Rabid cat triggers well being alert for City Middle/UNF space

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Florida Division of Well being in Duval County issued a rabies alert Thursday, following the invention of a rabid cat within the City Middle and UNF space of Jacksonville’s Southside.

The rabies alert extends south by Outdated Canal Highway, north by Blue Stream Drive, west of the Interstate 295 East beltway and east by Cedar Swamp Creek.

Well being officers urge pet house owners to make sure that pets obtain all rabies immunization pictures as rabid wild animals can infect animals that haven’t been vaccinated.

Rabies is a illness of the nervous system and might be deadly to warm-blooded animals and other people. The one remedy for human publicity to rabies is rabies-specific immune globulin and rabies immunization.

“I’m not a local to Florida so all the things right here has been a wakeup name to me so I’m hesitant to wildlife right here. My eyes are all the time open,” Kelsey McDonough mentioned.

Dorothy Perry owns a canine named Dusty. She mentioned it’s scary for her pet, and he or she needs to take precautions to ensure Perry stays secure from rabies.

“It’s scary,” Perry mentioned. “It’s actually scary as a result of I don’t need them to get it and I don’t wish to get it. I already had the pictures and it’s no enjoyable. He was attacked at eight months.”

Perry mentioned the canine that attacked Dusty additionally injured her by inflicting her to bleed. And that’s when Perry skilled her first rabies scare.

“We didn’t know if it was rabies or not. The canine by no means bought checked. The one which attacked him,” Perry mentioned.

When individuals are suspected of being contaminated with rabies, they need to bear a sequence of pictures to forestall the mind from changing into diseased, which finally causes an individual to die. Perry mentioned following the assault, she obtained painful pictures for a number of weeks.

“They put the shot within the wound. I had cuts. I virtually fainted within the hospital,” Perry mentioned.

DOH suggests to comply with these tricks to keep secure:

• Maintain rabies vaccinations updated for all pets

• In case your pet is bitten by a wild animal, search veterinary help for the animal instantly and call the Florida Division of Well being in Duval County at (904) 253-1280.

• Name your native animal management company to take away any stray animals out of your neighborhood.

• Don’t deal with, feed, or unintentionally appeal to wild animals by leaving pet meals outdoors, or rubbish cans open.

• By no means undertake wild animals or deliver them into your house.

• Train kids by no means to deal with unfamiliar animals, wild or home, even when they seem pleasant.

• Stop bats from coming into residing quarters or occupied areas in houses, church buildings, colleges, and different related areas, the place they may are available contact with individuals and pets.

• Individuals who’ve been bitten or scratched by wild or home animals ought to search medical consideration and report the damage to the Florida Division of Well being in Duval County at (904) 253-1280.

For extra info, Floridahealth.gov.