Why is it so important?
Rabies vaccinations protect your pet, your family and the people who care for your pet. Rabies is a serious neurological viral disease affecting all mammals, including dogs, cats, wildlife, and people. In Ontario, bats, raccoons, skunks, and foxes are primary carriers of the virus. Most cases of rabies in pets and people result from exposure to wildlife that inadvertently enter their home. The virus is transmitted through saliva or nerve tissue from a rabid animal – usually through a bite wound, but public health guidelines consider a skin-breaking scratch from a rabid animal as an exposure as well. (A rabid animal that licks its paws can contaminate its claws with the virus and infect another animal with a scratch.) Once clinical signs develop, rabies is almost always fatal with patients typically dying within 10 days of onset.
Rabies is a fatal disease that is 100% preventable through vaccination.
In Ontario, dogs and cats three months of age and older (including “indoor only” pets) are required by law to be vaccinated against rabies. Choosing not to vaccinate your pet introduces safety barriers that alters how our veterinary team can handle and treat your pet and can trigger legal, medical, and logistical consequences for your household.
“My Pet Would Never Bite or Scratch”
Veterinary medicine is very much a “hands on” practice that requires physical examination of a pet (touching, feeling, palpating, maneuvering) along with procedures such as drawing blood, cleaning wounds, placing intravenous catheters, taking x-rays, and performing ultrasonography.
Pets can react entirely differently from their normal behaviour when they are:
- Frightened, stressed, or in pain
- Sick or injured
- Being handled for a medical procedure
- Recovering from sedation or anesthesia
- Experiencing unfamiliar people, noises, smells, and activity in a hospital environment
There is no way to completely eliminate the risk of a pet biting or scratching when stressed or experiencing pain or discomfort while undergoing a medical procedure despite our Fear Free approach.
Unvaccinated Status Hinders Your Pet’s Medical Treatment
When a pet’s rabies vaccine is not up to date, it creates an immediate safety roadblock for our team, which directly impacts the care we can provide. Ways in which care is hindered include:
Restricted Handling: Not every member of our veterinary team has pre-exposure rabies immunity. Only fully immunized staff members are permitted to handle an unvaccinated pet.
Treatment Delays: If your pet requires immediate attention, tests, or treatment, medical care may be delayed until appropriately vaccinated staff members are available to safely assist.
Increased Patient Stress: To minimize the risk of a bite or scratch to the team, procedures that normally take one or two people may now require additional staff or sedation or other methods of handling. This can significantly increase stress in a pet that’s already in pain or discomfort or feeling unwell.
The Consequences of a Bite: Mandatory Medical Protocols
If an unvaccinated pet bites or scratches a staff member (whatever the circumstances) the consequences extend far beyond our hospital doors:
Mandatory Medical Care for Staff: The injured team member is legally and contractually required to seek immediate medical care from a physician. The physician is required to report the incident to Public Health.
Dual Reporting Mandates: Our hospital is also legally required to report the incident to Halton Region Public Health.
Urgent Vaccines for the Employee: The exposed staff member’s medical treatment depends on their own current immunity. If they have not had previous rabies vaccinations, they can face a series of post-exposure rabies vaccines and immunoglobulins. A person who is already vaccinated may still be required to receive booster vaccines.
The Impact on Your Family: Inconvenience and Fines
Once Public Health is involved, the process shifts entirely out of our hands, creating unavoidable disruptions for your household:
Mandatory In-home Quarantine: Public Health officers will contact you directly, and your pet will be placed under a strict 10-day mandatory confinement order. You will be legally responsible for isolating your pet inside your home, monitoring for behavioral changes, and ensuring your pet has no contact with visitors or other animals.
Enforced Vaccination: Refusing the rabies vaccine is no longer an option. Once the 10-day quarantine period expires, Public Health will mandate that your pet be vaccinated immediately to comply with the law.
Provincial Fines: Under Ontario’s Health Protection and Promotion Act, failing to ensure a dog or cat over three months of age is vaccinated against rabies is a provincial offense. Owners who refuse this requirement can face fines ranging from $85 to $180.
The Bottom Line: Immediate, Unhindered Care
The rabies vaccine is safe, effective, and mandated to protect both your pet and public health and safety. Ensuring your pet is vaccinated against rabies is also a baseline requirement for safe medical practice. It guarantees that if your pet faces a medical crisis requiring evaluation, hospitalizing, or surgery, our team can step in to provide safe, immediate, and unhindered care without legal, medical, or logistical roadblocks.