Orange County Animal Services reported receiving its sixth and seventh positive rabies case of the year this week, both of which stemmed from outdoor cats.
The county department said the first incident involved a cat in the vicinity of Fox Hill Farm Drive and Baldwin Road in Hillsborough on Wednesday, Sept. 25. According to Animal Services, a person called Animal Control after they were bitten by an injured, stray cat seen outdoors. The animal was retrieved and taken for medical evaluation and rabies testing, with the positive test returning from the North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health on Friday.
The second incident was reported on September 30, when the department said it received a call about an outdoor cat biting a person in the area of Walnut Grove Church Road and Laws Store Road in Hurdle Mills, north of Hillsborough. The cat was taken in for testing and the department reported the positive test on Tuesday.
“The human-animal bond compels us to help animals,” said Sandra Strong, the director of Orange County Animal Services. “But please don’t feed outdoor cats unless they are sterilized and vaccinated for rabies. Feeding intact, unvaccinated cats increases their numbers and of course creates more unvaccinated cats in our community.”
Orange County Animal Services previously reported a rabid skunk being captured on September 25 after an altercation with multiple people near Orange Grove Road and New Grady Brown School Road. The rabies cases with the cats now mark four identified instances since the month of September. The other two were Sept. 4 when a fox tested positive in Carrboro and Sept. 13 from another skunk in Hillsborough.
In comparison, Orange County saw seven identified cases of rabies in wildlife during 2023.
Orange County Animal Services said while it is more common to encounter wildlife with rabies, any mammal — like cats — can carry the fatal viral infection. As a result, it is required for any domesticated dogs or cats to have updated rabies vaccines, and Animal Control urges residents to be cautious whenever interacting with unfamiliar animals or wildlife outdoors.
Orange County Animal Services hosts periodic low-cost rabies vaccination clinics for domesticated dogs and cats, with the next one scheduled for October 19. For more information on clinics and future dates, visit the county government’s website. Additional rabies resources from Orange County can be found here.
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story said the first positive rabies test was returned to Orange County Animal Services on Monday. That has since been updated to correctly reflect it was received on Friday.
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