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Possible rabies exposure?
So a about 2 weeks ago I let my dog out before bedtime. He took off to the back of the yard and I heard him growling and making noises (like he was fighting) and the fence getting hit. Lasted just a few seconds. Figured he saw an animal and went after it. Not sure if he physical got into an altercation with it or it got over the fence first.
I called him in right away and looked him over and didn’t notice any abrasions or marks on him initially. My dog is vaccinated, FYI. About 2 weeks go by and I was petting him and I felt a bump on his neck about 2 or 3 inches below his collar above his shoulder blade. It was a scab about the size of my pinky finger nail. Probably just under a 1 cm in diameter. It flaked up when I pet him. And was only connected on one side so I pulled it up and there was a tiny mark that started to bleed. Not sure how big or small the initial injury was that I found prior to it scabbing up.
My question is, if the scab was from an animal that he got into a fight with 2 weeks ago could I have contracted rabies from touching his hair in that spot when I looked him over 2 weeks ago? I don’t remember seeing blood or feeling wet hair when I looked him over but I can’t be certain of it. I also can’t be certain that he didn’t cut himself at a later date or just scratched himself to hard when itching himself. I usually have small scrapes on my hands because I work with them a lot. I am worried about saliva left from the animal that may have gotten on my hands when I looked him over 2 weeks ago.
My dog is acting fine but he also has a rabies vaccination so he would not get the disease if interacting with animals in the yard. He did eat a 13 striped ground squirrel about a week ago. But he has been chasing this thing in my yard for the entire year. Not sure if he caught it and killed it or he found it dead. All I found was the head. The only reason I know this is because I saw him pick up an object and start carrying off. I told him to drop and out came a little stripped squirrel head. Kinda gross.
I have been feeling under the weather this past weekend.
I called him in right away and looked him over and didn’t notice any abrasions or marks on him initially. My dog is vaccinated, FYI. About 2 weeks go by and I was petting him and I felt a bump on his neck about 2 or 3 inches below his collar above his shoulder blade. It was a scab about the size of my pinky finger nail. Probably just under a 1 cm in diameter. It flaked up when I pet him. And was only connected on one side so I pulled it up and there was a tiny mark that started to bleed. Not sure how big or small the initial injury was that I found prior to it scabbing up.
My question is, if the scab was from an animal that he got into a fight with 2 weeks ago could I have contracted rabies from touching his hair in that spot when I looked him over 2 weeks ago? I don’t remember seeing blood or feeling wet hair when I looked him over but I can’t be certain of it. I also can’t be certain that he didn’t cut himself at a later date or just scratched himself to hard when itching himself. I usually have small scrapes on my hands because I work with them a lot. I am worried about saliva left from the animal that may have gotten on my hands when I looked him over 2 weeks ago.
My dog is acting fine but he also has a rabies vaccination so he would not get the disease if interacting with animals in the yard. He did eat a 13 striped ground squirrel about a week ago. But he has been chasing this thing in my yard for the entire year. Not sure if he caught it and killed it or he found it dead. All I found was the head. The only reason I know this is because I saw him pick up an object and start carrying off. I told him to drop and out came a little stripped squirrel head. Kinda gross.
I have been feeling under the weather this past weekend.
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