Groundhogs are generally very healthy Jacksonville animals. They rarely ever contract rabies and only disease they occasionally contract is roundworm because they will consume something with a larvae form of roundworm. However, in majority of cases groundhog will not pass on the disease to your pets because groundhogs never get in touch with your pets, if anyway avoidable. Groundhogs try to avoid conflict with pets and will hold their ground and try to bite other animal only when they feel threatened. If your dog attacks groundhog, Florida groundhog will most likely try to run away (especially in a case of a large dog). Only in a case when he is attacked by a small dog, will a groundhog try to respond to attack by a bite (but small dog will probably be smart enough to avoid conflict with larger animal then he is). If you have a pet cat, any threat from groundhog will be barely existent, as cats and groundhogs don't show any interest for each others.

Groundhogs will in majority of cases not be any danger for pets in your household-it is much more likely that they will be attacked by other animals. For example, bobcats, coyotes and sometimes even foxes will try to hunt down baby Jacksonville groundhogs and younger adult animals-because they are predators who hunt for food and young groundhogs are easy prey.

If you see groundhogs in your backyard or in your garden, you can be sure that there are no such Florida predators around, which is in a sense relief because you know that your pets and domestic animals are safe. As we have already mentioned, Jacksonville groundhogs rarely contract rabies, but when they are bite by a rabid animal, they will also pose a significant danger. If you or your pet gets bitten by a groundhog, you should assume that it is rabid animal, as only in such cases do they show unprovoked aggression.

It has been noted that Florida groundhogs mortality rate is rather high, especially during their first year of life. The reason for this lies in the fact that they carry certain bacteria (especially pneumonia bacteria) in their body which will activate during period of winter hibernation, particularly when temperatures are extremely low and cause animal's death. Scientists believe that death in these causes happen because Jacksonville animal simply didn't put on enough weight and was too weak to fight off infection and survive until Spring.

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