This afternoon I had an appointment for our cat to get her yearly checkup and after lunch she was attacked by a vole, as in, she was taunting it and had every intention of eating it but the vole took a bite of her front paw first. I’ve learned a few things today.

1. In our county you have to get the rabies shots for cats right on time. We were five days late because I remembered that she was due for an appointment in July and this is still July. Only she needed it five days ago apparently.

2. Voles can have rabies, very small chance but it is possible. Most likely her vaccine is also still good but there is a very small chance it isn’t.

3. In our county, if your cat is bitten by a vole 5 days after the date you were supposed to get the vaccine then you cannot get the vaccine for 6 months.Why? Because that may mask the symptoms of rabies.

So our very active cat has to be quarantined for 6 months! And for 10 days we can  have minimal contact with her while we wait for symptoms of brain damage.

So I paid the hefty vet bill without getting the shots we showed up to get and the vet says, “You didn’t have the appointment you thought you would….”