Tuesday 1 June 2021

Rabies.


On mainland France, there have been no cases of  Rabies since 1924. The last person to die of Rabies in France was a 10 year old boy who had been bitten by a dog in Sri Lanka; not here.

The UK has been Rabies free since about 1900.

So why am I having to subject poor Billy to a Rabies jab?

For a dog (even Billy) to enter the UK from France, he has to be chipped, have his Rabies jab at least 21 days before travel, have his own passport, and have been given a Tapeworm pill between 1 and 5 days before travel.

We are having him vaccinated now (above, yesterday afternoon) because he needs to be tested afterwards to see if the antibodies are there. If not, it will have to be re-done. This makes sure he is 'protected' well in time.

Seeing that any risk of Rabies is even less than 'minimal', I really find the whole procedure a total waste of time and money; not to mention the stress put onto the dog.

I am perfectly aware that Rabies is a very nasty, often fatal, disease; but seeing that there is no discernible chance of a dog either carrying it, or catching it, either in France or England, I think it's about time someone reassessed these outdated travel regulations. 

I'm pleased to say the Billy didn't try to bite the Vet', nor did he piss all over the floor; he was as good as gold. He also now has a nice new French passport.


42 comments:

  1. There are several things I don’t do with my dogs unless I have to , boosters being one

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    1. Normally, I wouldn't have made Billy have his Rabies jab, but without it he can't travel. I think it's all nonsense.

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    2. I don't give my dogs boosters. The rabies jab works unlike some I could mention.

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  2. I've just added a weather comment on your previous post.

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    1. We were promised storms for tonight, but I now see that they've been cancelled. Of course, meteorologists HAVE been known to be wrong!

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  3. Better safe than sorry. Whilst rabies is largely eradicated in Europe it still exists in some countries (Italy briefly lost its rabies free status as recently as about ten years or so ago, before regaining it) - and, dare I say it, a lone animal doesn't use official border crossings. I thought you'd be proud that the UK eradicated rabies so efficiently so early on, on account of being an island (no land borders) and employing strict quarantine rules (now much relaxed).

    So, what's a little jab compared to sitting in a cage for weeks on end?

    U

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    1. Neither should be necessary as the risk is 'nil'.

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    2. Cro, don't you see? The risk is only "nil" as you claim BECAUSE of the precautions taken.

      U

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    3. That's like saying that no rope can be sold, in case people hang themselves.

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    4. Your example limps. If someone wants to hang themselves that's their affair. And in absence of rope there are cliffs we can throw ourselves off.

      However, rabies does not just affect the carrier (which is horrible enough) but, potentially, anyone in contact with the raging mad (be they man or beast). Talking of "mad": Do you remember the saying about dogs and Englishmen in the midday sun? :)

      I wasn't going to mention bats as I didn't want to overegg the cake. Thanks to your reader Tigger it's now out in the open.

      Anyway, surely, all is well. Main thing is Billy has been done. That your wallet may have been lightened in the process - well, my dear Cro, that comes with the territory.

      U

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  4. It's a right old palaver isn't it?

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    1. Dreadful. And no doubt similar rules will be applied for us humans too.

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  5. I don't know whether it would have been easier before Brexit but I know that taking a dog from Greece to Britain now demands a mountain of paperwork.
    Lucky Billy was relaxed about the whole business

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    1. Local Alien, hi. Oh do I envy you Greece.

      It's nothing to do with Brexit. To bring a dog to Britain has always been a palaver (see quarantine laws). I know this not because I did so personally, but a good friend of mine (American), smuggled her handbag dog into England. What a saga that was. Sworn to secrecy, and all to spare the creature quarantine which is, truly, so I imagine, awful. Not least for the dog.

      U

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  6. On the face of it, it seems pointless unless there could be other dogs on the plane at the same time that might come from a rabies country. But isn't it transmitted by a bite? The dogs would be individually caged, so not a problem.

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    1. We shall probably put the car on the tunnel train, where one stays in the car with the animal. So no problem there either.

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    2. The issue is not biting en route but bringing it in to the country.

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  7. There was a case of rabies in UK in 1970 or71. For a short time all import of dogs was stopped.
    We were returning from Malaya and sadly couldn't bring our dog back.
    With all forces personnel being withdrawn there was no-one to take her and we couldn't leave her to local people.
    There were no passports or rabies jabs then just 6 months quarantine. Things are far improved now.

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    1. Probably as with the 10 year old French boy, I expect the Rabies came from outside the UK. I am reliably informed that there is no Rabies within British borders.

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    2. Exactly - which is why it is better to continue to control against the possibility of it entering the country.

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  8. Wonder what your Billie will think of the UK? Is your home in UK in a "perfectly tranquil countryside" as well?

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    1. Anything but! We live in the middle of Brighton, with no garden; other than a shared private garden. However, the beach isn't far away, and we have a church and huge churchyard just 50 metres away; that's where all the local dogs are exercised. He'll get used to it (I hope).
      It'll be very different for him.

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  9. In France, rabies in non-flying terrestrial mammals was declared to be eliminated in 2001, and the risk of rabies is now limited to contact with bats - so it is still around.

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    1. I've never heard about that. I wouldn't have thought that Bats present a particular problem; they don't bite people.

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    2. Yes, bats bite people. They even scratch them. That's how the last human that had rabies in my province caught Rabies. Our dogs get their boosters every three years. We have Coyotes that run our fence line. Nobody tests Coyotes unless they are dead.

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    3. Actually, they do bite. We have quite a problem with rabies here and I received a call while I was working for the county. A woman had a bat hanging on her door jamb. I went to her garage and the bat was obviously sick. I put on leather gloves and collected it and euthanized it and sent it off for testing. It was rabid. Just a couple of years ago, we had a bat in our house that I am quite sure was rabid as well. There are two types of rabies, furious rabies (think Old Yeller) and then a quieter form of it, paralytic. In my mind, that's the more dangerous one...everyone wants to help a sick animal. That's when people get bit.

      When I was in the Army, I was stationed up near the Canadian border. Rabies was endemic there. They had to put down an entire herd of dairy cows, believe it or not.

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  10. At least he doesn’t have to go into quarantine for six months....which would have been the case several years ago. As for micro chipping, I believe cats and dogs should be microchipped.

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    1. All our cats and dogs have been chipped; it's silly not to. I don't think I'd have put them through quarantine; horrible.

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  11. Here in Brazil dogs have to be vaccinated against rabies every year by law.

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    1. I think Billy will have to have another jab next year, then it's every three years after that.

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  12. Our dogs have to be vaccinated against rabies yearly in the US. Rabies is rare but not unheard of. In fact, we have to have a host of vaccines every single year since things like parvo are very common.

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    1. Here they are only Rabies vaccinated for travel purposes, otherwise he has an annual jab for all the other stuff.

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  13. There is a kennels near us in the UK that requires dogs to be vaccinated against rabies before they can stay there. We have never used them.

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    1. I suppose they'd have to be very careful, especially if they have 'foreign' dogs staying.

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  14. he was very good. My dogs both shake and one is very sick when he has to go to the vet. They are rescue dogs and I can only think there has been some awful incident when seen by the vet. One good thing since Covid is the Vets do triage and vaccinations in the field next to the vets, horses, dogs, rabbits chickens are all seen in the field. My dogs are no problem out there. no flinch from the injection. we will be requesting this in the future

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    1. Most dogs panic when you mention the word 'Vet'. Billy was OK, but very happy to be home again. He kept looking at me with that 'Please take me home' expression. Luckily the jab was very quick and painless.

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  15. He is such a Good Dog.
    We have to get lots of shots here because of Mexico. The one I am so sorry for is distemper, the Dog flu heartworm and kennel cough. Many dog get it here because of Mexico plus the dog fighting. Rabies is also here. We have a very big Bat population but they are wonderful and no problem. We have warnings of if a bat is acting strange and does bite you it has to be reported right away. There has been a few cases of rabies.
    You are very lucky.

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    1. Here, I haven't heard anyone mention Rabies for decades, which is why I find the insistence on a jab so strange.

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  16. I think I'd just work on the basis it's part of travelling across the border with a dog. I don't worry about what I can't do anything about.

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    1. True, we can't do anything about it, but that doesn't stop me cursing under my breath. All part of life's rich pageant; as Arthur Marshall would have us believe.

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  17. Not only have I had to go through the series of rabies shots when I got bitten by a raccoon I helped free from a snare, but I was on hand as a teenager when my uncle had to shoot one of his cows, then take off her head to send it to the lab to be tested for rabies. (Yes, it was, she'd probably been bitten by a skunk.) Years later, I got to take a game warden into a park I worked at so we could find a dog that had been frightening visitors so he could shoot it, take the head, and send it for testing. And our suspicions were right; the dog had rabies. Which is not usually fatal, it is always fatal and a horrible way to go. Anything a country can do to prevent these scenes is well worth the effort.

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    1. Gosh, what traumas you've gone through. I do have a friend who was bitten by a Monkey in Malawi, and required jabs in his stomach, which he said were very painful. I do understand that it's very nasty, but we don't have Rabies here which is why I question the insistence on jabs.

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