Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-10-02
CATS AND RABIES.
Killing the Dog Which Bites Person I.
the Wrong Thing to Do.

Do not permit too familiarity be-
tween YOUR cats and dogs.
The former are all right and won't
get rabies. unless they are bitten BY
one of their natural enemies. So, at
least, says DR.. Gibier, chief OF the New
York Pasteur Institute, and when he
talks about hydrophobia other per-
sons are expected to stand from under.
The occasion for this assurance of
the hydrophobic safety of cats was a
case which DR.. Gibier received last
Wednesday, in which woman about
80 years old was bitten by q pet cat
and came to the physician for treat
meEt. The biting occurred about ten
days before, and from the woman's de-
scrlption of the cats action the Doctor
had no question that the animal was
suffering from rabies. In fact, the cat
died from them three days after the
biting.
The patient. whose name is withheld
by request, described the biting as hav-
ing occurred while she was attending
to her homework. The cat, which had
always been a pet, was seized with
spasm and rushed about the room With
her tail greatly enlarged and the hairs
bristlino on her back. She suddenly
stopped, and after crouching on the
floor sprang at her mistress throat,
decorating the latter's shoulders very
severely with her teeth. The wounds
were cauterized.
The cat rushed into closet and re-
manned three days in rapidly succeed
ing spasms, dying with every evidence
of hydrophobia.
The victim was of nervous temper
ament and was Frustrated. When she
called upon DR.. Gibier, she had already
reached the dangerous period for the
| development of the disease and she was
| inoculated with greater quantity of
| the virus than is usual in the first treat
| ment. The patient received other in
EQUATIONS yesterday morning and
evening and expressed herself as being
much quieter and stronger.
The doctor is confident that his
patient will not suffer seriously from
her experience.
/ asked the doctor. on behalf of those
women whose affections can be only
contented with a feline, whether there
was HUH CdlS contracting
rabies without having been bitten by a
dog. He replied in the negative.
Dogs are the only animal who actual
ly generate the disease" he said. land
so there need not be any fear of an
epidemic of hydrophobia from all the
cats going mad. Should a dog bite a
Cat and that cat 60 about biting other
cats, there might be some danger, be-
cause cats are kept more within houses
than are dogs.
The treatment for this case. which
is the first that has been brought to my
attention while in this country, will be
exactly similar to those of dog bites.
The poison is the same in all cases and
the antidote is the same. The patient
will be inoculated for the required
fifteen days, and then will be considered
safe
DO rabies, as manifested in cats,
appear differently than in dogs?"
| asked.
The symptoms" the Doctor replied
"are generally the same in very i'm.
portant aspects, but cats are more fierce
, and their excitement much greater
They have a fashion of wagging theil
heads too, when they are dangerous
and of course show the usual trailing
saliva which the cOntractions of the
throat compel to be elected.
Should cat drink milk which a
rabid dog has tasted or had dropped
saliva in, the former might contraas
rabies.
The whole thing resolves itself into
this" said the Doctor; without dogs
you won't get hydrophobla, and so the
best way to stamp out the disease i:
for Americans to DO as is done il
Northern Germany-that is keep the
dogs muzzIed all he time in the cities
and also in the country. Then Vol
can't get the rabies. The most insa ne
thing for persons who are bitten to lie
is to kill the animal. If they shoot ne
dog how are they to tell whether it has
rabies or not? Let it live, and then il
it dies with hydrophobic sympto MS
there is decided reason why you should
take all scientific safeguards to save
yourself from a similar fate. ~. 7.
Her0ld.