excitement we didn't want

[redbird]

Everything is/will be fine, but yesterday cattitude had an unexpected and unpleasant adventure (it made us hours late for lunch and there's medical follow-up):

He went downstairs yesterday morning to do the laundry, and came back up saying that he had been bitten on the finger by a bat, which had been inside one of the washing machines. So I called a Lyft and took him to the emergency room, while adrian_turtle warned the neighbors and called Animal Control and the landlord's emergency maintenance line.

The ER was uncrowded, and they saw him quickly. He has now had 14 mL of rabies immunoglobulin -- the dose is scaled by body weight -- and the first several doses of the rabies vaccine. After they gave him the vaccine, we waited for another 15 or 20 minutes to be sure he hadn't had a bad reaction to the vaccine. Then they sent us home, where we had a late lunch. (We left for the ER at 11:30, and got home three hours later.)

Cattitude has to go back three times for more vaccine, three, seven, and fourteen days from now. This will be through the ER, and they suggested he try to arrive early in the day so it won't be crowded. If he hadn't told them he was already on antibiotics from the dentist, because he had two wisdom teeth extracted Wednesday afternoon, they would have prescribed some.

Adrian told us that when she called Animal Control, they said she should have been observing the bat continuously from the time it bit Andy at least until they answered the phone, which she and I both thought was an impressively stupid idea. Instead, the bat was shut inside laundry room, with a warning sign until the Animal Control guy showed up. Adrian then heard thumping from downstairs, after which they told her that they had captured the bat.

Animal Control tested the bat for rabies, and it was negative, which is a relief. Nonetheless, he's going to finish the vaccine series rather than take chances. That means going back Sunday, next Thursday, and the Thursday after.

Conveniently, Adrian and I had separately decided we wanted to go for walks yesterday morning, and each of us came back with tasty things. Adrian got smoked fish for lunch, and we both bought fruit and lettuce. We may have more lettuce and mixed greens than we will eat while they're still fresh.

Having dealt with all that, Cattitude decided he wanted sushi for supper, which Adrian and I also thought was a fine idea. We had it delivered from Fin's, which is near our new apartment, and it was good enough that we will probably order from there again (and maybe pick it up ourselves, rather than paying GrubHub fees, but everyone had had a long day).

Comments

[bibliofile]

Yikes! I'm glad that cattitude is basically okay.

Also, yay for tasty nearby sushi.

[otter]

what a long day!

[jenett]

Yikes. That is entirely not the good sort of excitement, though I am glad the bat was negative for rabies.

I feel like the proportion of tasty fish was about right, too. (and yay for finding decent nearby sushi place.)

[nancylebov]

Quite scary enough. I'm glad the bat was negative.

[ranunculus]

Long day indeed! I am so thankful to live in an age when we can go to the ER and get rabies shots!
Yum Sushi!!

[sabotabby]

Ooof. Glad he's okay and the bat was negative.

[readerjane]

Eek! So glad the bat tested negative. Wise to finish out the round of meds anyway.

[carbonel]

I was disappointed to discover that rabies vaccine only protects for a couple of years max, not a lifetime.

But at least it's not the nasty peritoneal injections anymore.

[therealsnape]

So glad the bat tested negative, but still, sensible to take all the vaccinations.

What a very long and exiting day - in a not good way exiting, too. Those tasty meals were totally deserved.

[pameladean]

Oh, good heavens, I don't know that I'd ever want to look inside a washer again under the circumstances. That is just not reasonable. Nor were Animal Control reasonable. Observe the bat! Maybe it will bite you too!

I am glad Andy got treated and everybody got fed in the end. Oooof. Wow.

P.

[adrian_turtle]

I thought the Animal Control people were being outrageously unreasonable, especially considering how few households even HAVE enough adults to take the bite victim to the hospital and watch the bat, even if nobody is afraid of potentially-rabid bats or away from home (or needing to stay well away and mind the baby.) However, after they caught it, they said they'd test it and used the terrifying phrase "if it's the same bat."

I don't know that I'd ever want to look inside a washer again under the circumstances.
I am certainly scared of THAT washer. I went to a laundromat half a mile away on Friday, despite the difficulty of getting a cart of laundry across Comm Ave and down the steps.

[pameladean]

"If it's the same bat." Great. I don't get the impression that they have much training in dealing with the public. I mean, yes, if there is one bat in the washing machine (!!!!!) there might be more bats around the place and they have to think about that, but nevertheless, it is not practical to just demand you watch the bat and never take your eyes off it to make sure it's the same one.

I do not blame you an iota for avoiding that washing machine. I hope the apartment management reacts suitably to the situation.

P.

[cmcmck]

There are times I'm glad to live on an island which is rabies free and has now been for a couple of generations.

The local bat species don't seem to be prone which s just as well as there are protections in place which means you can't just throw them out of, say, a loft space.

[minoanmiss]

Well THAT's exciting. Please give Cattitude a big warm hug from me atop all the other hugs.

[kaberett]

Oh NO, that is a much less Good Bat Time than my experiences with same. Very glad that the testing was negative, and that the sushi is good.

[threeringedmoon]

Damn. I am glad it tested negative, but am glad everyone involved thinks it a good thing that he continue the series.

[redbird]

I thought of you Thursday, in a sort of "this is a badharmful bat, but I know from my friend that the aren't all like that.' &Cattitude and I enjoyed watching bats fky at sunset, sometimes, in our old neighborhood in Manhattan, buy the public safety people assume that almost any.encounter with a bat might mean the person had been bitten, and that might mean rabies.

Somewhere in there, I think when they asked about his tetanus shot, I realized it would have been significantly worse if I had been bitten, because my neurologist said that it's not jut covid I'm not immune from, I have to assume that no vaccine I've had in the last few years had had an effect.

I have been thinking that tradeoff between treating the MS, versus protection against covid (and the annual lu vaccine and every-ten-years tetanus vaccine, was worth it. This is another factor to put on the "may be a bad idea" side of the scale.

[snippy]

Very glad for a less-than-worst possible outcome and for attentive family.

[replyhazy]

Good heavens. Now there's a day full of adrenaline. Very glad to hear Cattitude is safe and got sushi.

B's mom once found a drowned bat in with her "clean" laundry. I guess bats like washing machines!

[noachoc]

Ugh, that immunoglobulin SUCKS, especially when you get bitten on the finger and they try to inject a vial of it all over your hand. (This happened to me about a year ago). When I was at the emergency room for the same thing, they kept asking me if I "still had the bat" and I was all "... um... no. Did not occur to me to put a live bat in my purse before leaving for the emergency room."