Read About Small Pet Rabies

One thing that may concern small pet owners is small pet rabies. Rabies is a viral infection that causes mild swelling of the brain in mammals. If a human is bitten by an animal that is infected with the virus and the human does not get immediate attention the virus can be fatal. Since the flu like symptoms from a bite can take up to two years it is necessary to get any bite medical attention. Once symptoms occur people normally die about ten days later. Ones that survive are normally left with brain damage. Rabies is tranmitted mostly through the saliva in a bite. The animal that is infected will become much more aggressive.

Thankfully small pets rarely get rabies. Most vets will not do a rabies vaccination on small pets. Although it is not impossible for them to get rabies it is highly unlikely due to there habitat. They would have to be in contact with an infected animal. There is an exception to this. The exception to small pet rabies are ferrets. Ferrets have more exposure to other animals. Ferrets are treated more like cats and dogs than any of the other small pets. The other small pets tend to be kept in a cage and only let out rarely. When they are let out of the cage they stay in the house and can not come into contact with an infected animal. Although this is true many people still choose to get any pet bite examined. You can never be to careful but the chance of getting infected with the rabies virus from a small pet, other than a ferret, is extremely rare. Talk to your vet to find out exactly what percautions you should take with small pet bites. Small pet rabies is rare, so much so that most vets do not do vaccinations on small pets.

In conclusion, small pet rabies is extremely rare. This is good news for people with small pets because rabies is very dangerous and almost always fatal. If you suspect that you have been bitten by an animal that is infected with the rabies virus seek medical attention immediately. Remember, even if there are no signs that does not mean that the virus has not been transmitted. Unless you are allowing your small pets to interact with other species of pets then you should not have a problem with small pet rabies.