If the mother was only scratched ( not bitten) and if the attach provoked (
she tried to catch the cat, feed it bath it etc) THERE IS A VERY VERY LOW
RISK OF RABIES.  As long as the cat is in custody there is no need to do
anything else at this point but to wait and see if the cat gets sick.  We
live in a very rural area by most people's defination and I treat/manage
bites from dogs, cats, bats, horses, squirrels.  I once sheck with the state
vet about a man who was bitten by a stray cat that they were trying to remove
from a wharehouse.  Unfortunately they were not able to capture the cat.  The
state vet told me you don't have to , even if you see the cat two days later
and it is acting natural that alone is enough evidence that the cat is OK
that the shots are not needed.

If by chance the test is positive for the cat I would call a univerisity of
Veteranry medicine to get more info about the transmission of rabies.  Iowa
State University in Ames is the one I would use.  As I understand it the
rabies virus must be usually passed through the blood stream or by eating
infected brains of deceased animals.  That is why skunks are the biggest
natural resivour of rabies, they eat carrion of other infected dead animals.
 Bite wounds are infectious because the virus is in the saliva and the skin
is broken.  A BITE would closed to the brain is more dangerous than a bite on
the arm and the bite on the leg is *better*.  Better because the virus need
to travel along the nerve fibers to the brain to damage the one who was bit.
 A scratch only is usually considered a low risk wound.  Alson you didn't
mention if the cat was vaccinated.  Again if it was know to have been
vaccinated then this too would be a low risk wound.

Most veterinarians are actively vaccinated against rabies because of jub
expsosure.  I don't know what the package insert says about using this in the
BF mother but this is another story.
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Jon Ahrendsen, MD, FAAFP, LLLI Medical Associate        Phone 515-532-2836
215 13th Ave. SW                                            FAX     515-532-2523
Clarion, IA 50525
Email [log in to unmask]
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