This!
I had to argue with my vet after seeing a skunk near my barn.
He agreed to give the horses rabies vax, then next year came back with a copy of the JVM that had an article suggesting the rabies vax for horses.
I miss him (retired his equine practice), always willing to discuss care.
1 Like
We came across a cow slobbering and acting neurologically impaired.
We did get her penned and called the vet out, he is vaccinated, we are not.
Once in the chute, the vet said “well, here goes nothing”, also thinking that may be rabies.
He found a sliver of old bone lodged way down in her throat, thank goodness.
Cow was fine once that was out of there.
Vet said he gets a few horses and more rarely cattle with rabies every year.
One time a horse that had been in a weekend show and several horses and people may have been infected and had to be given the rabies preventive shots.
Is a very scary disease, here skunks and coons main rabies carriers.
3 Likes
I wonder if that’s where the myth of Werewolves comes from?
1 Like
It is interesting that some myths have a supernaturally infected individual passing on their condition to others.
And that infected individuals convert from their usual human self to a monster. Then the monster passes the infection on (frequently by a bite), and the next victim becomes a monster, too.
The next victim, transformed, can become a companion, part of a community, for the monster. Sometimes that’s the sole motive of the original monster’s attack.
How much of humanity seeks to persuade others to their beliefs for just that reason, to be part of a group, not a single representation of whatever is going on in their minds.
The werewolf and vampire go back & forth between human and not-human. It’s a repetitive cycle. Until someone ‘normal’ knows how to break it, perhaps by means of religious icons and/or blessings, but not always.
It’s also been suggested that the come & go nature of certain kinds of schizophrenia might influence the transformation myths.
Humans always come up with some kind of explanation for what they observe, don’t they. Humans have to have a ‘why’ explanation. And they are ready to latch onto the most complete bs if they haven’t already processed a more rational, factual explanation. This human trait has never changed in all human history.
So back to skunks … 
… found out that they are native to the Americas, from southern Canada all the way down through South America. Not native in the rest of the world. But apparently a striped version of a type of ferret known as a ‘polecat’ that is native to Europe has been mistaken for a skunk. But it’s not. Early European explorers got some a shocking examples of the difference between a smelly polecat and an actual skunk. In their reports about things they were finding in the New World, their elaborate writing style could be paraphrased as "what the hell … " 
Striped polecat
Pissed off Skunk
6 Likes
AAEP (American Association of Equine Practitioners) considers rabies vaccination to be core for all horses.
2 Likes
Maybe now, but this was in 2004.
That vet took CE courses annually, up to date on any & all practices.
I’m surprised by this. We were vaccinating our horses for rabies starting in the late 1970s. Though I do believe it was my request then since all these years later I remember saying to my mom, who was the one who spoke with the vet, that they have a lot more exposure to wildlife than did our dog who was vaccinated.
Well before 2004 the raccoon rabies had spread all the way up the East Coast and brought it to peoples’ attention but that may have been regional.
2 Likes
I’m Midwest, so maybe that was the difference?
Vet didn’t argue with me, just said it wasn’t a recommended vax at the time.
Before I brought horses home (in 2004) no vet had ever included it in the annual rotation.
I almost did that once with a possum. He looked like he was going to let me pet him, too.
3 Likes
