Originally Posted by Canis-Lupess
Yes, they believe that it always existed among bats but my dogs never came into contact with bats and I don't know anyone else who's dogs came into contact with bats either. A guy caught the infection but he was actually working with these bats and handling them.
It hasn't been detected in anything other than bats.
Nobody at all gets their dog vaccinated against rabies here...unless they are taking them abroad to a country that does have it. There have been no cases of rabies in dogs, cats or anything...only those bats in scotland and maybe in other places.
Vets here certainly haven't been advising pet owners here to vaccinate against rabies and nobody else has either.
If a dog bites somebody here, it doesn't get shot for fear of rabies...rabies is never even considered. It might be destroyed if it is obviously dangerous in itself and considered too aggressive to be living in society but rabies is never mentioned..even among those cases where small children and babies have been mauled to death by the fmaily pets.