Michelle Russell is recovering after being attacked by a rabid bobcat in the front yard of her Crenshaw County home Monday morning.

"I wasn't as scared as I should've been. I wasn't thinking, 'this bobcat could hurt me,'" Russell said in an interview with the Greenville Advocate. "I don't have children and my dogs are my children. I would do anything for them."

Russell said she looked outside at around 11:45 a.m. and saw what she first thought was a stray dog standing with two of her dogs in the yard. She quickly realized, though, that something wasn't quite right.

"When it turned away, I saw its tail and thought, 'Oh my God. This is a cat.' How often do you see a bobcat in the middle of the yard in the middle of the day?" she said.

In an effort to protect her dogs, Russell ran out of the house in her flip-flops and pajamas. Her small indoor dogs, a Yorkie and a Boston terrier, ran out with her.

The bobcat had run away and was hiding in a tree hole from Russell's black Labrador, Kota, and a neighbor's dog.

Russell began screaming the dogs' names and worked to get them all into the house. Her friend, Brandon Register, heard her screams from inside the house. He grabbed a rifle and came outside to look for the bobcat.

After depositing the last of the dogs in the house, Russell spotted the cat and screamed for Register, which may have not been the best idea, she said.

"The cat just full-force jumped in the air and bit my arm. If I had been facing him, he would've probably got my neck and my face," Russell said. "I had no idea what to do."

The cat continued to hold on to Russell while Register hit it with the stock of his weapon. He was able to get the bobcat away from Russell only to have it jump back on her.

Russell said Register swung his rifle like a baseball bat hitting the bobcat, hitting it so hard the stock cracked.

When the cat let go of Russell again, Register shot it with the rifle, but it jammed. Register then grabbed a .22-caliber pistol from his car and shot it four or five times before it died.

Crenshaw County resident Michelle Russell is feeling blessed today, after being attacked by a rabid bobcat in the front... Posted by The Greenville Advocate on Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Russell was treated for her injuries at Crenshaw Community Hospital. Suspecting the bobcat had rabies, she went ahead and started preventative treatment.

Crenshaw County Sheriff's Mickey Powell confirmed to AL.com that the bobcat tested positive for rabies. He also confirmed Russell's serious injuries.

"She did get bit a couple times on the right arm," he said. "She was worried about her dogs, which she calls her babies."

"She had real nasty bites on her right arm," Powell said.

Bobcats are common across Alabama, and Powell said the wild animals are plentiful in Crenshaw County.

"They are making a comeback," he said, adding motorists are seeing more bobcat carcasses on the roadways.

Rabies in Alabama

Powell gave a warning to residents.

"People need to be careful this time of year," he said. "When (a wild animal) doesn't run away from you, it is the first indication that something is wrong."

Alabama Department of Public Health veterinarian Dee Jones said residents should also be careful around animals that are having difficulty walking or nocturnal animals that are out during the day.

Powell said the bobcat is the second animal to test positive for rabies in Crenshaw County in the past month or so. A fox tested positive for the disease two or three weeks ago, he said.

Jones said 2015 appears to be an average year for rabies infections. So far, 47 animals have tested positive for the disease.

"We always get an uptick in the warm months of the year," he said.

In Alabama, the reservoir for rabies is raccoons and bats.

Jones said he is nearly positive the bobcat contracted rabies from a rabid raccoon that bit or clawed it more than a month ago.

According to state public health records, 76 animals tested positive for rabies in 2014, including one bobcat in Talladega County.

Anyone who sees an animal they suspect of having rabies should call their local police or sheriff's office.