I keep travel size liquid Tide detergent in my all first aid kits and here's why.
A few years ago we had an outbreak of Rabies in raccoons in the rural area where I live. There were about 20 confirmed cases within a few months and in each case the raccoons had attacked pets and/or people. Being involved in one such incident myself, I became very concerned about what happens if there is no medical care in that type of situation. Hoping to get more information for an alternative treatment, I consulted my holistic Veterinarian and much to my surprise found out that she was once involved in training Special Operations troops about rabies and other diseases transmitted by animal bites. She is an expert on all the different strains of Hydrophobia (Rabies) and told me some things that I had never even considered.
We live in a society where most responsible pet owners vaccinate for Rabies but there are strains of rabies in some countries that are not controlled by vaccination. The vet's phase was "there are strains of Rabies that laugh at our vaccines." In a worse case scenario that could rapidly become a serious problem in the US. It doesn't take much for a disease to jump borders and with the number of abandoned animals in a SHTF situation, even previously vaccinated animals could be a potential danger. My vet advised that if you are bitten by an animal you can reduce or eliminate the chance of infection by immediately cleaning the wound with "Tide" or any real detergent. With a puncture wound, you would have to totally flush the wound to kill all the virus so using a syringe to irrigate the wound would probably be the best solution. Obviously you should always seek immediate medical care if you think that you've been bitten by a rabid animal but in a SHTF situation where there is no immediate care doing this one simple thing could potentially save your life.
A few years ago we had an outbreak of Rabies in raccoons in the rural area where I live. There were about 20 confirmed cases within a few months and in each case the raccoons had attacked pets and/or people. Being involved in one such incident myself, I became very concerned about what happens if there is no medical care in that type of situation. Hoping to get more information for an alternative treatment, I consulted my holistic Veterinarian and much to my surprise found out that she was once involved in training Special Operations troops about rabies and other diseases transmitted by animal bites. She is an expert on all the different strains of Hydrophobia (Rabies) and told me some things that I had never even considered.
We live in a society where most responsible pet owners vaccinate for Rabies but there are strains of rabies in some countries that are not controlled by vaccination. The vet's phase was "there are strains of Rabies that laugh at our vaccines." In a worse case scenario that could rapidly become a serious problem in the US. It doesn't take much for a disease to jump borders and with the number of abandoned animals in a SHTF situation, even previously vaccinated animals could be a potential danger. My vet advised that if you are bitten by an animal you can reduce or eliminate the chance of infection by immediately cleaning the wound with "Tide" or any real detergent. With a puncture wound, you would have to totally flush the wound to kill all the virus so using a syringe to irrigate the wound would probably be the best solution. Obviously you should always seek immediate medical care if you think that you've been bitten by a rabid animal but in a SHTF situation where there is no immediate care doing this one simple thing could potentially save your life.
