Rabid cat in Saugus sends three to hospital

SAUGUS – Three residents will be forced to seek treatment for rabies after they came in contact with a small black cat that tested positive for the deadly disease.K9 Control Officer Harold Young is one of the three, but since he has a pre-exposure shot due to the nature of his job, he said he would only need a booster. Two other residents, however, will have to seek treatment after being scratched by the assertive little feline.Young said he was in Town Hall Wednesday when he was told there was a Winter Street man who had been attacked in his garage by a cat. The cat had wandered into the garage and scratched the man on the back of the leg before he knew what was going on.Young said when he arrived at that garage, the cat was laying in the corner and he thought he would scoop it up with the net and be done with it.Instead, the tiny cat ducked through the net, jumped on Young and began to climb up his pant leg. Wearing gloves, Young said he plucked the cat off his stomach but when he did the cat scratched him and then bit him on the forearm, puncturing his skin.”I’ve had a pre-exposure shot so I’m OK,” he said.Back at Town Hall, Young also talked to Carl Strout, who works in the recycling department. Young said Strout told him he, too, had encountered the little cat around 9 a.m. Wednesday when he was checking on a recycling pick-up on Denver Street.Young said Strout told him the cat approached him and when he put his hand out toward the animal it lunged at him scratching his hand.At the time, Young said he wasn’t sure if he was dealing with a rabid cat or simply an aggressive feral. But the cat was euthanized and by Thursday afternoon Young said he learned it did indeed have rabies. He said the results really didn’t surprise him largely because of the cat’s attitude.”He came at me from a crouching position like he was going for prey,” Young said, adding that aggression is the last stage of rabies.Young warned that any resident who has come in contact with a small, black, domestic, short-hair cat within the last two months should report it to the Health Department or call him at 781-231-4167 to report it and get checked out by their personal physician.He also warned residents to monitor their pets, not to feed them outside or leave them unattended outside and to keep their garbage covered. Young said if they are cut or scratched by an unfamiliar animal they should wash the wound throughly and call their doctor.”I don’t want to send a panic,” Young said. “But rabies is here. This could be an isolated incident but it will always be around so wash any cuts with soap and water and take care of them.”Young said the last person in Massachusetts to die from rabies was in fact a boy from Saugus.”It was 1936 in Saugus, a 12-year old boy was bit by a dog and it was never reported,” he said. “Anybody that might have come in contact with this cat in the last 14 days to two months, please call the Board of Health and report it.”