Who can resist an adorable kitten? It’s so soft and fuzzy and warm that your first instinct is to pick it up and cuddle it, right?

If it’s a stray, this may not be a good idea. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US is cautioning people to be careful handling stray kittens in the wake of an incident in July, 2007, involving a rabid kitten.

The story started off innocently enough. A coach at a softball tournament in South Carolina found a kitten in a trash can. And of course, just about everybody there had to pet it and handle it. This wasn’t a good idea, as that much handling would stress out a perfectly healthy kitten.

This particular kitten turned out to have rabies. An innocent beginning quickly turned into a public health nightmare as players and family members from 38 teams in four states had been exposed to the kitten. The poor little critter had managed to lick, bite, or scratch 27 people who needed to undergo an expensive and painful series of post-exposure rabies shots. (The kitten was later euthanized.)

The moral of the story? If you find a stray kitten, use common sense. Don’t pass it around to all 963 of your closest friends. If you take it home, keep it separate from other pets in your home until it receives a clean bill of health from your vet. If you are bitten or scratched by a stray, have it tested for rabies if possible. See your doctor, as you may need to have the post-exposure rabies shots.

Read the whole story here:

Stray kitten with rabies a reminder to be cautious with unknown animals

Rabid kitten set off health alert in four states