What is a cautionary tale? A cautionary tale is a tale told in folklore, to warn its hearer of a danger.

This is an unusual story. I think it falls under the category of “Adventures”, although it is not one that we chose. One evening last fall, Terry and I were relaxing in our Family room watching TV when all of a sudden I saw something coming down the hallway! What is that? It looked like something flying toward me. There WAS something flying toward me, it was a Bat!

So many questions! How did it get into our house? why is it flying around our Family room? How do we catch it? Will it land in my hair? Will it bite us? Immediately, our dog, Poppie(an Eskimo Dog), became alert and started chasing the bat around in circles, from the Family room through the kitchen and into the Living room. Around and Around they went. At one point, the bat landed on the floor and I thought Poppie had him, but he took flight again! I sat in my chair with my head covered under a blanket. My husband got a broom and tried to get the bat to go out the front door. Eventually, Poppie cornered him and that was that! We had only intended on chasing the bat out the door but we could not control our dog at that point, the bat was dead. It turned out to be a good thing.

RABIES

We put the bat in a plastic bag out on our front porch. We intended to just throw it away, but then it hit me! Maybe it could have rabies! I don’t know why I had that thought, maybe because it had been in our house and that our dog had come in contact with it. Anyway, the next morning we contacted the County Health Department. They came out and took the bat for testing. It didn’t take long to receive the call that it did indeed have RABIES! We received many calls from various departments. They wanted to make sure our dog was up to date on his rabies shots. They asked us all kinds of questions, it was suggested that we take our dog for a booster and that we might want to get the series of rabies shots ourselves. WHAT? Rabies shots! My mind went to the “olden days”, doesn’t that mean like 15 shots in the stomach! WHAT?

We took Poppie the next day for his booster shot, the County wanted to quarantine him at their facility for 30 days, but since he was up to date on his shots, they agreed that we could just watch him at home. We were supposed to watch him at home for 6 weeks! He never developed any symptoms, YAY! I guess that having a rabid bat in your house was a big deal in our County. The local TV News channel came to our house for an interview, and all our neighbors were asking us questions. We were celebrities!

SHOTS

This is the worst part of my story and our “Adventure”. We were told that the rabies virus is found in the bat’s saliva so it may have gotten on us while we were sleeping or had bitten us without us knowing. We really didn’t know how long the bat had been in our house. If you develop Rabies, it is almost always fatal! There is no cure! So we decided it is better to be safe than sorry.

The good news is that the series of shots are no longer given in the stomach, YAY! The bad news is that we had to go to the Emergency Room since that is the only place that has the rabies shots. The amount of shots needed is partially determined by your weight, I really wish I had stuck with that diet! My husband and I had to get 10 shots each on our first visit to the ER. One in each arm and four in each thigh! We had 2 nurses “tag-teaming” us, one on each side giving shots simultaneously! It really wasn’t as bad as it sounds, the needles were small. That wasn’t all though, we had to go 3 more times in the next 2 weeks for booster shots! The second set of shots were just one each time and could be given at Urgent Care.

*Just a note; the ER is so much more expensive! If it happens to you, go to Urgent care for all the shots*

*Another note; the series of shots are extremely expensive! I’m talking about $35,000! The good thing is that our insurance did not deem these charges as reasonable, so we are paying about 1/3 of that charge(which is still bad enough)!

The last part of my story is how we protected our home from another unwanted visitor. We never really found out how the bat got in. Our theory is that it flew into the attic through a roof vent and then into our house through a small opening in the door of the attic. We had a bat specialist,(wildlife management agent), come to the house. He did see some evidence of bats in our attic and he saw several places on the roof vent areas where a bat could get in. He put up screening everywhere!

The good news is that we are all safe and sound today, and free from bats and rabies! We were told that we are immune to rabies for 10 years! Maybe I will open a bat farm?

Has this happened to you? Please leave a comment! Remember to share with your family & friends on your social media pages.

*You may also enjoy reading; 10 Unique places in Wisconsin

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