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Can Squirrels Get Rabies? What the Bite Data Actually Says

Squirrels can carry rabies in theory but almost never do, and no US case of human rabies has been traced to one. What to do if you are bitten.

By Zakaria 4 min read Save to Pinterest — opens Pinterest in a new tab
A grey squirrel sitting upright on bare ground at the base of a tree, forepaws held to its chest
Photo: Dominic Nelson, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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A squirrel is a mammal, so it can be infected. But no human rabies case in the United States has ever been traced to one, and that gap between theory and record is the whole answer.

What the health authorities say

The CDC’s position on small rodents is consistent and long-standing: squirrels, chipmunks, rats, mice, hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils and rabbits are almost never found to be rabid, and none has been known to cause rabies in a human in the United States.

Rabies post-exposure prophylaxis is not routinely recommended after a bite from one of them. That decision belongs to a doctor and your local public health office, who weigh local rabies activity and the animal’s behaviour — but the default position is that it is not needed.

Why not, when raccoons do

Who actually carries it
AnimalRabies reservoir?
BatsYes — most US human cases
RaccoonsYes, dominant in the eastern US
SkunksYes, central and western US
FoxesYes, regional
CoyotesOccasionally
Squirrels, chipmunks, mice, ratsEffectively no
RabbitsEffectively no

The mechanism is blunt. Rabies passes in the bite of an infected animal, and the animals carrying it are big enough that an encounter with a squirrel kills the squirrel rather than leaving it wounded and incubating.

Squirrels also do not fight one another in the sustained, biting way that keeps a virus circulating within a species. Without that, there is no squirrel rabies to catch.

Bats are the genuine backyard exception

A bat found on the ground, in a room, or behaving oddly is the one animal here that warrants immediate medical advice — even with no visible bite. A bat’s teeth can leave a wound too small to see or feel.

If a bat is found in a room where someone was asleep, or with a child, treat it as an exposure and call a doctor.

If a squirrel bites you

  1. Wash it for fifteen full minutes with soap under running water. This is the most effective single step for any animal bite, and most people stop far too early
  2. Antiseptic, then cover it
  3. See a doctor the same day. A puncture wound from any animal’s teeth carries bacteria deep, and hand bites in particular get infected
  4. Tetanus — ask, if your last booster is more than five years back
  5. Report it to your local public health office. They make the rabies call
  6. Watch it over the next days for redness, swelling, heat, throbbing or discharge

The real risks are bacterial. Pasteurella, staph and strep all live in a rodent’s mouth, and a neglected bite abscesses.

A squirrel behaving strangely

Signs that in any mammal would suggest rabies:

  • No fear of people, approaching directly
  • Aggression without provocation
  • Staggering, circling, falling over
  • Partial paralysis, dragging limbs
  • Drooling, unable to swallow

The trouble is that a squirrel can look like all of this for other reasons — head injury from a fall or a car, poisoning, a parasitic infection, orphaned and starving, or simply fed by people until it lost all wariness. Squirrel pox and mange both produce alarming-looking animals that are not rabid.

Do not make the call yourself. Keep children and pets away, do not try to help or handle it, and ring animal control.

A friendly squirrel is usually a fed squirrel

The single most common reason a squirrel walks up to someone is that people have been feeding it. Habituation looks unnervingly like tameness, and tameness looks like illness to anyone who has read about rabies.

It is also why feeding them is a bad idea: a squirrel with no fear of hands eventually bites one.

Keeping it that way

  • Do not hand-feed. Every tame squirrel started with somebody’s peanut
  • Do not handle a baby squirrel you find. Ring a licensed wildlife rehabilitator
  • Secure bins and feeders, so nothing gets habituated
  • Vaccinate your pets. Dogs and cats are the realistic bridge between wildlife rabies and a household, and their vaccination is the reason human rabies is so rare in the US

Common questions

Can squirrels get rabies?

Biologically yes — a squirrel is a mammal and any mammal can be infected with the rabies virus. In practice it is vanishingly rare. The CDC reports that small rodents such as squirrels, chipmunks, rats, mice and hamsters are almost never found rabid, and no human case of rabies in the United States has ever been attributed to one of these animals. Rabies in a squirrel is a reportable curiosity, not a routine finding.

Why don't squirrels carry rabies the way raccoons do?

Mostly because of what happens during the attack that would infect them. Rabies spreads through the bite of an infected animal, and the animals that carry it — raccoons, foxes, skunks, bats — are large enough that an encounter with a squirrel usually kills it outright rather than leaving it wounded and infected. Squirrels also do not fight each other in the sustained biting way that lets the virus circulate within a population, so there is no squirrel rabies reservoir to draw from.

Can you get rabies from a squirrel bite?

It has never been documented in the United States. Health authorities do not routinely recommend rabies post-exposure treatment after a squirrel bite, and the decision is made case by case by a doctor or public health office in light of local rabies activity and how the animal behaved. That said, a squirrel bite still needs washing and medical attention — the real risks are bacterial infection and tetanus, which are common where rabies is not.

What should I do if a squirrel bites me?

Wash the wound immediately with soap and running water for a full fifteen minutes, which is the single most effective thing you can do for any animal bite. Apply antiseptic, cover it, and see a doctor the same day. Ask about a tetanus booster if yours is more than five years old, and mention the bite to your local public health office — they decide whether rabies treatment is warranted, not you. Watch the wound for redness, swelling, heat or discharge over the following days.

How would I know if a squirrel had rabies?

The signs are the same as in any rabid mammal: loss of fear of people, aggression without provocation, staggering or circling, partial paralysis, drooling and an inability to swallow. The difficulty is that a sick, injured or orphaned squirrel can look similar, and so can one that has simply been fed by people until it lost its wariness. Do not try to make the judgement yourself — report an odd-acting squirrel to animal control and keep away from it.

What animals do actually carry rabies?

In the United States the reservoir species are bats, raccoons, skunks and foxes, and bats account for most human cases. Worldwide, dogs cause the overwhelming majority of human rabies deaths. Among the animals you meet in a backyard, a bat found on the ground is the one that genuinely warrants immediate medical advice — including when no bite is obvious, since a bat bite can be too small to notice.

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