Do not feed or touch stray animals and avoid all sick and strange acting animals.
Make sure your pets receive the proper immunizations.
Dogs and cats should get rabies vaccines by four months of age, followed by a booster shot 1 year later, and another a vaccination every 1 or 3 years, depending on the type of vaccine used.
Do not feed or handle wild animals.
Keep the lid of your garbage cans closed and do not leave pet food outside where it can attract wild animals.
Do not pick up or touch dead animals.
Get vaccinated if you work in a high-risk occupation or travel to countries with a high rate of rabies.
Follow quarantine regulations on importing dogs and other mammals in disease-free countries.
What should I do if my pet or I am bitten by a rabid or suspected rabid animal?
Contact medical professionals immediately for assistance.
Immediately wash the wound with soap and water for about fifteen minutes.
Try to wear latex gloves if you are washing your animal in an attempt to limit your exposure to the biting animal’s saliva.
Call or visit your vet (if animal) or doctor (human) – you may have to go to the emergency room depending on the time of bite.
Do not try to trap the biting animal.
Try to remember the description of the animal.
Once medical care has been provided contact the Redondo Beach Police Communications Unit at (310) 379-5411 to report the bite.
What happens to the biting animal?
Always report a biting animal to the Redondo Beach Police Communications Unit at (310) 379-5411.
Domestic animals
If the animal is someone’s pet, the Los Angeles County Public Health Department will determine if the animal must be quarantined for ten days or more.
Cats and dogs usually die from rabies in less than ten days, so if the animal survives, it probably didn’t have rabies.
If the animal is very sick, badly injured, or showing the symptoms of rabies, Animal Control will arrange to euthanize the animal to test it for rabies.
Wild animals
If it is a raccoon or other wild animal, it doesn’t help to watch it for ten days.
Raccoons can live for years with rabies; a few even get better again.
If a wild animal bites a person, that animal must be captured by Rabies Control and euthanized so it can be tested for rabies.
If the animal that bit you can’t be captured, a doctor may decide to have you get the rabies vaccine just in case.
I was bitten or exposed to a rabid animal. What now happens?
Call your doctor immediately, if you think an exposure to a rabid animal has occurred.
The doctor should discuss both the animal's risk for having rabies and the risk of the exposure for transmission of the virus.
The doctor also should know if you have previously received vaccination against rabies
Either because you're in a high-risk profession (for example, a veterinarian or zoo worker) or
You have been exposed to a potentially rabid animal before.
If you have been vaccinated previously, it will change the treatment that will follow after a new potential exposure.
Because rabies is such a rare disease, the doctor may be unfamiliar with the need for treatment or may not have the vaccine in the office for prompt administration.
The local public health department is a good source of information in these cases, and a hospital's emergency department is a good place to seek medical care.
How big is a bat bite?
Bats bites can be dangerous because their bite and scratch may be too small to notice.
A bat’s teeth and claws are so small that a bite may not bleed or even hurt.
In fact, people sleeping in the same room where a bat is found, or children who have been alone in a room with a bat, should see a doctor.
What about human rabies shots?
If the biting animal tests positive for rabies (or if the biting animal can’t be found), you will need to get the rabies vaccine (medicine) as soon as possible.
DON’T WORRY; it’s not twenty shots in the stomach anymore.
Today, the rabies vaccine has only 5-7 shots in the arm and the buttocks.
The shots are spread out on different days, and they help your body fight the rabies virus, so you don’t catch the disease.
If you get the shots started in time (usually within 7 - 10 days), you may not catch the virus at all.
Your body, assisted by the shots, fights the virus.
Without the treatment, a person bitten by a rabid animal may die.
What can YOU do to stop rabies?
Be smart and be safe with your animal.
Always get a licensed veterinarian to give your cats and dogs their rabies shots.
If a cat or dog gets rabies shots on schedule, they are safe even if a rabid animal bites them.
Tell your veterinarian if your pet gets bitten - The vet may want to give your pet a booster shot.
Always keep your dog on a leash.
Be smart and safe with stray cats and dogs.
Stay away from ANY ANIMAL that is acting strangely.
Don’t pet or feed strange cats or dogs.
Call Redondo Beach Police Communications to report stray or unusual animal behavior at (310) 379-5411.
Be smart and safe with wild animals.
Don’t put food scraps out for wild animals.
Wild animals stay near food.
They can bite you or your pets if they get scared.
Never pet or feed a wild animal, especially a raccoon.
Even if the raccoon is not rabid, a biting raccoon has to be euthanized to test it for rabies.
So putting food out for them can actually put them in danger.
A raccoon, skunk, fox, or bat that seems tame or approaches you is acting STRANGELY.
Be smart and safe and neuter your animals to lessen the drive to stray from home.
If your pet gets away, it could get bitten by a raccoon, or more likely hit by a car.
Many puppies and kittens end up as strays because there is no one to take care of them.
If you fix your pets so they can’t have babies, there won’t be so many strays that can catch rabies.
