[ZPuppy]

Hi! I recently received a minature poodle puppy that's about 1 year old from Mexico as a gift from someone else who had been gifted him. In order to take him back home to the states we had to take him to a vet for his shots and certification.
Prior to this I do not know if he had seen a vet or was vaccinated. I asked my mom since we received him from my grandmother and she said she would ask her or my aunt if they know whether or not he was vaccinated, or that she'll ask them to ask the person who gave him to them.

The reason I'm concerned about him having rabies is because before we received him he had been attacked by a dog. I don't know if it was by a stray dog or if there's anyway to find out, but there was substantial bleeding. The attack happened between the time my grandmother received him in December to before our trip to Mexico 3 weeks ago.

I will be fully transparent, I have issues with health anxiety and rabies is a huge, huge, fear so I'm struggling to figure out if I'm just seeing what I want to see or trying to not see what I don't want to see. My mom also has little patience for my anxiety so I'm paranoid she'll just lie and tell me he was vaccinated.

He has a few peculiarities, but he's a puppy so I should know to expect that. He occasionally becomes obsessed with biting at his tail, right thigh and paw causing him to spin in circles chasing himself. His fur is trimmed in a way where his tail is shaved extremely close down and the end is puffy so I figure it looks like a toy to him. He also like nipping at hands and ankles. When outside in the back yard playing he also seems to just launch himself wantonly to the point that I worry he'll run into something and hurt himself. Right now I'm extra worried because after taking him outside to play he now doesn't seem to want to drink much water and its an extremely warm day. He also randomly barks and growl at nothing inside the house. He also seems to bump into things a lot. He's timid and frightful without me or my mom around as well. Outside this he doesn't seem to have gotten any progressively worse from when I first met him 2 to 3 weeks ago in Mexico.

I want to take him to our vet, but I just don't know how to go about it. I don't want to call and say he has rabies because I understand it could just be my anxiety and I don't want to unnecessarily risk putting everyone through all the trouble especially the little guy. Basically I don't want to overplay or under play it and put any of the staff in danger or unnecessarily in high alert. I feel like I can't just bring him in for a check up and then say I think he might have rabies and the ridiculous reason why I might think so.

He also might have nicked me with a tooth or nail yesterday afternoon, but I'm not sure because all I see is one red dot on each ankle. One looks pimple like or like it could be from a tooth. The other is about the size of a mark or dot from a writing pen. None look like running scratches. I have absolutely no idea how to react to this.

I say to myself I should be able to recognize that the likelihood of him having rabies is slim. The window for him to have been infected by the potentially stray dog that attacked him is low from my understanding, and I could be completely wrong, that rabid dogs are only infectious from after the incubation period and until death. This also means I'd have to be extremely unlucky because he would had to have just now or really recently become infectious as he has no huge obvious symptoms. He also seems cognizant enough, or at least enough for a puppy, to be learning how to sit on command. I've had dogs before, but never a puppy so his behavior is completely new to me.

I struggle with health anxiety and have been working on that so when I initially met him 3 weeks ago and was told the story of him being attacked I arrogantly assumed if he would of had rabies he'd have died within the week, but now I know I was wrong about that. The reason this is important is because if I had not brushed off the possibility of him having rabies at the time I would of though he had rabies during those two initial weeks of being with him. Clearly I would have been wrong and right know I'm hoping I'm still wrong. Am I wrong?

Are there any test or observations I can make before making the call to be sure? Whats the best way to inform our vet about the situation? I do want to take just for a general check up. What should I do having possible been scratched or bitten. How would you react to the situation if it was you?

 

[SpotTheCat]

I would tell your vet when he was bitten that you are worried he may have rabies, better safe then sorry. And the vet will know best rather then strangers on the internet

 

[DaySleepers]

I agree that the best thing you can do is call the vet and explain that your dog was attacked and you're unsure of vaccination status of either the attacking dog or your pup at the time of the incident (your mom can do this if you think you'll be too stressed to communicate clearly). Ask whether you need to be concerned about rabies given the timing of the attack and vaccination he's now received. If you can, get a more exact date of when this bite happened beyond some time in the last six months, because this will be key in determining whether your pup is at risk.

That being said, a few things that I hope calm your mind:

Mexico is considered a low-risk country for rabies, so it's unlikely your pup was exposed to the virus during the attack.

Once a dog starts showing symptoms and becomes infectious, rabies progresses extremely quickly and is 100% fatal. If the behaviors you're concerned about have been going on for weeks with no change, they aren't caused by rabies. It's impossible to catch rabies from a dog who is incubating the virus, only from a dog who has had the virus reach their brain and start causing behavior changes (this is when the virus starts replicating itself in the salivary glands, not before).

Rabies symptoms are really extreme and not what you describe here (think more like zombie stumbling around rather than a clumsy puppy running into things). Still describe the behaviors to the vet to get a professional opinion, but the timeline doesn't line up for them to be caused by rabies - and most seem like very normal puppy/adolescent dog behaviors.

Even if your pup was exposed, vaccination is very effective in preventing rabies from reaching the brain if it's given before clinical signs appear, as well as protecting against future exposure.

To conclude, absolutely run this by your vet as soon as possible, even if it's just a phone call. You can even ask if they can sit down with you and explain the risks/reality of rabies and your dog - you may have to pay for their time, but if you think it'll help your anxiety to get the facts from a professional it could be well worth it. But it's unlikely that you're at risk for rabies exposure.

 

[stbob]

Hi! I recently received a minature poodle puppy that's about 1 year old from Mexico as a gift from someone else who had been gifted him. In order to take him back home to the states we had to take him to a vet for his shots and certification.
Prior to this I do not know if he had seen a vet or was vaccinated. I asked my mom since we received him from my grandmother and she said she would ask her or my aunt if they know whether or not he was vaccinated, or that she'll ask them to ask the person who gave him to them.

The reason I'm concerned about him having rabies is because before we received him he had been attacked by a dog. I don't know if it was by a stray dog or if there's anyway to find out, but there was substantial bleeding. The attack happened between the time my grandmother received him in December to before our trip to Mexico 3 weeks ago.

I will be fully transparent, I have issues with health anxiety and rabies is a huge, huge, fear so I'm struggling to figure out if I'm just seeing what I want to see or trying to not see what I don't want to see. My mom also has little patience for my anxiety so I'm paranoid she'll just lie and tell me he was vaccinated.

He has a few peculiarities, but he's a puppy so I should know to expect that. He occasionally becomes obsessed with biting at his tail, right thigh and paw causing him to spin in circles chasing himself. His fur is trimmed in a way where his tail is shaved extremely close down and the end is puffy so I figure it looks like a toy to him. He also like nipping at hands and ankles. When outside in the back yard playing he also seems to just launch himself wantonly to the point that I worry he'll run into something and hurt himself. Right now I'm extra worried because after taking him outside to play he now doesn't seem to want to drink much water and its an extremely warm day. He also randomly barks and growl at nothing inside the house. He also seems to bump into things a lot. He's timid and frightful without me or my mom around as well. Outside this he doesn't seem to have gotten any progressively worse from when I first met him 2 to 3 weeks ago in Mexico.

I want to take him to our vet, but I just don't know how to go about it. I don't want to call and say he has rabies because I understand it could just be my anxiety and I don't want to unnecessarily risk putting everyone through all the trouble especially the little guy. Basically I don't want to overplay or under play it and put any of the staff in danger or unnecessarily in high alert. I feel like I can't just bring him in for a check up and then say I think he might have rabies and the ridiculous reason why I might think so.

He also might have nicked me with a tooth or nail yesterday afternoon, but I'm not sure because all I see is one red dot on each ankle. One looks pimple like or like it could be from a tooth. The other is about the size of a mark or dot from a writing pen. None look like running scratches. I have absolutely no idea how to react to this.

I say to myself I should be able to recognize that the likelihood of him having rabies is slim. The window for him to have been infected by the potentially stray dog that attacked him is low from my understanding, and I could be completely wrong, that rabid dogs are only infectious from after the incubation period and until death. This also means I'd have to be extremely unlucky because he would had to have just now or really recently become infectious as he has no huge obvious symptoms. He also seems cognizant enough, or at least enough for a puppy, to be learning how to sit on command. I've had dogs before, but never a puppy so his behavior is completely new to me.

I struggle with health anxiety and have been working on that so when I initially met him 3 weeks ago and was told the story of him being attacked I arrogantly assumed if he would of had rabies he'd have died within the week, but now I know I was wrong about that. The reason this is important is because if I had not brushed off the possibility of him having rabies at the time I would of though he had rabies during those two initial weeks of being with him. Clearly I would have been wrong and right know I'm hoping I'm still wrong. Am I wrong?

Are there any test or observations I can make before making the call to be sure? Whats the best way to inform our vet about the situation? I do want to take just for a general check up. What should I do having possible been scratched or bitten. How would you react to the situation if it was you?

After the vet exams and vaccinates your dog, assuming the vet finds no other existing problems, the only thing the vet can do for you is tell you what rabbi smptoms to look out for, there is no rabbi test that are done on living dogs...

 

[ZPuppy]

I would tell your vet when he was bitten that you are worried he may have rabies, better safe then sorry. And the vet will know best rather then strangers on the internet

Thank you for your reply. Due my anxiety I struggle gaging what the appropriate response is to any situation because it could always just be an over reaction which only adds on to the stress. Hearing you say better safe then sorry really really helps, thank you.

 

[ZPuppy]

I agree that the best thing you can do is call the vet and explain that your dog was attacked and you're unsure of vaccination status of either the attacking dog or your pup at the time of the incident (your mom can do this if you think you'll be too stressed to communicate clearly). Ask whether you need to be concerned about rabies given the timing of the attack and vaccination he's now received. If you can, get a more exact date of when this bite happened beyond some time in the last six months, because this will be key in determining whether your pup is at risk.

That being said, a few things that I hope calm your mind:

Mexico is considered a low-risk country for rabies, so it's unlikely your pup was exposed to the virus during the attack.

Once a dog starts showing symptoms and becomes infectious, rabies progresses extremely quickly and is 100% fatal. If the behaviors you're concerned about have been going on for weeks with no change, they aren't caused by rabies. It's impossible to catch rabies from a dog who is incubating the virus, only from a dog who has had the virus reach their brain and start causing behavior changes (this is when the virus starts replicating itself in the salivary glands, not before).

Rabies symptoms are really extreme and not what you describe here (think more like zombie stumbling around rather than a clumsy puppy running into things). Still describe the behaviors to the vet to get a professional opinion, but the timeline doesn't line up for them to be caused by rabies - and most seem like very normal puppy/adolescent dog behaviors.

Even if your pup was exposed, vaccination is very effective in preventing rabies from reaching the brain if it's given before clinical signs appear, as well as protecting against future exposure.

To conclude, absolutely run this by your vet as soon as possible, even if it's just a phone call. You can even ask if they can sit down with you and explain the risks/reality of rabies and your dog - you may have to pay for their time, but if you think it'll help your anxiety to get the facts from a professional it could be well worth it. But it's unlikely that you're at risk for rabies exposure.

Thank you thank you very much your post helps so much and I'll be sure to makes note of everything for when I call our vet. I really truly appreciate how you broke everything down for me and all the suggestions thank you very much.

 

[ZPuppy]

After the vet exams and vaccinates your dog, assuming the vet finds no other existing problems, the only thing the vet can do for you is tell you what rabbi smptoms to look out for, there is no rabbi test that are done on living dogs...

Yea, but I just feel like I have no ground to stand on so at least talking to our vet will give me a little bit more control over the situation and comfort. After doing some light research, as much as could before losing my nerve, I came across this 10 day protocol which really helped. I'm not too sure I understood it all that well, but enough to help the situation or at least until I get in touch with our vet.

 

[stbob]

Hi! I recently received a minature poodle puppy that's about 1 year old from Mexico as a gift from someone else who had been gifted him. In order to take him back home to the states we had to take him to a vet for his shots and certification.
Prior to this I do not know if he had seen a vet or was vaccinated. I asked my mom since we received him from my grandmother and she said she would ask her or my aunt if they know whether or not he was vaccinated, or that she'll ask them to ask the person who gave him to them.

i too suffer from anxieties. Here's quick story. Recently thought my dog might possibly of had a medical problem. It was after hours, contacted emergency vet, told them my exact concerns, vet told me to bring the dog in, stat. Upon arrival at emergency vet, vet does quick visual inspection and tells me to keep an eye on the dogs condition for the couple of days and then told the receptionist to write me up. Thankfully it turned out to be nothing and of course better safe than sorry but i sure won't be so fast to run to the emergency room vet next time...