Two local women who reside at Powell Place apartments on Ward Drive near the high school campus are undergoing painful rabies treatment after being bitten by a rabid cat. The women picked up the cat which had a broken leg and were attacked. Treatment consists for four doses of vaccine on the first, third, seventh and 14th days after being bitten by a diseased animal. Barnesville city manager David Rose said animal control officer William Perdue responed after the women were bitten and picked up the cat which was dead by the time he got there. He took it to a veterinarian’s office to be sent for testing Sept. 18. ’He didn’t know and none of us at city hall knew it had tested positive until we read about it on barnesville.com,’ Rose reported. There have been five other bites in Lamar County this year with one other testing positive. That was back in January. Most rabies cases occur in wild animals. There is speculation the cat involved in this attack was spooked from its home territory by construction of the new high school. ’It is important to remember that, although rabies occurs more often in wildlife, domestic animals like to family dog or cat can become infected as well. I strongly encourage owners to have all pets vaccinated to prevent rabies,’ county environmental health manager Kelly Wilson said. Wild or nocturnal animals moving about in the daytime or acting in an abnormal way may have rabies. People should report such sightings to the local health department or animal control.
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