Our large dachshund caught a bat yesterday

[Nicholas]

Ok, our large throwback dachshund (the one who ate the bird) apparently caught a bat yesterday morning. I was asleep, but my mom came down to find the bat still alive in his mouth, it's wing flapping. She was able to remove it, and then hit it with a brick 6 times, but it still wouldn't die, so she put it in the fridge and called the health department. When the arrived, the bat was still alive and they took it to test it for rabies. Later that day she went in to get rabies shots just in case, and had six injections.

[Nicholas]

Results came back a few days ago, no rabies.

[gharfish]

Results came back a few days ago, no rabies.And bat has defrosted and otherwise recouped ? No ??

I KID. I KID. I'm a kidder. Seriously, I am glad your dog is in good health. What a feisty rascal ! Six injections/shots; that was a rough turn of events.

[Nicholas]

And bat has defrosted and otherwise recouped ? No ??

I KID. I KID. I'm a kidder. Seriously, I am glad your dog is in good health. What a feisty rascal ! Six injections/shots; that was a rough turn of events.

Thank you. And actually, it was my mother that had to have the shots because they have to start them the day you came into contact with the possibly rabid animal. Though now, it turns out, she's having an allergic reaction to the vaccines, alot of itching.

[gharfish]

Oh, I'm sorry. I feel embarrassed ! Of course your Mom needed the rabies vaccinations for having handled the wild bat--and that treatment had to begin immediately. I don't know why I thought your pup was treated. I'm an animal lover and when I saw the word "her" --well, it seems natural to me to call my pets he and she... I am dense !

I hate to hear that your Mom is having an alergic reaction. Maybe the docs have given her an antihistamine (or some such...) for the itching (?)

BTW, was it thought necessary by a vet to think about any diseases that your dog could have picked up ? Is this dachshund a male or is 'it' a female ? What does the designation "throwback" mean ?

Was the bat pretty small ? ...do you know the species ? My parents have a large "farm" dog that eats any small animal it can catch. That shocks me. It's a tamed to humans kind of dog--not bad tempered at all.

At my grandmother's house, when I was a kid, bats the size of small birds would feast, & right out in the open sky too, on insects as the sun went down very low. We didn't know any better, so we tossed tiny pebbles into the air to watch them very briefly "check those out" with their sonar.

[Nicholas]

Oh, I'm sorry. I feel embarrassed ! Of course your Mom needed the rabies vaccinations for having handled the wild bat--and that treatment had to begin immediately. I don't know why I thought your pup was treated. I'm an animal lover and when I saw the word "her" --well, it seems natural to me to call my pets he and she... I am dense !


I completely understand, we view our pets as being part of the family


I hate to hear that your Mom is having an alergic reaction. Maybe the docs have given her an antihistamine (or some such...) for the itching (?)


I'm not sure what they would do, she'll probably be fine soon, I know she's had worse, considering that she's allergic to any narcotic pain meds, which made things a bit hard after her knee replacement surgery and later on neck surgery.



BTW, was it thought necessary by a vet to think about any diseases that your dog could have picked up ? Is this dachshund a male or is 'it' a female ? What does the designation "throwback" mean ?


The dogs had already had their shots, so if the tests had come back positive we only have needed to get them then. The dog in question is a he, and the reason I call him a throwback is because he's around 40 pounds, and originally dachshunds were 30 to 40 pounds.
Though he also has something called hypothyroidism and some other condition that increases his weight, and until we got him medicated made more agressive.



Was the bat pretty small ? ...do you know the species ? My parents have a large "farm" dog that eats any small animal it can catch. That shocks me. It's a tamed to humans kind of dog--not bad tempered at all.


I'm not sure what kind of bat it was, but we get bats in our house quite a bit because the house is pretty old. Though dachshunds are very defensive of their territory, and a hint of what they've done before, I shared an incident they had with a rabbit (the first of two that they've caught in the enclosed run) here: http://www.theologyweb.com/campus/showthread.php?t=64076&highlight=dachshunds


At my grandmother's house, when I was a kid, bats the size of small birds would feast, & right out in the open sky too, on insects as the sun went down very low. We didn't know any better, so we tossed tiny pebbles into the air to watch them very briefly "check those out" with their sonar.

What surprises me is that one of our dogs has killed two birds and one bat, and now our largest dachshund appears to have captured a bat on his own.