A Low-Cost Opportunity To Protect Your Pets

Newtown dog and cat owners are invited to a low-cost rabies vaccination clinic at the Edmond Town Hall gymnasium on June 7 between 10 am and noon.

Dr Brian Silverlieb with Mt Pleasant Hospital for Animals will be administering shots during the clinic. Residents should bring written proof (not tags) of prior rabies vaccination or a current dog license to qualify for a three-year certificate. All others will receive one-year certificates, $15, cash only. Law requires that all dogs and cats three months old or more must be vaccinated. Law also requires that all pets vaccinated for the first time in 2007 must be vaccinated again in 2008. Check pets’ vaccination certificates for an expiration date.

Pet owners attending the clinic can also purchase their 2008 dog license at the same time and should provide a spay/neuter certificate for a lower license fee. Dogs must be on a leash and cats must be in carriers.

Although rare in humans, rabies is almost always fatal. The virus, carried in the saliva of infected animals, enters victims through skin punctures or wounds and affects the central nervous system. More than 6,000 animals have tested positive in Connecticut since 1991. Of these, more than 4,500 have been raccoons and approximately 1,100 have been skunks. The remaining several hundred cases have been confirmed in fox, deer, sheep, cats, woodchucks, dogs, horses, cows, coyote, goats, squirrel, otter, ferret, bobcat, and rabbit.