Once Bitten

SPRING HILL - Fritz and J.R. the miniature schnauzers are born barkers.

But one day this past May, Karen Bond could tell something about these barks meant something was wrong in the side yard, the dogs' domain.

"They were going crazy," Bond, 59, recalled Tuesday as she and her husband John sat in the living room of their rancher on Galiana Court, at the eastern edge of Hunter's Lake.

Karen went out to the dog run to find J.R. and Fritz tangled with a calico cat.

Karen went to separate the trio, and the cat lunged and bit her on the index finger. She was able to grab the animal and toss it over the fence. The next day, the finger bore two distinct puncture marks and had swollen to about twice its normal size.

John took his wife to Oak Hill Hospital. They recommended she undergo a precautionary round of rabies vaccinations from the health department.

Six weeks and nine needles later, the Bonds say they hope residents, especially pet owners, will learn from Karen's experience. Health officials agree, especially now that there is a temporary shortage of the rabies vaccine, called Prophylaxis.

There are two manufacturers of the rabies vaccine. One had stored a supply of the vaccine in anticipation of decreased production while it updates its lab facilities, Ellis said. The stashed supply wasn't enough after the second manufacturer also was forced to make less vaccine, she said.

The Centers For Disease Control is urging medical care providers to give the vaccine as a preventative measure only in critical cases. The supply is expected to rebound by next month, according to the CDC.

Karen said she was happy to hear the shots are no longer administered to the stomach, but in the hip instead. She got five the first day, and one each week for four weeks after that.

They still hurt, though, because the serum is thick, she said.

"It felt like they were shooting liquid lead into it," she said. "I've had many shots in my life, but this one was like, whoa."

There are several lessons in Bond's story, said Ann-Gayl Ellis, spokeswoman for the Hernando County Health Department.

"The message that Karen has to share is the importance of early access to medical care after you've been exposed," Ellis said.

Another is to reduce the chances of exposure by avoiding strange animals, Ellis said.

Pet owners should make sure their animals are up to date on vaccinations and spayed or neutered if allowed to roam, she said.

The Bonds said they kept a close eye on their dogs in the subsequent weeks. Fritz and J.R. continue to bark, but they didn't contract rabies.

The Bonds are waiting to hear whether Karen's Medicare insurance or John's Blue Cross will cover the cost of the shots, which came to more than $2,000.

A couple of weeks before Karen was bitten, the Bonds had noticed an "incredible" number of stray cats in the neighborhood.

"They were in the trees, on the roof," John Bond recalled. "It was like a cartoon."

Bond and his neighbor resorted to trapping the cats and handing them over to the SPCA.

A month before, a cat that turned out to be rabid bit or scratched five people in the area near Abeline Road and Deltona Boulevard.

Statistics, however, show incidents of rabies exposure are on a downward trend in Hernando County.

In 2007, 12 people underwent post-exposure vaccination, according to the health department. That number was 15 in 2006, and averaged about 22 per year between 2004 and 2006.

Bond said despite the pain of the shots and the worry that her dogs might have contracted rabies, she's come out of the experience pretty much unscathed.

"It's takes a lot to get a girl down," she said, then winked.