Rabies

[Arnold Ziffle]

As far as I know the diagnosis is only done by examination of brain tissue, but observation of behavior can certainly suggest rabies. An infected animal such as a coyote, dog skunk, etc. would need to bite cattle in order to transmit the disease. Based on my very preliminary reading, apparently cattle with the disease exhibit either the "furious" or "dumb" (or lethargic) behavior, but mostly commonly the "dumb". In addition, affected cattle sometimes emit low groaning or bellowing sounds.

The reason for my original question was mostly to see if folks had any anecdotal accounts and experiences to share, as I'm starting to sniff around and do a little investigating relative to some unexpected death losses. I've lost 2 cows in the last 6 months due to unknown reasons and this past Sunday I found another one down, acting very unusual and making some low groaning and bellowing sounds. But the cow on Sunday has always been my wildest cow and she won't let me just walk right up to her (this is the one that has broken out of the pens 4 different times when I tried to load her for a trip to the auction barn!). I tried several times to get real close on Sunday, with no luck. She always scurried about 100 yeards away and then laid down again, head flat to the ground. And if I tried to rope her I think she would still have enough strength to drag me all over creation! The earlier two cows were seemingly in good shape physically, looked and acted OK one week, dead the next week. They died about 4 or 5 months apart. But they were each 12 to 13 years old --- so earlier I just chalked it up to old age and scolded myself for not hauling them earlier. The cow on Sunday is also in good body condition and has a calf that was born the last week of December, but at ten years of age she no spring chicken either. I plan to go back to the place on Wed., and if I find her to be recently enough deceased I may carefully hack off the head and take it to the vet for testing, along with some blood. I think in any event I'll place a call to my vet to see if he has diagnosed any cattle deaths due to rabies in my area recently.

Of course, I may be missing something that would be obvious to a more experienced person. But there have been numerous skunks killed in my county the last few years that were confirmed by examination to be rabid. Quite a few rabid skunks have even been killed within the city limits of a nearby town. And about every fourth or fifth time I go to my place I can smell the presence of skunks. That's a little disconcerting and I may have to start carrying a handgun when roaming aroung the place.

Sidney, I think the most likely way to transmit from cattle to humans would be for an infected cow to slobber all over a human's hand or arm when the hand or arm had a cut or abbrasion, but I'm sure no expert on it!

 

[milkmaid]

I tend to not follow disney as a guide for livestock or hunting when it comes to accuracy. After all, you can't let fact get in the way of a good story

As I recall, Old Yeller is based on a true story written by the dawg's owner.

 

[Caustic Burno]

As far as I know the diagnosis is only done by examination of brain tissue, but observation of behavior can certainly suggest rabies. An infected animal such as a coyote, dog skunk, etc. would need to bite cattle in order to transmit the disease. Based on my very preliminary reading, apparently cattle with the disease exhibit either the "furious" or "dumb" (or lethargic) behavior, but mostly commonly the "dumb". In addition, affected cattle sometimes emit low groaning or bellowing sounds.

The reason for my original question was mostly to see if folks had any anecdotal accounts and experiences to share, as I'm starting to sniff around and do a little investigating relative to some unexpected death losses. I've lost 2 cows in the last 6 months due to unknown reasons and this past Sunday I found another one down, acting very unusual and making some low groaning and bellowing sounds. But the cow on Sunday has always been my wildest cow and she won't let me just walk right up to her (this is the one that has broken out of the pens 4 different times when I tried to load her for a trip to the auction barn!). I tried several times to get real close on Sunday, with no luck. She always scurried about 100 yeards away and then laid down again, head flat to the ground. And if I tried to rope her I think she would still have enough strength to drag me all over creation! The earlier two cows were seemingly in good shape physically, looked and acted OK one week, dead the next week. They died about 4 or 5 months apart. But they were each 12 to 13 years old --- so earlier I just chalked it up to old age and scolded myself for not hauling them earlier. The cow on Sunday is also in good body condition and has a calf that was born the last week of December, but at ten years of age she no spring chicken either. I plan to go back to the place on Wed., and if I find her to be recently enough deceased I may carefully hack off the head and take it to the vet for testing, along with some blood. I think in any event I'll place a call to my vet to see if he has diagnosed any cattle deaths due to rabies in my area recently.

Of course, I may be missing something that would be obvious to a more experienced person. But there have been numerous skunks killed in my county the last few years that were confirmed by examination to be rabid. Quite a few rabid skunks have even been killed within the city limits of a nearby town. And about every fourth or fifth time I go to my place I can smell the presence of skunks. That's a little disconcerting and I may have to start carrying a handgun when roaming aroung the place.

Sidney, I think the most likely way to transmit from cattle to humans would be for an infected cow to slobber all over a human's hand or arm when the hand or arm had a cut or abbrasion, but I'm sure no expert on it!

AZ from another thread I posted on about the epidemic in Texas

Rabies in Texas
< Back to Rabies Laboratory |

Rabies continues to be epizootic in Texas. In Texas, as well as the rest of the US, rabies is primarily a disease of wild animals including skunks, foxes, bats, and raccoons. There are three strains of rabies prevalent in terrestrial animals in Texas, the Texas fox strain (TF), the domestic dog/coyote strain (DDC), and the south central skunk strain (SCS). These strains are maintained by intraspecies transmission within the host species with occasional spillover to both domestic and other wild animals. The raccoon rabies strain that is prevalent on the east coast of the United States is not currently found in Texas, but raccoons do get infected as a result of spillover from the skunk, fox, and coyote epizootics. Distinct rabies virus variants are found in insectivorous bats in multiple independent reservoirs of bat species.


The DDC strain of rabies appeared along the Texas-Mexico border in 1989, and quickly became established in both coyotes and dogs in the area. This canine epizootic spread throughout south Texas by the end of 1994. Fox rabies (TF) was nonexistent prior to 1945 in Texas. It first appeared in the eastern part of Texas in 1946 and moved toward west Texas. The epizootic died out in the eastern part of the state and became enzootic in southwest Texas during 1970-80 period. In 1987-88, the epizootic reoccurred and began expanding north and east. By the end of 1994, fox rabies had spread throughout west central Texas. In 1994-95, the Oral Rabies Vaccination Program (ORVP), which had shown success in Canada and Europe against fox rabies, was initiated to combat the canine rabies epizootic in south Texas and fox rabies epizootic in west central Texas.

Facts:

Animal rabies is endemic in Texas.
The majority of the animals tested for rabies in Texas are dogs and cats which are submitted for rabies testing because of their aggressive behavior and / or exposure to humans or pets.
Wild animals such as bats, skunks, foxes, and coyotes are still the primary reservoirs of rabies.
The ORVP has resulted in a decrease in rabies positive coyotes in south Texas and rabies positive foxes in west central Texas.
Educating the public to avoid contact with wild animals, especially dead and downed bats, will prevent human or pet exposure.





Last Updated December 1, 2004

 

[Medic24]

I heard that once an animal get rabies that no bullet can stop them, like super mutant animals, you have to lterally blow them apart. Except the head of course, cus you need to keep the head intact for the health dept. to check out. (JK)

So,,, if that is the case, that means that Cattle Annie's Ex-sister in law needs to be blown to bits when she shows signs of being infected?(JK) :cboy:

We vaccinate everything that stays on this farm against rabies........at $1.50 a dose it's worth it!

We keep the dogs and cats' titers up by vaccinating every yr, although we could get by with the three year program, but hey, we really like our animals... so why chance it for them or US? :cboy:

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Yeah, but it was a true tear jerker. Loved/hated that movie!!