My inside kittehs escaped during the night! They are 15 yo but look and act quite a bit younger. We

[GreenPartyVoter]

did find them very close to the house, but the kids think they heard Pickles spitting. She was all bushed out when I got to her I am concerned that she was trying to fight with another cat or maybe one of the skunks or raccoons in the neighborhood. (It looks like she went under the shed, based on the cobwebs and dust bunnies that were on her whiskers. That's a known hideout for skunks and coons.) But we never actually saw another animal so we're not sure what might have happened, and since we slept through most of this we'll remain in the dark.

Pretzel had his rabies shot this spring because we had to board him for vacation, but since Pickles stayed home she did not get one. In fact she hasn't had once since she was 2 years old. :( Now I am all worried about whether or not she might have come into contact with a sick animal. (Well, she's been in contact with me, and _I_ feel wicked sick about the whole thing.) I don't know if getting her a shot now would help or not, and even if it did I have zero money and a husband who thinks it's very very unlikely anything happened anyway so it would be a waste of money.

[BuelahWitch]

1. Glad you found them!

I think I'd die if my Baby got out...

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

2. Does Pickles have any visible injuries?

I hope not but if she does, going to the vet would be the wise thing to do.

I'm glad you found your furbabies :hug:

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

3. My, I seem to have lost my mind

ignore my post above which states the fucking bloody obvious...maybe it's early onset Alzheimer's. I'm still glad you got your babies back though.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. Nothing that I could see or that she complained about, but since just getting spit on could cause

her to pick up the disease bites aren't always the way the disease is spread.

Hubby and I walked around where she was found. We saw a porcupine quill that may have been what got her all puffed up, or it was the scent of the skunk who lives in the area. We think we found the hole in the trailer skirting where she was able to poke her head through and wound up with cobwebs on her whiskers. AS far as we can tell, based on the way most of the underside of the shed is blocked off and how the access points still had their cobwebs intact, that she did not go under the shed. And had she encountered an actual animal we would have heard it. When her brother came home from the vet last time, she flipped out on him and attacked him every time she saw or smelled him for a week straight.

So odds are if she saw another critter we would have heard her screaming at it like she does her brother when he smells all wrong.

Editing to say youngest kid thinks her heard her yell when she was out there.

[Dogtown]

4. If your cat was attacked by a rabid animal

there would be obvious wounds. Rabid animals are very aggressive and tenacious and would not have been dissuaded by spitting.

Although rabies is passed by fluid exchange, merely brushing up against spittle wouldn't allow the virus to migrate. It's usually passed by spittle/blood-to-blood contact. Biting or scratching. If there are no wounds you have little to fear.

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Thanks! I am going to call the vet back and let him know what we have seen since I last called.