L
"Better to plant lots of bushes so no one knows you have a dog, bring you car into the yard for dog to board out of sight and keep him quiet and hidden as much as possible so no one knows you even have a dog."
Exactly, I agree.
Back to How Safe is Your Pet from “Just a Rabies Vaccine?”
Replies on How Safe is Your Pet from “Just a Rabies Vaccine?”
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Replies to Pat · Back to discussion
Will Falconer, DVM Moderator
Hi Pat,
So, missing here is the understanding of where a titer comes from: exposure to a disease. It's antibodies, formed as part of the immune response to exposure to a disease organism. In rabies titers, that means a vaccination, most often, with the rare exception of what Louann suggested earlier (exposure to another dog recently vaccinated and shedding the rabies virus).
So, in 99% of the discussions of rabies titers, it's in vaccinated dogs. And these dogs should have records somewhere, showing the earlier vaccination that caused the titer.
It is true: an unvaccinated dog (never vac'd) who bites someone, can be euthanized to have the brain exam to determine if rabies was the cause of the bite. Vaccinated dogs, even "out of date" vaccinated dogs, are at most quarantined (provided humans with intelligence are calling the shots, no pun intended). Updated with more info: quarantine is a choice. This is in the Compendium of Animal Rabies, which you should have a copy of. I've linked to it, with highlights, in this post.
Jeri
I'm sure Dr. Falconer can address this, Pat, but I'd bet on fear tactics. You may want to read this page specifically on Rabies: https://vitalanimal.com/vaccination-rabies/ Why accept a titer, give license and tag for it, and then treat the animal as if a stray if there's an incident? I think there's so much fear out there on this that it fuels great confusion in terms of what the laws do and do not say. If you read Dr. Falconer's page, he clearly distinguishes between what is considered a vaccinated versus un-vaccinated animal. The latter have no owners, no record of vaccination ever.
If you want to know what your own local laws specify, check the state and/or county/city laws out online or get a trusted vet to call them. In our situation, our vet's office called to find out if a titer was acceptable "as proof of vaccination". They wanted to know to be sure they, our dog, and we, were protected. Yes, it is. The city/parish doesn't issue tags and licenses to un-vaccinated animals. I don't know who told you otherwise, but please don't believe them. Find out for yourself what the law will and won't do. Our state laws do not even provide for killing the animal except by consent of the owner -- and quarantine is always an option (though for longer period if the animal is bitten than if he/she bites someone.) I know for a fact that the latter only warrants a week's quarantine because my parents had a feral they took in to be vaccinated and he bit someone (vet's office was clearly unprepared to handle feral cats). He was quarantined for a week. Period.
I won't live in fear, and would discourage others from doing so either. Protect your animals, naturally, but don't assume that the worst would happen automatically. I've never heard of "instant death" for animals who have a history of vaccination, and there would be no point whatsoever in the city issuing license and tag to a titered animal and then acting as if the animal were un-vaccinated without history of vaccination if there were an incident.
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