I don't like vaccinations, nor do I give them to my companion animals who live indoors. I do not even give them the rabies one, even thought it is "a law". My question: I am getting more involved with animal rescue, and I keep reading that is essential ones gets a rabies shot. I do encounter raccoons quite a bit, so I am turning to you guys for any advice. I haven't had any vaccinations since I was a little girl, so it freaks me out. thanks!

i vax the cats. i have kids and can't take the chance of them getting it, they would have to be put down and all of us would have to get rabies shots. how could my baby girl's body endure that? i put my babies first, fur babies second.
maybe there is an alternative.

I was meaning for myself, it is suggested that I get a rabies vax. I was wondering how raw people feel about that? I don't need to get them for my cats, since they are indoors and they come first in my house.

I never knew they vaccinated, people for rabies, I know years back if exposed
you had to get a series of shots in the stomac that were painful.
I could be wrong, its been a long time since I have been refreshed on the
rabies front, as a precation, I would ask to see your doctors Medical license
just to make sure he is a Medical Doctor and not a Vetenarian.

no, there is no rabies vaccination that i have ever heard of. there is only a treatment (quite painful and intensive) if you have been exposed to rabies and it's feared that you are infected with it. there is a vaccination to prevent your animals from getting rabies if they get out and are exposed but that's it.

coco Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> i vax the cats. i have kids and can't take the
> chance of them getting it, they would have to be
> put down and all of us would have to get rabies
> shots. how could my baby girl's body endure that?
> i put my babies first, fur babies second.
> maybe there is an alternative.

You should do more research on the rabies. Even if you choose to vaccinate for whatever reason, you should still understand that the rabies vax protects them much longer than 2 or 3 years. There are actually research groups challenging it in MA because of the strict rabies laws. Tests on these animals are showing that they're protected and that vaccines don't "expire" in 2 or 3 years. There's actually a test called "Titers" you can do to test how immune cats and dogs are to the rabies once they have the shot.

Link that has info on BOTH animals on people although more geared towards animals, but lots of people articles.
[www.truthaboutvaccines.org]

Another link...
[www.itsfortheanimals.com]
(you can actually order a titer test from there if you don't have a holistic vet and your reg vet won't do it)

RawKitty Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was meaning for myself, it is suggested that I
> get a rabies vax. I was wondering how raw people
> feel about that? I don't need to get them for my
> cats, since they are indoors and they come first
> in my house.


Yeah, I've heard about this. I sure wouldn't do it.

You should join this Yahoo group and ask on there.
[pets.groups.yahoo.com]

I know I have seen this topic come up before on there. Lots of animal rescue workers on there and they've all heard of the same thing. Rabies vax for people if you work with animals is not uncommon.

They also give you the rabies vax if you are exposed to rabies. There's a raw food regualr on the sunfood forum that had to have her daughter vax because she came in contact with rabies or something and it was a preventitve measure I guess. Search or ask on there if you're a member.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/11/2008 10:28PM by LikeItOrNot.

Also, I'm sure all us "raw people" know the dangers of mercury....

Do you know how much mercury is in a rabies vax?


Enough Said.

LikeItOrNot Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> coco Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > i vax the cats. i have kids and can't take the
> > chance of them getting it, they would have to
> be
> > put down and all of us would have to get rabies
> > shots. how could my baby girl's body endure
> that?
> > i put my babies first, fur babies second.
> > maybe there is an alternative.
>
> You should do more research on the rabies. Even if
> you choose to vaccinate for whatever reason, you
> should still understand that the rabies vax
> protects them much longer than 2 or 3 years. There
> are actually research groups challenging it in MA
> because of the strict rabies laws. Tests on these
> animals are showing that they're protected and
> that vaccines don't "expire" in 2 or 3 years.
> There's actually a test called "Titers" you can do
> to test how immune cats and dogs are to the rabies
> once they have the shot.
>
> Link that has info on BOTH animals on people
> although more geared towards animals, but lots of
> people articles.
> [www.truthaboutvaccines.org]
>
> Another link...
> [www.itsfortheanimals.com]
> TOCOLS.HTM
> (you can actually order a titer test from there if
> you don't have a holistic vet and your reg vet
> won't do it)

thanks for the info but do you have any idea how much titer tests cost? phew, i can't afford to do them on the kids, i'm sure not about to fork it over for the cats! shots once a year, that's the price i pay for having house pets. in a perfect world animals would all live in the wild where they belong but...

that said, i would never vax myself for rabies. if i was exposed of course i would have to undergo the treatment but that's a worse case scenario.