Vet warns of rabies, offers free vaccination

By Lorenzo O. Lambatin Jr.

Friday 6th of July 2012

BACOLOD CITY, July 6 (PIA) -- A private veterinarian here is offering free dog and cat vaccination on July 14 as his contribution to a rabies-free Bacolod.

In a television interview over Premier TV 14-‘Pamilya kag Banwa,’ Dr. Dante Nick Ortiz said rabies remains a fatal disease but is very much preventable.

Death due to rabies is unnecessary because government offers the vaccination as he challenged Bacoleños to become responsible owners of their pets, he added.

In 2011, the city health office Rabies Program Coordinator Gloria Parreño reported 3,138 dog bites - 336 from cats and 123 from rat, pig, rabbit, and monkey bites. No deaths caused by rabies had been reported in the city since 2008.

According to Ortiz, a person bitten by a dog should immediately seek medical consultation because if rabies virus cross blood and brain barriers, the patient is doomed.

He said a person can also get infected if an open wound is licked by a dog as the saliva caries the virus. This is why dogs should receive anti-rabies vaccine once a year, he added.

Records from the Bacolod veterinary office show it has vaccinated 41,207 dogs last year and about 6,000 as of June this year. City dog population is approximately 49,000 in its 61 barangays.

Ortiz said the vaccination on July 14, Saturday, will start at 9 a.m. and every Bacoleño is encouraged to bring their cats and dog-askal or foreign breed to his clinic, Zitro Vet at Burgos-Lopez Jaena Sts.

Although the vaccination is free, a very small amount as donation for the card tag bearing a veterinarian signature will be asked from clients.

Regular cost of animal vaccination here ranges from P100 to P150. (JCM/LOL-PIA6)