Can rabies be caught from touching an animal that has rabies?

Yes, sometimes: Touching a rabid animal doesn't always transmit rabies. However, rabies is fatal, so anyone who touches a known rabid animal should talk with a doctor. If a person touches a rabid animal's saliva, either directly or by touching a part of the animal that the animal was licking, then he has virus on his hands. The virus can then enter his body through the eyes, nose, mouth, or wounds in the skin.

NO: Rabies is mostly transmitted via saliva of the infected animal

Rabies: Rabies is a preventable viral disease of mammals most often transmitted through the bite of a rabid animal. The vast majority of rabies cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) each year occur in wild animals like raccoons, skunks, bats, and foxes. http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/index.html

Rabies risk: Rabies is not transmitted from a raccoon through blood, urine or feces. It is transmitted by saliva - if an infected raccoon bites you or licks its claw and scratches you. However, rabies virus could survive in saliva for up to 2 hours on an animals fur.