Hi there,

Does anyone else keep finding bats in their house?

I've evicted 3 of the critters from our house in the last couple of days. They're not living in our roofspace (or anywhere obvious) as we've really checked. It's a brand new roof with no holes.

The last one I found was in our kitchen sink yesterday afternoon, and looking a bit sorry for himself. I gently relocated him to a nice dark area underneath foliage.

Now we're not sure where they're coming from. All our windows are screened, and we don't leave the doors open. The roof hatches are bolted shut.

We had a serious talk with the cat. He said he knew nothing. However, he's still the main suspect. We're not sure how or where he's catching them.

We're adding this as his latest addition of wildlife hunting. He's brought in snakes, mice, rats, voles, live birds, cray fish and now the bats. We're considering affixing a cowbell to him, just to give the wildlife a fighting chance.

Sarah

I don't want to be an alarmist, but I would seriously recommend that you get yourself to a local health clinic (not your cat but the humans in your home) and explain your interaction with bats. Bats on the westcoast can carry the rabies virus and it's not good that they are in your house... and it's not good if you're finding and handling an ill one. I realise that it is most likely the cat's gifts but ... a few jabs aren't going to kill you, rabies on the other hand...

Oh dear that doesn't sound good, HWP is right
funny i was reading about that the other day, trying to find out what animals are potentially dangerous in CA and bats came up

good luck and put a bell on that cat

We've had 2 in here in the last 3 years, so not quite your tally, and we know that they live in our roof and we don't have a problem with that. As long as you're wearing very thick gloves, or using a towel to wrap around them when you catch them, I can't really see a rabies issue, personally?

I'm not sure if you can get them here, but in the UK they sell a cat collar that emits a high pitched noise and flashing light when it detects the cat pouncing. I'll try and track down the details.

Here you go - a link to a UK site. Maybe you can find them, or their equivalent, from a N.American seller somewhere: http://www.lamp-post.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CH16865

Bats carry rabies in Europe too, I'd never touch one - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2509375.stm

Did anyone see the documentary on the American girl who survived rabies? I don't think they managed to replicate her treatment in others though...

There is the handling issue but there is also the issue of bats in your living space. Bats are normally active when people are normally unconscious... it's a bad mix if the bat is rabid.

I see your point but I think I'd prefer to leave our bats alone, to live in peace, watching them take out thousands of mozzies each evening

I think I remember reading that if someone wakes and there is a bat in the room then they should have rabies treatment, whether bitten or not. Apparently bat bites dont always leave marks.

Other treatment plans depend on observing the animal to see if it develops rabies- if a domestic animal, or if wild and can be trapped then killing it testing for rabies.

Oh well, I'm not dead yet Thanks for the advice for the future though.

Plenty of people have nesting boxes for bats to try and keep down the bugs. That doesn't mean you should tolerate them in your living space. If you dont worry about yourself and family then at least consider visitors to your home.

And as you'll see in the post directly above your last one, I thanked you for your advice for use in the future, so I don't really see the need for your arsey tone in reply to a message that was posted before I was aware that bats could be a "silent" threat!

Get stuck into the garlic

Just reading that you should have your cat or dog vaccinated against rabies, and not handle any animals that are sick or hurt ?

Wonder about ours as we have bats in the barn and we have 3 dogs ? after seeing my dog recently bitten by a rat and got very ill i will call the vets tomorrow

They don't have to bite you apparently if they scratch you or bite you its the saliva that enters the system that carries the Rabies

TBH I think you've been given very good advice. At least consider talking this incident over with your doctor...don't wait until the next time.

Is your cat vaccinated against rabies...if not I would take it to the vet?

I remember a few days before we came to the US in June 1996...2 women found a sick bat in the South of England. Turned out the bat was rabid...it was thought it had flown across the English Channel. There was an instant ban on all airlines carrying pets that couldn't have rabies shots...therefore we had to leave my daughter's pet hamster with a friend.