Vent on flea market dogs--rabid puppy - Page 1

OK folks this is it--I knew something like this would happen eventually. I will put in the link but basically a blue tick X puppy was either sold or given away at the flea market about 2 miles from me called "Bivens Dog Trade" on the 9th of June and died on the 12th rabies confirmed. here are tribal rabies clinics every spring and also my vet hosts an afternoon of cheap shots. Absolutely no sense in this.................The sad part is I may know where the dogs came from. Have been trying to call them and so far not able to make contact. the dog trade is called that because back in the day the hunters got together with their dogs and bragged and lied and Bs'd and traded dogs. I can remember going there with Papa. When I moved back here, I found it was a flea market and had plans to go UNTIL I found out the puppy millers were there and active. If I go down there I will probably be escorted out by the cops..so it's best I stay away. Anyway everybody send good vibes that the other puppies and the owner of the bitch is found and that it's not my friends. Thank you.  http://www.kxii.com/home/headlines/Oklahoma-State-Health-department-looking-for-people-exposed-to-rabid-puppy-212260101.html
 

Yikes!
 

This sounds like a nightmare for whomever it turns out to be! And who knows how many will have to be found that had possible contact. I am sending large doses of good vibes your way. I hope they are enough to find everyone and the dogs, that need to be found.


http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/medical_care/index.html
 

Happens at least once or twice every year in states where rabies is endemic...and has even happened with kittens or pups adopted out by shelters, unfortunately, when they've gotten them in as owner surrenders or somebody turns in a feral litter they've managed to catch.  It's one of the risks involved, since few states have mandatory hold periods at all on owner surrendered animals, and most have no more than 7 days on strays, which even then is still 3 days short of the standard rabies-hold time frame. 

 

I can understand your fears, vonissk.  At least once per year, when I hear of a case like this, I say a silent thanks to the vet I worked for before I joined the Dept of Ag, because he had all of us non-vets in the practice--techs, receptionists, bookkeepers, anyone who worked there--get the pre-exposure series done because raccoon rabies is endemic to NJ, and he didn't want anyone placed at risk. I still work with animals, and though my job is with livestock, there are usually dogs and cats on the farms, and most of the barn cats & their get aren't vaccinated against rabies, either...so the same sort of inadvertent exposure can occur then as with this situation with the rabid puppy at a flea market, or the ones being sold or given away out of the back of a van at the local Wal-Mart up here.

I do hope it's not your friends, vonissk, and that the number of people actually exposed is low and they are all identified and treated successfully. One thing I have to say in NJ's favor is that each municipality, town, village, etc. holds a free rabies-vaccination clinic at least once per year, where anyone with a cat or licensed dog [or licensed cat, for those towns that require it] can just show up with their license papers and have their animals vaccinated at no cost to them.  This program is funded by pet licensing fees--it's built into the fee, with those monies going to the State's Rabies Vax fund and is then redistributed back to the municipality to cover the cost of hiring a vet to cover the clinic day [the state purchases the vaccines themselves, and then supplies it to the vet who will be doing the free clinic just before the day of the event].  If more states did this, there would likely be fewer instances like this one. :(  USDA also provides free rabies vaccination services to recognized Native American reservations, which is something that might need to be considered in getting animals immunized in that population in OK...