.
My wife was on call a few years back, when she received a phone call from a good Samaritan motorist that stopped to pick up an injured animal and brought it to the clinic where my wife (also a veterinarian) worked.
The motorist was driving home and noticed a red fox struggling to get to its feet by the side of the road. Figuring that the animal had been hit by a car, she scooped it up (and had her kids help her do so) and put it into her trunk, transporting it to the hospital.
After a brief examination, my wife determined that the fox had, in fact, not been struck by an automobile, but was having neurologic disease from another cause. As the area where we lived was heavily endemic with rabies in the fox population, this was a distinct possibility. As the animal was somewhat fractious (growling / attempting to nip), the fox was humanely euthanized and tested for rabies. It was positive.
As veterinary students, both my wife and I went through the regimen of vaccine prophylaxis for rabies. We periodically have our titers rechecked to see if we're still protected-we are. Of course, the same cannot be said for families that, in spite of good intentions, expose themselves to rabid animals by close contact. IIRC, the family (at least the ones handling the fox) had to undergo prophylactic vaccination.
Foxes that act odd or confrontational are to be avoided. Same with skunks, racoons, possums, dogs and the like. Neurologic disease in these species should be considered rabies suspects until proven otherwise. I have a healthy respect for those diseases that are almost invariably fatal to human beings that are in our midst.
Now don't even get me started on rabid cows...
Do tell. 
Pardon my ignorance, but I had thought that rabies, as such, tends to be fairly rare in nature and that verious neurological diseases quickly lead to the animal's demise.
'Tis quite alright. Your ignorance is perfectly understandable. Rabies is quite common in select species in nature (all mammals, but only very rarely rodents), but the species involved are not typically fatally affected. They have an odd carrier state of sorts sometimes (bats) or, in the case of skunks, foxes, racoons and the like, the neurologic disease does (eventually) get 'em after weeks or months of infection.
You're right about the neurologic disease bit. Once it gets to that stage for most animals (particularly those in nature), they're goners. It's just determining how much damage they do on the way out. Ever seen a neurologic bull moose? They might die from the disease, but I wouldn't wanna be anywhere around 'em while they're making up their mind to do so. "A moose once bit my sister."
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