How to Judge if a Dog Has Rabies

To determine if a dog has rabies, you can make a preliminary judgment based on clinical symptoms. First, during the incubation period of rabies in dogs, there are no special symptoms. The incubation period usually ranges from 1 to 3 months, with a few cases lasting only a few days or even over a year. Therefore, it is impossible to visually determine whether a dog has rabies during this period. Secondly, during the onset of rabies, dogs may exhibit emotional irritability, abnormal sensitivity to light and sound, unstable walking, and aggressive behavior towards humans. If your dog shows these symptoms, there is a high likelihood that it has rabies. It is recommended to stay away from the dog and report the situation to relevant authorities.

Due to the varying incubation periods of rabies, which can range from a few months to a year, clinical manifestations are divided into two stages: aggressive and paralytic. Therefore, you can judge whether a dog has rabies by observing whether it exhibits symptoms of both types.

The aggressive stage lasts for 6-8 days, with some cases lasting up to 10 days. The paralytic stage progresses rapidly, with a short disease course. The excitement phase is short or mild, and the dog usually dies within 2-4 days after infection.
In the early stage of the aggressive period, dogs show symptoms such as fear of light, preference for darkness, slow reactions, and disobedience to their owners. Later, they become agitated and confused, displaying stimulated activities, facial distortion, and other symptoms.
In the paralytic stage, dogs produce a large amount of saliva, are unable to eat or drink, have seizures, gradually become paralyzed in the hindquarters and limbs, walk unsteadily or have difficulty moving, and finally die due to respiratory paralysis and overall muscle failure.

Note: Once a dog contracts rabies, the mortality rate is 100%, so prevention is crucial. It is impossible to detect whether a dog carries the rabies virus, and it is only after the dog becomes ill that the infection is known. Therefore, after the dog is three months old, it is necessary to follow the vaccination schedule and regularly inject the dog with vaccines to prevent rabies infection. This is the only way to effectively reduce the chance of rabies infection and occurrence.