My rabies story and worry from a raccoon

[Deepseathree]

To start I know what I did was dumb so no need to chastise unless you want.
Basically we’ve had a raccoon around the house for months. Hadn’t really seen him, but we had some trash on a trailer and he would constantly get in it and I eventually cleaned that area up. Then the raccoon started coming around the back porch because I would just throw trash bags there to get them out of the house. Well my fiancé started putting food out there when she’d see him at night. He was timid at first and then warmed up. For some damn reason last week I decided to feed it. It came up and took food out of my hand with its mouth quickly. It didn’t bite me or break the skin but I felt the saliva on my thumb. I washed my hands. The worry comes from me having a small old cut on my thumb. I don’t even think it was a cut, seems more like an area that had a splint as there’s is no scab or discoloration. You see where this is going. I can’t decip if it was an open wound or not and if the saliva got in there. Well the worry just increased until last night I went and got rabies shots. Doctors said it seemed low risk and they were pushing the shots on me. But we decided it was best. Here’s my worries laid out in pros and cons

Pros-
Raccoon didn’t have any symptoms of rabies and hasn’t had any since. Only reason he’s around the house is because of the trash that was previously there and we think he lives under the deck. Plus the raccoon is only coming out at night.
I got a rabies vaccine.
I can’t confirm if the area was even an open wound. It just looks like an area where a splinter was. Which wouldn’t have broke the skin to the level of bleeding.

Cons-
I got the rabies vaccination about 7 days after the raccoon incident and I can’t exscape the thought it might be too late.
I’ve read raccoons can have rabies and not present any symptoms right away.
My stomach is awfully bad and I don’t want to eat at all and it hurts. I’m not going to read rabies symptoms as I have but have forgotten them, so I’m relating that to rabies.

I’m sure there are other pros and cons but that’s the gist of it. Sorry to add to the other rabies posts. I wanted to write this to get it off my chest.

[MagpieWitch]

Symptoms of rabies wouldn't manifest that fast trust me, so your stomach is definitely 100% not rabies.
Also your doctor said that it's low risk and you got the shots after insisting, so generally if you didn't insist you wouldn't be given the shots. That's because you were not at risk at all.
And most of all, if the raccoon is alive and around, then it was not rabid!
I have rabies fear currently so if you need someone to talk to, feel free to DM me!!

[hazelbritt]

Symptoms of rabies wouldn't manifest that fast trust me, so your stomach is definitely 100% not rabies.
Also your doctor said that it's low risk and you got the shots after insisting, so generally if you didn't insist you wouldn't be given the shots. That's because you were not at risk at all.
And most of all, if the raccoon is alive and around, then it was not rabid!
I have rabies fear currently so if you need someone to talk to, feel free to DM me!!

MagpieWitch, you need to go through this step by step rational thought process with your own fear of rabies. Your risk is probably even lower as it was a kitten, not a wild animal.

OP - I'm sure you are in the clear too

[Deepseathree]

The problem is I have read where symptoms can start as early as 5-9 days. I wasn’t planning on getting the shots until after talking with the doctors. They weren’t going to tell me no, but they said I was low risk. Also I’ve read that raccoons can have rabies with no symptoms.

[MagpieWitch]

No symptoms doesn't mean the animal isn't sick and won't die though, it means it doesn't have clear symptoms that are recognizable by us.
Also all doctors must give you shots because it's technically on them if something happens.
My father's friend was bitten by a stray dog on the leg (bitten, stray and a dog) and the doctor wrote down rabies shots but she told him that she personally wouldn't take them. And he didn't. And he is fine.
Trust me, you got nothing to fear. That raccoon was neither rabid nor it gave you rabies through unbroken skin. You need to have the saliva in contact with an open wound. Not even a closed wound.

[Deepseathree]

Well that’s one thing that worries me is that it can not show symptoms and still have it. So the raccoon outside of our house could have rabies and we not know it. Also I don’t know where the stomach problems would be coming from. It was yesterday and today. If it was just today I would attribute it to the shots. I could catch the raccoon and take him in, but that’s not fair to have it killed to check for rabies just because I decided to feed something and am now having trouble with anxiety from it.

[MagpieWitch]

You are experiencing the same kind of guilt I feel (Why did I touch the cat)
But that's a very classic HA thing.
Your stomach could hurt from 100 reasons not related to rabies.
And also the raccoon would die in a week when it gets sick. Even if it shows no symptoms. If the virus is in the saliva it means it was in the brain and the animal is sick. You know how even with normal flu viruses we shed it during the sick phase even if some of us will just have a little runny nose and some won't be able to get out of bed.
You can monitor the raccoon if you want, see if she comes around and how long. And you will see she will stick around for weeks.
(also most asymptomatic cases are lab induced, that's important to note)

[Fishmanpa]

You can list pros and cons etc. but the reality is...



Positive thoughts

[Deepseathree]

It would be fine if I could remeber even if my wound was open or not. Or if was ever opened enough in the first place for it to have bled. After this incident I’ll probably be starting back on Prozac and some other forms of treatment as exercise and yoga aren’t enough again. I could try and catch the raccoon tonight but I don’t know if it’s worth it to have it killed.

[paranoid-viking]

Read this:
https://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=219591

before you start another rabies thread. PLEASE! Besides; what medical expertise do you really think those of us posting here has that doctors, veteranarians and experts does not have about rabies? Tell me that. They allready told you the facts so what do you want from us posting here? A second opinion?
The only thing I can say is read that sticky thread and then follow up with the question you probably dont want to here but which is the only reasanoble and valid question here and it goes like this:

*silence*

WHAT ARE YOU DOING TOO TREAT YOUR HEALTH ANXIETY?

No further questions.