Question: I’ve been feeding a stray cat for about a year. About a week ago
he was laying on a patio table. I was sitting in a chair beside the table. I bent over and he grabbed my head with his claws and bit me on the head. It was playful. I don’t think the bite broke the skin but I can’t be sure since it was on my head under my hair, but I remember being more concerned about the claws that lightly went in my skin. But he was acting perfectly normal and healthy for the next week. And he was perfectly fine Thursday night. On Friday he never came to eat. I next saw him Saturday afternoon. He was laying in the yard under a tree and didn’t move when I called him. I took a bowl of water to him and he sat up and drank. I moved him to the patio and he moved to a different spot under a bench. When he moved he was dragging his hind legs. He threw up the water. Later he moved under the porch which is enclosed but there is a spot for him to go under. By the next morning he was dead. My concern is I don’t think he ever had a rabies shot. He wasn’t showing any signs of illness when he bit me. It was not aggressive at all. I know there are a few thing that can cause a cat to drag his hind legs then die but I’m still concerned that if he did have rabies could he possibly have transmitted it to me. I read on the CDC website that the virus isn’t in the saliva until they are showing signs of the disease.