Can Dogs and Cats Catch Plague or Tularemia in Flagstaff?

Plague and tularemia both circulate in northern Arizona wildlife, and a dog or cat that hunts can catch either one, with cats hit harder and more often than dogs. Plague rides in on the fleas that live on rodents, tularemia on ticks and on contact with a sick rabbit, and both can come straight from a carcass your pet has caught or chewed. The first signs are easy to shrug off: low energy, a fever, no interest in food, and often a firm, painful swelling under the jaw or along the neck that can open and drain. Both are reportable diseases that can spread to people, so keep a sick hunter in a closed carrier, limit contact with any drainage, and say on the phone that plague or tularemia is on your mind before you come in.

A fever that turns up on Saturday morning shouldn’t wait until your regular vet is open again on Monday, regardless of the cause. Veterinary Emergency and Specialty Center of Northern Arizona covers that whole stretch in Flagstaff, Friday at five in the evening through Monday at eight in the morning. We start with bloodwork and chest X-rays, and if the infection has reached the lungs, labored breathing is the part that moves fastest and deserves prompt attention. If your dog or cat has been around rodents or rabbits and slides downhill over the weekend, call us on your way in so the team is ready when you pull in.

Plague and Tularemia in Flagstaff: The Basics

• Both live in northern Arizona wildlife, and pets catch them from the fleas and ticks on rodents and rabbits, or from the animal itself.
• Cats get sick more often and more severely than dogs, so a cat who hunts and then goes quiet with a fever needs emergency care in Flagstaff rather than a day of watching.
• The early signs are ordinary ones that could point to many other problems, so your account of hunting, roaming, or flea exposure is often what points us at these two.
• Antibiotics work well when they start early, and both diseases can pass to people, so telling us about wildlife contact protects your family as much as your pet.

What Are the First Signs of Plague or Tularemia in Dogs and Cats?

The earliest signs in both species are a sudden drop in energy, a fever, and no interest in food, sometimes with a firm, sore swelling under the jaw. Both illnesses come on quickly, usually within a week of a hunt or a tick bite, so the dates you can give us matter. The symptoms of these diseases overlap heavily with a large number of other conditions. They’re both relatively uncommon, but severe and contagious to humans, so we take them seriously.

Sudden Lethargy and Fever

Lethargy in cats rarely looks dramatic: a cat who sleeps in a new hiding spot, skips a meal or two, and stops coming to the door. In a cat who hunts, that quiet shift is worth a same-day phone call. A dog who won't get up for a walk is harder to miss.

Coughing and Breathing Changes

Some forms of both infections settle in the lungs, and that form worsens fastest. Cats rarely cough, so coughing in cats alongside a fever after time outdoors needs to be seen right away. A cough in a dog has plenty of ordinary explanations, so we read it against the fever, the appetite, and where they've been. Fast or shallow breathing, open-mouth breathing in a cat, and visible effort all signal respiratory distress, an emergency on its own no matter the cause.

Swollen Glands, Sore Eyes, and Draining Wounds

Both diseases push lymph nodes into firm, painful lumps, most often under the jaw and along the neck in cats, and a node that swells fast can open and drain. Mouth ulcers are common with tularemia, and an abscess can mark the bite or scratch where the bacteria got in. Squinting, redness, and discharge are the usual signs of eye infections in cats, and in a cat who is also feverish and sore to the touch, inflamed eyes can belong to a body-wide infection rather than to the eye alone. Never lance or squeeze a new swelling or a draining sore at home, because the fluid inside carries live bacteria. Let us open it here instead.

What Is Tularemia, and How Do Pets Catch It?

Tularemia is a bacterial infection of wildlife that spills over into pets, and the nickname rabbit fever fits, because the bacteria cycle through the rabbits, hares, and wild rodents that pets catch and eat.

Tularemia transmission also runs through tick and biting-fly bites and through contact with contaminated water, soil, or dust, and it takes very few bacteria to cause illness. Northern Arizona supplies all of it: cottontails, jackrabbits, ground squirrels, and the ticks that feed on them. While it is rare for a pet to contract this illness, it’s not unheard of, and neighboring states like New Mexico see higher case numbers.

How Tularemia Looks in Cats and in Dogs

Tularemia in cats tends to hit hard, with high fever, swollen lymph nodes, mouth ulcers, and sometimes eye or chest involvement, and it can turn fatal when antibiotics are delayed. Tularemia in dogs is usually milder, a day or two of fever, low energy, and a picky appetite, and that mildness is its own hazard: a dog who seems only slightly off may have been mouthing the same rabbit that puts the rest of the household at risk.

How Do Pets Get Plague in Northern Arizona?

Pets catch plague two ways: the bite of a flea that fed on an infected rodent, and hunting or eating one. Fleas leave a dying rodent in search of a new host, so a cat nosing into a burrow or a dog digging at one can pick them up. Plague still circulates in the rodent populations around Flagstaff, and it's reportable, because a sick pet can be the first sign that infected rodents are active where people live. Like tularemia, plague is rare, but not unheard of; human and animal cases have been reported in Arizona and the desert southwest in 2026.

How Plague Looks in Cats and in Dogs

Plague in cats most often appears as a swollen, abscessing lymph node under the jaw or neck alongside fever and deep fatigue, and the form that settles in the lungs is the one that endangers the people in the room. Plague in dogs is typically a quieter illness of fever, low energy, and swollen glands, though a dog who digs at rodent burrows can carry home the fleas that infect the cat or the people in the house.

The two diseases overlap more than they differ.

How Are Plague and Tularemia Diagnosed in Pets?

Diagnosis leans on what you can tell us about where your pet has been, plus what we find on the exam. The veterinarians on duty weigh whether a fever and a swollen node in a hunting cat is an abscess from a backyard fight or an infection that needs isolation and a report, so tell us about the dead rabbit, the burrow behind the shed, or the flea you combed out last week.

We can collect cells from a swollen node and read them under the microscope here, which separates infection from other causes of a lump. Confirming either disease takes specialized testing beyond routine panels, so samples go to a reference or public health laboratory while treatment starts on suspicion rather than waiting on a result.

How Are Tularemia and Plague Treated?

Both infections respond to antibiotics, and many pets recover well when treatment starts early. The rest of the care holds your pet steady while the antibiotics work:

• Fluids and pain control: a pet who is too sick to eat or drink needs that support in the hospital rather than at home.
• Oxygen when the lungs are involved: this is the form that turns dangerous fastest.
• Hospitalization with isolation precautions: we can admit a pet who needs injectable antibiotics and oxygen, and the isolation keeps everyone handling your pet safer while the diagnosis is still open.

One thing to skip at home: leftover antibiotics from an old prescription. They rarely match what these bacteria need, and they can muddy the testing that tells us what we're treating.

Can My Family Catch Plague or Tularemia From My Pet?

Both infections can pass from a pet to the people in the house. The bacteria behind plague in pets and people move between wild rodents, the cat on the couch, and the person holding them, so a suspected case is a household safety question and a public health report at the same time.

Cats carry the larger share of that risk. Bites and scratches can transmit infection, and a cat whose plague has reached the lungs can spread bacteria in droplets at close range, the route behind human cases in this part of the country. Tularemia can also reach people through handling an infected carcass or a sick pet's drainage. If either disease is suspected, tell your own physician you may have been exposed, say the same for anyone in the house who is pregnant, elderly, or immunocompromised, and we can walk you through what the health department will want to know.

How Do You Keep Your Dog or Cat From Catching Plague or Tularemia?

You lower the risk by keeping fleas and ticks off your pet, keeping your pet away from carcasses and burrows, and making the yard less appealing to rodents. There's no vaccine for either disease in dogs or cats, so these habits are the whole of prevention.

• Flea and tick control year-round: Fleas are how plague travels, and ticks are one route for tularemia, so one monthly product covers both.
• Less hunting and less scavenging: Pull a carcass away even if your dog objects, because eating or mouthing wildlife is the most direct exposure to either disease.
• A yard that doesn't invite rodents: Spilled birdseed, open pet food, and woodpiles against the fence all draw rodents, and a dead rodent or rabbit gets moved with a shovel and a bag, never bare hands.
• Indoor time for cats who hunt: Outdoor cats carry much more risk than indoor cats, and keeping a hunter in through the dawn and dusk hours cuts the number of encounters.

When Is Plague or Tularemia an Emergency?

Plague and tularemia can get worse by the hour, so any of these means coming in now rather than tomorrow:

• A high fever with profound lethargy.
• A new painful swelling or abscess.
• Any struggle to breathe.
• Sudden illness in a dog or cat who has been around rodents, rabbits, or fleas.

We're open in Flagstaff from Friday evening through Monday morning. Midweek, start with your own veterinarian or one of our partner practices during the day, and if your pet goes downhill overnight on a weekday, the nearest open emergency hospital is the right call. Call ahead and let us know if your pet hunts or scavenges rabbits or rodents, which lets us bring your pet straight into a room instead of a waiting area and get gloves and masks on before anyone handles them.

Common Questions About Plague and Tularemia

My cat just brought home a dead rabbit. What should I do?

Move the carcass out of the yard with a shovel and a bag, bring your cat inside, and comb them over for fleas. Check for bite and scratch wounds too, because a puncture from the struggle is one of the ways these bacteria get in. Note the date, because signs of either infection usually begin within a week: a fever, hiding, a skipped meal, or a new lump under the jaw all mean call us. A cat who stays bright and hungry all week most likely escaped it.

Is my indoor cat at risk?

Indoor cats carry far less risk, though not quite none. Fleas can ride in on a dog, come up through a crawlspace, or arrive with a mouse that gets into the garage, and plenty of indoor cats still hunt whatever wanders in. That's why year-round flea prevention is worth keeping on an indoor cat too.

Are plague and tularemia curable in pets?

Both are treatable, and many dogs and cats recover fully with antibiotics and supportive care. Timing drives the outcome more than anything else: a pet who starts antibiotics early usually does well, while one who has run a high fever for several days, or who has developed pneumonia, has a harder recovery.

Acting Fast Protects Your Pet and Everyone in the House

Tularemia and plague are serious, and they're treatable when they're caught early. If your dog or cat gets suddenly sick after a hunt, or you find them standing over a dead rodent, reach out right away and we'll help you decide whether this needs to be seen today at Veterinary Emergency and Specialty Center of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff.