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Dog people, how effective are rabies shots?


Mr. Silly

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This morning Lucy had a little scuffle behind the garage.  She and I went out for our normal 4:30 AM pee break.  She heard something behind the garage and walked toward it to investigate then bolted after something.  It is narrow back behind the garage, maybe 4 feet wide so what ever she saw was trapped.  There was a scuffle, a growl then Lucy yelped a couple times.  I had never heard Lucy yelp before.   She walked out from the other side of the of the garage with fur on end and tail down.  She came over to me and sat down for a second then I grabbed her collar and guided her back into the house.  I think she had a tussle with a raccoon.

Once in the house, she licked her hind quarters.  I saw no cuts where she was licking.  Mrs. Silly and I did a full inspection and saw no cuts or blood anywhere.  Within 5 minutes of coming into the house Lucy was back to her old cheerful self.  Even though we didn't see anything, Mrs. Silly and I are worried that she was cut and might get rabies or something else.  Her shots is current but my question is are rabies shots 100% effective?  Are there other diseases that we should be concerned with?  Even with no cuts, should she get a visit to the vet?

 

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12 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

Lucy should be fine.  Did you check the pads of her paws for puncture wounds?

We didn't see anything.  Mrs. Silly called.  She stopped in to check on her at lunch.  She said she's favoring one of her paws.  I am going to take her in this evening.  

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Rabies is one of the better vaccinations but there are differences in effectiveness by breed.  What did the vet say?  If I had to guess the opponent went for the ankle joint it the actual paw.  Could have been an opposum . 

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Lucy had a bad day yesterday.

The paw Lucy was licking and favoring yesterday was her right rear.  When I Mrs. Silly called to tell me she was favoring her paw, I assumed Lucy was favoring her right rear.  I was a little surprised when I got home from work to see her unwilling to put her right front paw down.

Lu and I went to the vet.  The vet looked over her front leg.  Lucy had her full range of motion so nothing was dislocated.  She gave Lucy some x-rays and didn't see any breaks.  The Vet gave Lucy a good looking over and didn't see and cuts in her ears.  She also checked her other legs and feet.  She speculated that Lucy probably was using her front paw after the tussle behind the garage because she was probably on an adrenaline rush or something.  

Vet gave Lucy some anti-inflammatory for her paw and a mild antibiotic in case there was a cut we didn't see.

Things got interesting when Mrs. Silly got home.  She saw Lucy was unwilling to put weight on her front paw, was glad to learn it wasn't a break and satisfied with the treatment.  Then she asked, "did the vet look at her rear paw because that is what she was favoring when I was home for lunch".  Because of the way Lucy was avoiding using her front paw, I assumed that is what she was referring to.  

We're speculating now that Lucy had her fight behind the garage and got a little injury from it.  Then during the day she hurt her front paw.  Lucy gets very upset at delivery people and we did receive a yesterday afternoon.  When think Lucy may have banged her front paw while yelling at the delivery person to go away.

Even though the story of Lucy's yesterday got more complex, we're comfortable that the Vet wasn't concerned about rabies and antibiotics would protect her and the anti-inflammatories will help her front paw.   

Lucy had a pretty good nights sleep last night.  She was confused that she had to wear a leash when she took her potty break.  This morning she was still cautious about putting weight on her front paw but she would use it.  That is an improvement.  We also put her on the sun porch in back so she wouldn't get upset when the mail man comes.  Hopefully she'll stay off her paw so it heals properly.

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