Rabies vaccination drive success
The drive was held to protect the community's beloved animals against the disease and to educate them on why it's important to vaccinate your animals.
Some animals from the community are now protected against rabies, thanks to Spiffs Pet Grooming Parlour and the Randfontein State Vet.
The parlour in conjunction with the Randfontein State Vet held their annual rabies vaccination drive on Friday May 6 when residents could bring their animals to get their rabies vaccination free of charge.
Owner of Spiffs and organiser of the drive, Juanita Marx explained they host this drive every year for the community of Randfontein because she believes rabies injections are very important.
The state does it for us at no cost to the public, so we invite the community to bring their dogs. This morning we already have had quite a few, and we run it the whole day from 10:00 until 15:00. We do all the documentation, and we issue a certificate as proof that the a dog had received the rabies vaccination.”
She explained that if the need arose, they would host the drive more often.
Lerato Mosagale, Chief Animal Health Technician at the Randfontein State Vet said it’s important to vaccinate your animals against rabies because it’s a zoonotic disease, which means it could be transmitted between animals and humans, and could cause death in animals and humans.
She explained that the disease is transmitted by the infected animal’s saliva or blood, and rabid wild animals such as mongoose and meercats can bite one’s animals and that’s how they become infected.
“That’s why it’s important that if you stay in a bushy area to put up a fence to keep your animals inside.”
She said the most important signs of rabies are salivation because the animal’s jaw drops, it loses its appetite, and won’t drink water.
There is no cure for rabies and if your animal has become infected it will have to be put down. The only prevention is vaccination.
