Bat in the house

[Anonymous]

We had a bat in our 100 year old house last night. Somehow my husband chased it out. How should we proceed?

[Anonymous]

Are your chimneys dampers closed? We had one get in that way.

[jsteele]

We've had two bats in our house and I managed to catch both of them. If nobody was bitten, there is nothing for you to do. In our case, I let the first bat go and the health department officials were very angry with me because they thought someone might have been bitten without knowing it. But, it has been several years and none of us has shown signs of rabies or grown fangs. In the second case, animal control took the bat and I suspect the animal control person -- who was clearly on the bat's side of things -- let it go.

[Anonymous]

If you live in Montgomery County call 311 or animal control they will come (even late at night ), take it out, send it to a lab for rabbies testing and it's all free. Don't mess around. You can die from rabbies.

[Anonymous]

You have to assume you had a bite and go get the rabies vaccine. People don't always know they had the bite. Go to the er for shots- for everyone in the family. The er is usually the only place that keeps the vaccine.

[Anonymous]

Bats can pass rabies even without biting you fyi.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have to assume you had a bite and go get the rabies vaccine. People don't always know they had the bite. Go to the er for shots- for everyone in the family. The er is usually the only place that keeps the vaccine.

That was my understanding as well. Personally I wouldn't chance it and would call animal control and a doctor for advice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have to assume you had a bite and go get the rabies vaccine. People don't always know they had the bite. Go to the er for shots- for everyone in the family. The er is usually the only place that keeps the vaccine.

This. If you were sleeping there is no way you would know if you were bitten. The bites are simply too small my whole family had to get shots after an incident. You cannot screw around with potential rabies exposure and font even think about missing/being late any shots in the series or you will be "escorted" to the hospital by the police.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have to assume you had a bite and go get the rabies vaccine. People don't always know they had the bite. Go to the er for shots- for everyone in the family. The er is usually the only place that keeps the vaccine.

+1
Please take this seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to assume you had a bite and go get the rabies vaccine. People don't always know they had the bite. Go to the er for shots- for everyone in the family. The er is usually the only place that keeps the vaccine.

+1
Please take this seriously.

My sister woke up and a bat was in her bedroom, and she indeed had to get the rabies shot series.

[Anonymous]

Fun fact: most cases of rabies are from bats. Most bites from bats are in the movie theaters. Found out the hard way when a critter bit me in the theater. Couldn't find the animal but the health department knew at least six cats had died mysteriously about two weeks earlier at the same theater. I was not given a choice on the vaccines. The local doctor said to ignore the bite but the health department was ordered by the state to administer shots. Went to Inova for shots. No problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fun fact: most cases of rabies are from bats. Most bites from bats are in the movie theaters. Found out the hard way when a critter bit me in the theater. Couldn't find the animal but the health department knew at least six cats had died mysteriously about two weeks earlier at the same theater. I was not given a choice on the vaccines. The local doctor said to ignore the bite but the health department was ordered by the state to administer shots. Went to Inova for shots. No problems.

Explain cats in the theater

[Anonymous]

Bats like to feed on flying insects, like mosquitoes. Attic rafters without screens, screen-less windows, chimneys are all entry points.

[Anonymous]

Yikes. Next time call your animal control after-hours. In Alexandria it's our 311 number. We had a raccoon get in our house (don't ask) and they came out even in the middle of the night. Not worth messing around with.

A friend of mine's daughter picked up a bat she found outside of a restaurant and had to do the whole rabies series, too. I believe (don't quote me) you can get rabies just from the saliva on them. They don't have to bite you. We lived in Texas and there were bats EVERYWHERE. Helped with mosquitoes, but ICK.

I'm not sure I'll be able to sleep tonight. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yikes. Next time call your animal control after-hours. In Alexandria it's our 311 number. We had a raccoon get in our house (don't ask) and they came out even in the middle of the night. Not worth messing around with.

A friend of mine's daughter picked up a bat she found outside of a restaurant and had to do the whole rabies series, too. I believe (don't quote me) you can get rabies just from the saliva on them. They don't have to bite you. We lived in Texas and there were bats EVERYWHERE. Helped with mosquitoes, but ICK.

I'm not sure I'll be able to sleep tonight. Thanks.

This is true. My dog was attacked by a rabid raccoon. Dh intervened yo pull them apart. Did not get bitten but had to have shots because of the saliva.