My dog was bitten and is acting strange. Could it be rabies?

The incubation period for rabies in humans is typically 1-3 months, but can very from between 1 week to 1 year according the the World Health Organization (WHO). According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), 90% of cases of rabies in humans develop within 6 months of exposure to rabies, and it extremely rare to have rabies appear in humans after an incubation period of 7 years. A CDC study done in 2008 found in only one girl in Australia who had an incubation period of 6.5 years after exposure to rabies. Finally, you could have only gotten rabies from AA if she had it, and given that she hasn't shown any signs in 10 years and she is healthy, there is no chance she had rabies or given it to you from a bite years ago. I have seen you have posted this question numerous times with experts reassuring you this is not something to worry about or lose sleep over. At this point, I suggest to speak with a doctor about your concerns.

Please put a muzzle on your dog and immediately take him to a veterinarian. There is a possibility that your dog may have been infected with rabies, especially if he is not up to date with rabies vaccine. Please also see a doctor since he bit you. Rabies is a deadly disease.

Hi Milna! I'm sorry to hear that your puppy was bitten. There are no symptoms of rabies that appear immediately. Since rabies is a fatal disease that can be transmitted through bodily fluids (saliva, blood) to humans, please take your puppy to a vet immediately. In addition to the concern of rabies, your puppy should have his wound evaluated, cleaned, and be started on a course of antibiotics.

Animals with rabies typically become progressively worse with other neurologic symptoms (such as muscle tremors and seizures), and die within a few days of beginning to show symptoms. So if this behavior has been going on for longer than that, it isn't rabies - instead, it's likely to be a behavior issue. From your description, it sounds like Max is very anxious and fearful. Many fearful dogs are also aggressive towards other animals and people. If you want to work on this problem, I would recommend making an appointment with a veterinary behaviorist who can evaluate him in person and help you put together a detailed treatment plan for his aggression and anxiety issues. This might include medication, as well as management suggestions to help him avoid situations that make him afraid, and specific training exercises you can work on to help with this behavior. You can search for a board-certified veterinary behaviorist in your area here: www.dacvb.org

Hi there and thank you for using Pet coach to address your concern. Based on your description I would suspect this is due to pain and that the pain is not being controlled well with the medications you are giving. The UK is a Rabies free country so this is less likely to be Rabies, however, not completely out of the realm of possibilities. If she is afraid of water especially ans becoming aggressive these would be red flags and I would have her examined immediately. If she is attacking anyone, I would call the police to come and get her so thst you are not injured as rabies can transmit to humans and be fatal. For now, I would recommend contacting your veterinarian to discuss more options for controlling the pain better. For now, I would keep the dogs isolated from one another and monitor for now. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

There is a usually a 10 day quarantine period after an animal breaks the skin of a person. If the animal has rabies in it's saliva - it show signs of rabies within 10 days. This doesn't not mean that the animal doesn't have rabies- just that it couldn't have transmitted it at the time of the bite. Rabies can have a long incubation period. Rabies should be taken very seriously because it is a fatal virus. I would recommend getting Tofy vaccinated as soon as possible. I would recommend consulting with a local veterinarian on what happened and have an exam done on Tofy. They can give you the necessary information. Please get her examined and vaccinated to protect her and yourself. Thanks for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Correct - if a dog is still alive and not showing any neurologic symptoms 10 days after a bite incident, then you can be certain that it was not carrying rabies in its salivary glands at the time of the bite.