March: Rabies Awareness Month

In the Philippines, have you watched how the 2 year old cried over his catto receiving the anti-rabies vaccine at a center? Perhaps he didn't understand the process when they took his furbaby from him, or, maybe he felt bad for it getting injected.

March is a month for rabies awareness. Do we really need to be aware of such? Do we have to get our pets get vaccinated against rabies?

Literally, yes. We need to be aware of rabies because the fatality is hundred percent when no appropriate measures were taken promptly.

Let me tell you a related story but won't narrate every detail.

About 10 years ago, a cousin of mine who was a year older than me suffered and eventually expired from a dog bite.

One evening, as he was on the way from the tertiary school he was attending to his boarding house, a dog he met just bit him and went away. He washed the bitten area w/ soap and water when he arrived at his boarding house. Then, he attempted to let it bleed as much as possible by pressing it.

On one of his visit to his hometown after a month, his mother noticed the obvious change in his behaviour, it was bizzare. He became ill wherein they brought him to a hospital in their locality.

With the signs, the doctor suspected he was rabid, thus, they asked him whether he was bitten by a dog or any wild animal. That's when he admitted he was bitten by a dog along the way a month ago.

My cousin's s situation became worse to the point that he developed hydrophobia. They immediately transferred him to a higher level hospital but then the rabies had already reached his brain. His behaviour became worst. He became more agitated to the point that his mother can no longer calm him nor keep him in place. Just like a rabid animal more saliva coming out from his mouth, he can't be controlled. He lacked sleep. He was having all the signs that the virus had consumed his entire body.

On the other hand, a vaccine was given to his mother who was the most exposed to him especially that she begun to feel ill.

After some time of fighting, the most heartbreaking happening took place where his suffering ended. Bless his soul.

See? That's why we have to be aware of animal bites and its consequences. When a dog bit anyone, if possible it should be observed for ten days to determine if it show any sign of rabies before getting the bitten individual vaccinated. But in cases wherein the culprit is a stray one and escaped then vaccine should be given immediately. It is the same when a bite was done by wild and nocturnal animals because they are the worst carriers of rabies.

Getting our pets vaccinated against rabies is a necessary practice.

Every year, here in our municipality the local government helds a municipal wide vaccination against rabies. Every pet owner is urge to get his/her pet jabbed. This program doesn't only protects the owner and his household from rabies when scratched or bitten by their pet. But it is a protection for the pet itself. Because admit it or not, dogs and cats are roaming around our vicinity. Only a few were placed inside or have a dog house that's why dog fight can not be prevented. That's when rabies gets transmitted. And a rabid animal, whether provoked or not just bites.

I was prompted to write this article because after two weeks of staying at my parents house, I have learned upon coming home that there was a case of a rabid dog. And I was to tell my husband to buy a vaccine or call a vet to immunize our doggo when he said that municipal employees came for dogs and cats vaccination in the morning of the day we came.

Prior to this, I learned from my son that some of his classmates were bitten by a suspected rabid dog where there were 9 individuals bitten by it in just a matter of minutes. And when I went to the other sitio, there were also others who were bitten by a dog which they don't know its owner. Maybe it was the same dog.

The dangerous part is that nobody knew when it bit other dogs along its way. That's why the OMAG conducting vaccination was very timely. Nonetheless, my father said that dogs knew when a rabid dog, as in the vicious one can be identified by other dogs that's why they knew how to get themselves out of the way.

Author's note:

Let's be a responsible pet owners because we never know, especially that some dogs just bite without being provoked. And, never get too close to a dog especially when it is a stray one.

3-26-22

Z_Graeden