With only a small change on the advice of a local veterinarian, the Flathead City-County Board of Health unanimously approved the county rabies program Thursday afternoon.

Flathead County commissioners also approved the program that morning but tabled the fee schedule for animal owners.

The only amendment to the program — which is intended to ensure that all cats and dogs in the county will be vaccinated for rabies — was to change the window of time for an animal’s first vaccination from between the third and fourth month of the animal’s life to between the third and fifth month, giving owners slightly more leeway.

This amendment was proposed by Dr. Kevin Morrell, a veterinarian at Alpine Animal Hospital in Whitefish.

“I want to thank you for taking this on,” he said to the board. “Adding cats to this was a big step forward and a good thing.”

Despite his praise for the board and the commissioners, he stated that his own clinic and others like it prefer to give pet owners a bit of leeway. He asks patients of puppies and kittens to come in at several-week intervals that would not have complied with the original version of the program.

The board agreed to the amendment, but turned down an additional change that would have required livestock and pets such as ferrets to be vaccinated.

“It’s very difficult for us to monitor the vaccination of horses,” Public Health Officer Joe Russell said, “because our intake for cats and dogs is at the animal shelter.”

The lack of a similar system for horses and cattle means that a reliable way to vaccinate all the domesticated ungulates in the county would be nearly impossible to enforce.

As for ferrets, chinchillas and other “exotic” mammals people keep as pets, the board collectively decided they posed less risk since they were more indoor pets, according to board member Dr. P. David Myerowitz.

Horses can get rabies, Morrell said, and can experience a variety of symptoms as well. 

In the last decade, there have been several cases of horses and cattle being diagnosed with rabies, but those were exclusively east of the Continental Divide and almost entirely in the southeastern part of Montana, Deputy Health Officer Hillary Hanson said.

For Flathead County, the threat of rabies has always been and remains from bats. Skunks can pose a threat in other parts of Montana.