What to Do If a Rabid Bobcat Attacks You or Your Pet

Rabies is a well-known disease that causes fear and concern because once the symptoms start, it is inevitably fatal. The incident shown in this shocking YouTube clip will do nothing to allay those fears. It was captured by a doorbell camera and shows a rabid bobcat approaching and then attacking a woman and her dog on her driveway. She eventually manages to get inside her home (with her dog), and the bobcat slinks away. In this article, we will put this incident in context by exploring the prevalence of rabies in the bobcat population, the dangers they pose, and what you should do if you or your pets are attacked by a rabid bobcat.

About Bobcats

Bobcats are medium-sized members of the Felidae family and belong to the same genus as the lynx. Their scientific name is Lynx rufus. They are found in North America from southern Canada to southern Mexico. Their population densities are much higher in the southeastern US states compared to the western states, but there are only three states in the US where bobcats are not found: Alaska, Delaware, and Hawaii.

Bobcat Interactions With Humans

Bobcats hunt rodents, rabbits, birds, and reptiles. They are reclusive creatures that normally shy away from interactions with humans. However, they will occasionally pursue small domestic animals, which brings them closer to where humans are living, but this does not necessarily make them popular. What’s more, some have become increasingly habituated to urban and suburban settings, making human-bobcat interactions more frequent. On rare occasions, humans are attacked by bobcats. However, it is important to stress that what you see in this video is not typical behavior. The bobcat in the video clip has rabies.

What Is Rabies?

Rabies is a disease of mammals caused by neurotropic viruses in the family Rhabdoviridae, and the genus Lyssavirus. The viruses are neurotropic, which means that they affect the nervous system. Infection is most commonly transmitted through a bite or scratch from an infected animal. From the bite/scratch wound, the virus travels via the peripheral nerves to the central nervous system (CNS). Here it multiplies and heads back down the nerves to the salivary glands. The rabies virus enters the saliva and infects any mammal that the animal bites.

There are dozens of different strains of the rabies virus, and each has a connection with a particular host species and geographical area. The two major genetic lineages are the canine and New World bat strains, but subtypes are also recorded.

Spotting Rabies in Bobcats

There is evidence that the bobcat can become infected with the Arizona gray fox strain, but may be infected by other strains. When an infected bobcat is identified, it often means that there are other infected wildlife (such as foxes or raccoons) nearby. Rabies viruses are secreted in saliva days or weeks before animals show any clinical signs of the disease. Also, early clinical signs in animals are often nonspecific. In short, identifying a bobcat that can transmit rabies is not straightforward! The World Health Organization’s case definition for a suspected rabid animal is an animal that presents with any of the following signs:

• Hypersalivation (producing a lot of saliva)
• Paralysis
• Lethargy
• Unprovoked abnormal aggression (e.g., biting two or more people, animals, or inanimate objects)
• Abnormal vocalization
• Diurnal activity of nocturnal species

Therefore, a rabies infection could cause the normally nocturnal and shy bobcat to be out during the day and to lose its fear of humans.

Stages of Rabies in Bobcats

There are three recognized stages of rabies, but the clinical picture can be highly variable, and the stages can last for different lengths of time. The initial symptoms usually start within weeks after the bite (although this period can be longer). First, there is the prodromal stage with vague, non-specific symptoms. Next is the ‘furious form’, which is what the bobcat in the video clip is experiencing.

As you can see in the footage, the animal is highly irritable. Its posture and expression are alert and anxious, with dilated pupils. They lose any innate caution of approaching humans and other animals (in this case, a woman and her dog), and attacks can be triggered by noise. It is possible that the dog barking initially started this attack. Specifically, rabid bobcats can attack suddenly, biting and scratching viciously. After this stage, muscular incoordination and seizures are common, followed by death resulting from progressive paralysis. Few animals with rabies live for more than a few days once symptoms have started. It is always fatal.

How Common Is Rabies in Bobcats?

Bats, raccoons, skunks, and foxes are reservoirs for the rabies virus in the US. Given that they live in similar habitats and locations as bobcats, it is not surprising that bobcats can get rabies. Encounters between these animals could result in skirmishes during which bobcats can be bitten and scratched. Human and animal rabies are notifiable conditions in the U.S. Data is collected by 130 public health, agriculture, and academic laboratories and collected in a CDC-maintained US National Rabies Surveillance System.

Looking at the data from 2022, 16 bobcats tested positive for rabies. This is clearly a small number compared to the estimated one million bobcats living in the U.S. Nevertheless, encounters with rabid bobcats are significant public health events and continue to be reported. For example, in March 2024, two bobcats, one in Grant County and one in Sierra County, New Mexico, tested positive for rabies.  

A retrospective study of rabies laboratory data collected between 2010 and 2021 reviewed five rabies-infected bobcats. The research revealed that two of the samples had been submitted because of human exposure, and in one of these cases, a person suffered an unprovoked attack that resulted in a bite on the arm. Another case involved a bobcat attack on a dog and a person in a backyard, and another involved a bobcat-goat encounter.

What to Do if Your Dog Is Attacked by a Rabid Animal

The most effective way to protect your dog from rabies is to have them vaccinated. We do not know if the dog in this clip has received the vaccine. In some US states, this is a legal requirement. Keeping your dog on a leash and keeping away from wild animals (alive and dead) is also advised.

So, what happens after an incident like this? In those areas where rabies is enzootic (continuously present) in wildlife populations, any animal bitten or otherwise exposed by a wild, carnivorous mammal (that includes bobcats) not available for testing should be regarded as having been exposed to the rabies virus. Under these circumstances, the National Association of Public Health Veterinarians (NAPHV) recommends that unvaccinated dogs be euthanized immediately. 

Clearly, this is something that many dog owners would find very distressing. However, the only alternative is to administer the rabies vaccine as soon as possible and place the dog in strict isolation, with no human or animal contact, for 4–6 months. If the dog has been vaccinated, it should receive medical assessment and wound care,  be revaccinated immediately, and be closely observed for 45 days.

What to Do if You Are Attacked by a Rabid Animal

Being bitten by an animal that is showing strong signs of rabies, as in the case of this bobcat, is a serious situation, and immediate medical attention should be sought. Bites to the face and hands are more likely to result in the successful transmission of rabies because these areas have a lot of nerves.

A human rabies vaccination is available, but is only given to people in high-risk groups such as vets and animal control officers. Healthy, unvaccinated patients will receive postexposure prophylaxis, which includes thorough wound washing, a single dose of human rabies immune globulin (HRIG) administered at the start, and rabies vaccine given on days 0, 3, 7, and 14 after the bite. Prompt and appropriate treatment is highly effective in preventing this deadly disease.