Vaccinate goats for rabies?

AuntKitty · #1 09/19/12, 02:17 PM

I just read something on the MSN newspage about a rabid deer in Maryland in July. I guess I knew since they are mammals that goats could get rabies, I guess I just didn't think it very common or likely. I do have bats that fly around at night and a bat bite would be very small and maybe not be noticed.

Do any of you vaccinate your goats for rabies? If so, which vaccine do you use and is the dose the same as on the label for cattle & sheep? I know that hardly anything is labelled for goats and the doses are frequently different.

Thanks!

Kitty

CaliannG · #2 09/19/12, 02:32 PM

People do not tend to vaccinate livestock for rabies, not because it is more difficult for livestock to get it (they get it just like everything else), but because it is more difficult for them to *spread* it.

I don't vaccinate, but then again, I don't think we have had a case of livestock getting rabies in this county in three decades.

Call your extension office and ask them what is being done about rabies in livestock for your area.

Minelson · #3 09/19/12, 02:54 PM

There is not a Rabies vx available for goats as far as I know....

AuntKitty · #4 09/19/12, 03:51 PM

That was the first time I ever heard of a rabid deer either and since goats are related to deer...

I can just see myself thinking of that as I am trying to shove a copper bolus or something down their throat and trying not to get bitten. To say nothing of all the nibbling on my clothes that happens and they accidentally bite my love handles while waiting their turn to get oats on the milkstand...

It would probably be easier to vaccinate myself anyway

Kitty

where I want to · #5 09/19/12, 04:02 PM

I have for years. Rabies happens in wild life around here fairly often- last year a girl was in the hospital and survived her case of rabies. I think my vet uses the sheep one. But it's true that no goat rabies vaccine exists. I don't think the issue is that the vaccine isn't safe for goats but whether it is effective in goats. For vaccine to be labeled for an animal, tests have to have been conducted showing the efficacy- and there has not been a market for goat products enough that manfacturers will pay for these tests.
I still get it because I am constantly scratching my very friendly girls. And I have had snot showers from my goats and horses. And I live in the woods with a constant stream of wildlife coming through.