# GoldenMom! Dog killed bat in house! Advice?



## deb (Jul 27, 2002)

GoldenMom and others - can you give me some advice?

We live in an 1865 WI farmhouse and there are bats that live inside the house's aluminum siding. We have real winters and bats hibernate, but about once each winter we find a bat flying around the inside of the house.

We use brooms to herd the flying bat out the back door, but we have 3 dogs and on a previous occasion when we weren't home a bat was killed and mouthed by at least 2 dogs.

I live in a poor rural county that doesn't have an animal control dept and the health dept doesn't do anything about bats unless a human has been bitten.

My vet is in a "richer" urban city in a different county. Under normal circumstances, when the bat was killed by a city dwelling dog, she would send the bat in to the city for rabies testing. When my dogs killed that bat, my vet couldn't do anything for me because I live in a different "poor" county. My vet had me bring in the dogs who hadn't gotten a recent rabies shot and she gave them another rabies shot.

I was later told by someone that giving the dogs another rabies shot after killing the bat didn't do anything for the dogs; it didn't protect them in any way from rabies.

Tonight we had another bat in the house and my older dog killed it. I got the bat away from my dog, but my dog had already bitten into the bat and drew blood. The dead bat is in a box on the back porch and it is probably frozen already.

GoldenMom, Anyone - is there anything I can do for my older dog that killed the bat? Are rabies shots after killing a bat ineffectual? Help!

My husband has been out of work since the end of August and money is tight, but I want to do the right thing for my dogs.

Deb
in WI


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## GoldenMom (Jan 2, 2005)

I sent an answer by PM, but thought I'd post some relavent things here because I'm sure Deb isn't the only one who's had this happen!

Are your dogs currently current on their Rabies vaccinations? Have they had at least two in their lifetimes? If the answer is yes to either and especially if yes to both, your dogs will be fine. If the answer is no, most likely you will need to quarantine the dogs according to laws in your state.

I'm not sure what the law is in WI (or elsewhere), but in Iowa, it is required that the dog have a booster on it's Rabies vaccine ASAP after known contact with a bat (even if the dog just had a vaccination a month ago). The vaccine shouldn't be ineffectual if the dog has had a previous vaccination-being a killed vaccine, it *should* evoke an almost immediate immune response.

If your state has a public health department, I would recommend contacting them about what the law is in WI since this is going to be an on-going issue (I feel your pain, I live in an old farmhouse too).

Just FYI, if you ever need to send a bat (or anything else) in for rabies testing, it needs to be kept cold but not frozen.


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## Dodgegal79 (Aug 29, 2008)

When did the dog last get th rabies shot?? They are good so awhile.


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## deb (Jul 27, 2002)

Annie, the bat killer, and my other dogs have always been vaccinated. Annie - 10 yrs and Becky - 5 yrs had their shots in 2006 and Blue - 4 yrs had a rabies shot this year.

Before I knew what was really happening there was a moment when all the dogs were scuffling after something in a dark corner of the living room (I thought it was a mouse) and then the bat flew out & into the study where Annie killed it. I can't be sure that the other dogs didn't contact the bat during the scuffle so I think I had better get a booster shot for all of them ASAP. 

I will call the State health dept tomorrow as well.

Thank you so much for responding so quickly. I have been feeling so stressed with everything going out of control. DH's job was eliminated at the end of August then the entire economy went to pot before he got another job. The credit crisis is affecting my work since our customers can't get credit and my employer is adjusting employee benefits due to the lack of work. I've been worrying all day and having Annie kill the bat just put the icing on the stress cake for me.

Thanks again!
deb
in wi


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## GoldenMom (Jan 2, 2005)

Sounds like a good plan! Hope you can get in contact with someone who knows what they are talking about with the health dept!


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## steff bugielski (Nov 10, 2003)

As long as the bat does not bite the dog you are alright. It is when the infected blood gets into the dog's blood stream, not into the dog's digestive system.


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