My dog ate a dead animal. Can he transmit disease to my baby?

You are correct that the rat can carry diseases. I recommend to call your veterinarian and tell them what happened. They may want to check him for any bites and booster his vaccines. The main concerns for rats are Leptospirosis and fleas who can carry plague depending on where you live. Theoretically, rabies and rat poison ingestion would also be a risk. Your veterinarian will be most familiar with your local environment and the potential diseases. Also make sure Brady is up-to-date on his flea prevention. Best of luck and please feel free to post any additional questions.

There are a couple of diseases that a rat can give a person, but it's very unlikely it could be spread this way. Bacterial and parasitic diseases usually require a certain amount be ingested before they cause disease. It would take more than a lick to the outside of the mouth to give a substantial amount. There are some scary diseases like hantavirus that can be spread quite easily though. However, it is relatively rare. The best thing you can do to rule-out disease is by taking the rat to a state laboratory for testing. The government has disease monitoring laboratories that will examine and test the body for diseases of concern in your area. You can call your local vet, or Texas A&M veterinary diagnostic laboratory (https://tvmdl.tamu.edu/) for more information. Otherwise, I would not worry too much. It appears that you have done a good job washing away any potential contaminants and it would be rare for you to have contracted anything. If you happen to feel ill in the next week, then please contact your doctor and mention the rat incident. I hope that helps and all is well.

Oh no! While it's not good Thalia had a dead rat in her mouth, she's a very good girl for dropping it right away. If she did not chew on the rat, eat part of the rat, and if there was no blood, then the likelihood that she picked up any disease from the rat is very low. The biggest concern would be if she ate part of it, chewed on it, or if you saw any blood from it in her mouth. If any of those scenarios apply, then yes, I would take her into your asap. Should the rat appear intact, there are no signs she chewed on it, and she was simply carrying it, I would wash her mouth out with water very well (use gloves to be safe!), and that should be fine. To be safe, you can get her checked out, but just carrying the rat should have no issue. Definitely get her the vaccine on Monday. I hope this helps!

You probably do not need to be concerned since Puppy did not actually eat the rat. However, if you feel like she is acting abnormally, like vomiting or coughing excessively or acting more lethargic than normal, I would recommend taking her in to the vet just to make sure nothing is going on. There are some diseases that can be spread from rat to dog but with such limited interaction Puppy is probably fine. My only other concern would be if there was any rat poison around that the rat or Puppy could have gotten in to. If so, this could cause some bleeding issues in Puppy. Your vet can run a simple blood test to make sure this is not an issue.

Hello and thank you for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I would not be concerned by this! Dogs unfortunately love to sniff (and even lick or eat) other dead animals, so it was great that you were able to act quickly and keep Jordy from eating whatever that was. It sounds like you keep him up to date on all of his vaccines, which is excellent. As long as he continues to act normally (eating, drinking, urinating and defecating normally), and is otherwise healthy, I would not be concerned. I hope this is helpful!

A dog must come into contact with saliva or nervous tissue (brain, spinal cord, etc) of an infected animal in order for the risk of rabies transmission to be present. Once the saliva or tissue have dried, the risk is quite minimal. Sniffing a carcass will not pose a risk. Blood, urine, feces, or muscle tissue are not infectious. As long as James remains current with vaccination, he should be fine. It is always recommended to keep him away from roadkill or dead animals anyway.

Hi! It's fantastic that Pikica has been vaccinated against Rabies. I wouldn't be concerned. It's most likely that Rabies hasn't been transferred to you or your pet. You'll want to be sure to keep your pet up to date on heart worm prevention and that Pikica is fully protected against intestinal parasites. Parasites can be easily transmitted between wild and domestic animals. Keep up the good work!