My dog almost fought a stray. Can its saliva transmit disease?

Well it depends what the cat was sick with. I'm going to assume the cat was sick with an upper respiratory infection and there isn't anything I would be particularly worried about here. There aren't many contagious diseases we worry about crossing between dogs and cats. I would recommend watching for general signs of disease (lethargy, poor appetite, nasal discharge, coughing/sneezing, vomiting, and diarrhea) in the next week or two just to be safe, but there isn't anything you need to do at this point and a very low likelihood of anything coming from this encounter.

Rabies is usually transmitted by saliva being transferred into a wound. If your dog is vaccinated against rabies and had no wound in the area where he was licked, then the risk of him getting infected with rabies is small. However in the future do not let your dog interact with street dogs. They can have not only rabies, but also mange, distemper and other communicable diseases.

The only way to know if a dog was infected with rabies is to monitor for signs of rabies. The test for rabies uses brain tissue so it can't be done on an alive animal. There is a 15 day window of time from when an animal can transmit rabies until the animal would be showing clinical signs of rabies and then death. If there is no history of a bite wound on the pet dog than the likelihood of rabies is very low. If you ever see any signs of rabies than have him/her examined by a veterinarian. There are other diseases that can be transmitted to humans, like Ringworm, Salmonellosis, Leptospirosis, Campylobacter infection, Giardia infection, Cryptosporidium infection, Roundworms, Hookworms, etc. If your dog was examined by a vet and appears healthy, vaccinated, as well as treated for common intestinal parasites than it is not likely you will get an infection from him/her, especially if you have a normal immune system. Use a monthly heartworm pill that also contains a dewormer, like Heartgard or Interceptor to decrease the chance of your dog getting intestinal parasites in the future.

That is a good question. So, the vaccine does not suddenly stop working after 6 months, but will provide Bobbie Jo the best protection from those viruses for the first 6 months after vaccination. In order for Bobbie Jo to infect another dog, she would need to be infected with one of those viruses, then spread them to another dog. Those are respiratory viruses, so the most common way they are spread is through secretions from the nose and mouth, but a bite is not needed for transmission. Most commonly a dog will cough or sneeze in an area and infect the area and other dogs. So, the concern for Bobbie Jo would be if she were exposed to a dog that was infected with one of those viruses that she would be more susceptible to them if her vaccination was overdue. The chance of the other dog contracting those viruses would depend on when/if it had been vaccinated. I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

How lovely of you to look after Hiccup! It could be possible that he has a respiratory infection. These can be caused by viruses and bacteria. While the viruses are not contagious, it is possible a bacterial infection could be to your dogs. I would keep Hiccup isolated from the dogs to be safe.

Hi, this is Dr. Johnson. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I see you are from France, I am in the US. I urge you to contact your Public health department, Doctor or a hospital ASAP if this isn't a hypothetical question. Rabies is life threatening if you contract it. Rabies is a virus that is transmitted from the saliva of an infected dog. In order for the dog to transmit the virus it needs to be in the salivary glands. Once in the salivary glands the animal will usually show signs of rabies with in 10 days. The dog should be quarantined as outlined by your country's laws. But yes, if saliva from a dog with the transmissible stage of rabies, is immediately placed in your mouth or eye you could get rabies. It is transmitted through breaks in the skin and muco-cutaneous surfaces. I urge you to seek medical attention.

Usually from the wound the virus travels through the nerves to the central nervous system and salivary glands as well (from where it can then spread and be transmitted). Unless the tongue was injured (so the virus could have travelled to nerves through blood stream), there are basically no chances that infection occurred. Rabies do not resist in the environment for long (max 24 hours usually) time as well.