When they have tested positive for coronavirus, cat and dog owners should avoid contact with their pet to avoid making them reservoirs of the virus.
- The potential risk is that pets could act as a reservoir for the virus and reintroduce it into the human population.
- Animals cannot, a priori, transmit the virus to each other.
- Cats are more susceptible to the virus than dogs.
SARS-CoV-2 can be transmitted to animals. As early as October 2020, British researchers showed that regular contact between pets and people infected with the virus makes cats and dogs vulnerable to possible contamination. On the occasion of the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (EECMID), Dutch researchers presented a study in which they invite, if they have tested positive, owners of cats and dogs to avoid contact with animals so that they do not become reservoirs for the virus and with the risk that they in turn transmit it to humans.
The virus is not dangerous for animals
It is best to adopt the same reflexes with animals as with humans in the event of infection. “If you have Covid-19, you should avoid contact with your cat or dog, as you would with other peoplesays Dr. Els Broens, researcher at the University of Utrech, and lead author of the study. The primary concern is not animal health, but the potential risk that pets could act as a reservoir for the virus and reintroduce it into the human population..” The data collected so far indicate that the virus is not dangerous for animals.
The results of the research carried out by the Dutch scientists have not been peer-reviewed and therefore cannot yet be published in a specialized journal. For this one, they analyzed the PCR test results of 156 dogs and 154 cats from 196 households where at least one human infection was detected in the past 200 days. Among them, 6 cats and 7 dogs (4.2%) had positive PCR tests and blood tests of 31 cats and 23 dogs (17.4%) revealed the presence of antibodies.
Cats, more susceptible to the virus than dogs
Animals cannot, a priori, transmit the virus to each other. Indeed, eight cats and dogs living in the same homes as the animals that tested positive were tested a second time by the researchers to check if they can do without SARS-CoV-2. None of them tested positive, suggesting that animals living in the same house in close contact do not contaminate each other.
Cats are more susceptible to the virus than dogs. “If someone has Covid-19, there’s a surprisingly high chance they’ll pass it on to their pet. Cats, especially those who sleep on their owner’s bed, seem to be particularly vulnerable. So if you have Covid-19, I advise you to keep your distance from your pet and keep it out of your room”, advances Dorothée Bienzle, professor of veterinary pathology at a Canadian university and co-author of the study.
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