San Marcos’ Rabies Clinic

The San Marcos Regional Animal Shelter will host it’s annual rabies clinic this saturday offering low cost vaccinations. Residents will be able to get their pet or pets  rabies shots and pet licences for 5 dollars, if one would like, pets may also be microchipped for 10 dollars.

Animal Shelter Manager, Kara Montiel said this low-cost offer provides an opportunity for some residents to receive affordable care for their pets.

“It’s a time for people who typically can’t afford general health care for their animals or if they’re having a rough year. We provide this service at a lower cost than what they can typically get it done for.”

According to Montiel, rabies is fatal whether you are a pet or an owner. At the animal shelter, she has seen many rabies cases, and assures that once an animal has rabies it ultimately results in death.

“Rabies is fatal and the only way to diagnose it is to test the brain tissue, so in order to test an animal for rabies you have to euthanize, and we see a lot of rabies cases, not necessarily cats and dogs but we have tons of wildlife rabies around us and animals are exposed to them all the time.”
-Kara Montiel

The clinic is here to protect the residents of San Marcos and pet owners . Although not many human fatalities happen the post-exposure shots, after being bitten or scratched, are mandatory.

“If you got bit by a bat or skunk or a raccoon and it tested positive for rabies then theres a post-exposure rabies series of shots that the human has to go through, has to.”

Rabies is a contagious viral disease that can be transmitted by a bite or scratch. The disease infects the central nervous system over a period of days and without treatment will cause death.

The clinic will be this Saturday, October 12, from 1-4 pm at the San Marcos Regional Animal Shelter.

Chris Fink, KTSW News