What to Do About Rabies in Dogs

1 What It Is

Canine rabies is caused by the rabies virus and is a directly transmitted zoonotic disease whose main target is the central nervous system — commonly called ‘mad dog disease’ or ‘hydrophobia.’ It shows as excitement, fear of water, pharyngeal spasm, and progressive paralysis, and clinically takes two forms: furious and paralytic.

2 Symptoms

The furious form runs through three stages. The prodrome (1–2 days) brings dullness, a preference for dark and quiet, sluggish responses, disobedience, withdrawal from people, odd appetite with pica, trouble swallowing, drooling, weak hindquarters, and dilated pupils. The excitative stage (about 2–4 days) brings restlessness, sudden stopping to bark, heightened reflexes, and sensitivity to sound, bright light, or touch, with unprovoked attacks on people and animals; it can tip into mania with alternating excitement and depression, and the dog may flee home, becoming confused and biting at random — hence ‘hydrophobia’ from its panic at the sound of water. The paralytic stage brings drooling, a lolling tongue, dropped jaw, and hindquarter paralysis; death usually comes from respiratory-center failure. The whole course is 6–10 days.

The paralytic form has a very short or absent excitative stage and moves straight to paralysis: facial-muscle paralysis, drooling, trouble swallowing, and a dropped jaw, hindquarters, and larynx, ending in death within 2–4 days. Because some cases are atypical, check for a history of bites when diagnosing.

3 After a Bite

An animal bitten by a dog should first be made to bleed at the site, then the wound thoroughly flushed with soapy water to wash out the local virus, then treated with alcohol or iodine. Rabies immune serum injected around the wound is better still — 5 ml per kg of body weight, ideally finished within 72 hours of the bite. Without serum, vaccinate promptly: one dose within 24 hours of the bite, then two more doses 3–5 months apart; a vaccinated dog is protected for about six months.

4 Prevention and the Hard Truth

A standard program uses either a single rabies vaccine — a live vaccine first given at 3–4 months, boosted at one year, then every 2–3 years; or an inactivated vaccine first given at 3–4 months, boosted 3–4 weeks later, then yearly — or a combined rabies vaccine starting at 28–30 days, boosted every 15 days for two more doses, then twice a year in spring and autumn.

Once rabies produces clinical signs there is no specific cure. A dog with rabies, or one suspected of it, should be euthanized on the spot under the ‘early, fast, strict, small’ principle, and the carcass buried deeply.