So, how fast do symptoms appear? Fast enough to kill you if you ignore them, slow enough to save you if you act. The average incubation is 20 to 90 days. That’s your window for the vaccine series, which works like a charm if you get it before any neurological fireworks.
Here’s my unsolicited advice: don’t trust your “I’ll be fine” gut feeling. If a bat flew into your room while you were sleeping? Get the shots. (Fun fact: you can’t feel a bat bite—it’s like a mosquito needle.) If a stray dog in a rural area nipped you? Get the shots.
And if your cat scratches you because you forgot its dinner time? Clean the wound. Watch the cat. And maybe—just maybe—put down the Google rabbit hole. Rabies is a terrifying but predictable monster. It’s slow. But once it wakes up, it doesn’t miss.
