On rabid dogs

April 10, 2009

I always hate it when they kill a dog. Today they clubbed a dog whose pups are about 6 weeks old. She looked and acted like she had rabies. She was normally good natured but a couple nights ago I noticed her attacking dogs that usually would attack her. Yesterday I noticed she was running around a lot and snarling at her pups when they wanted to nurse, even nipping them. I tried to feed her last night but she seemed to have trouble eating, she'd eat a little and then have to stop and cough. She was obviously hungry but seemed unable to eat. This morning she was chasing everything - cats, chickens, other dogs and running a lot. She kept coming back though and smelling her pups front and back. By midday her mouth seemed frozen partly open, though she did come and let her pups nurse once.

They clubbed her just now. There is no cure for rabies and if she were to bite anybody it would be a disaster. Even so we don't know how if any of the other dogs she attacked may have become infected. Her puppies may also already be infected. Sigh.

The teenage boys plan to eat the dog.

Rabies in humans is a big problem in the second and third of my worlds and there are usually a few dozen deaths each year from rabies. One 10 year old boy in thos village died a couple years ago from a puppy bite - a puppy they did not know had rabies. The post-bite vaccines are available but apparently are expensive and can only be gotten in a big city where there is electricity. Poor rural folk find the cost of the vaccines and the cost of getting to the city and staying there for the duration prohibitive. And sometimes you don’t know the dog is rabid.