Coronavirus And Our Pets

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CORONAVIRUS: SHOULD WE BE WORRIED ABOUT OUR DOGS AND CATS?

The coronavirus 2019 (or COVID-19) disease, caused by the 

SARS-CoV-2 virus, is now on the lips of all news readers 

around the world. The epidemic which started in Wuhan, 

China, is now raging across the planet and was therefore 

declared a pandemic on March 11 by the director of the World 

Health Organization.

Perhaps you have followed the news and know that a tiger from the New York zoo tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus on April 5? In fact, several zoo cats have shown symptoms of respiratory illness following the probable contact with an employee infected with COVID-19.

As this kind of test requires a general anesthesia on such exotic animals, and since these animals had a high anesthetic risk due to their symptoms, it was agreed to test only one tiger for COVID-19, for their safety. It is therefore assumed that these other zoo felines may also have been affected by this coronavirus.

  

• So, what does this mean for our dear pets?

Until now, we thought they were safe from this highly contagious virus. Is this still the case?

Do we need to take extra precautions to protect our dogs and cats from COVID-19?

Certainly, the large family of coronaviruses includes around 40 different viruses and some can actually infect cats and dogs. But what about the dreaded COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2)?

The rest of this article will answer your questions.

CAN HUMANS TRANSMIT COVID-19 TO ANIMALS?

Now that coronavirus is much more common in society, it has been reported that there is a possibility of infection in animals who are in close contact with humans infected with COVID-19.

As there had been no study on the subject and no case had been reported until recently in animals, the scientific community assumed that the risk of transmission of COVID-19 from a human to an animal was minimal, or even non-existent. However, the recent case of the tiger in New York, the first animal that tested positive for the virus in the United States, has changed this theory.

In addition, a certain number of cases of COVID-19 in dogs and cats have also been reported worldwide.

That said, although it’s possible, the risk of pets being infected with this disease still seems very low. The cases that exist to date are very isolated.

Studies are underway to better understand the transmission of COVID-19 in animals, but for the moment, no scientific study officially confirms the risk of transmission of the virus to our pets.

As of March 25 2020, tests have been done on 17 dogs and 8 cats living in families affected by COVID-19, and only two dogs have tested positive for the virus. However, it is not prudent to draw conclusions from such an experiment, given the low number of subjects tested.