Two Cats Are First U.S. Pets to Test Positive for Coronavirus

The animals appear to have mild symptoms and likely caught the virus from their owners. And there’s no evidence pets can pass it to humans.

The first pets in the United States, two cats from New York State, have tested positive for the virus that is causing the worldwide pandemic, the Agriculture Department and the Centers for Disease Control announced Wednesday.

The cats, from different parts of the state, are showing only mild symptoms and are expected to be fine.

Testing positive does not mean the cats have the same illness that people have. Nor does it mean that the cats can pass on the illness to people. And tests for pets are not the same as those for people, so no humans missed out on testing because the cats were tested.

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Can Pets Get The Coronavirus, And Can We Catch It From Them? Here's The Science

Humans and animals share many diseases. And as dramatically shown by the tigers that tested positive in the Bronx Zoo, the coronavirus is one of them.

As three veterinary epidemiologists who study infectious disease, we have been asked a lot of questions about if and how the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 affects pets.

Can my pet get the coronavirus?

When talking about a virus, the words "get" or "catch" are vague. A more precise question is: Can my cat or dog become infected with SARS-CoV-2?

The answer is yes. There is evidence from real-world cases as well as laboratory experiments that both cats and dogs can become infected with coronavirus.

In Hong Kong, health officials have tested 17 dogs and eight cats living with COVID-19 patients for the coronavirus. They found evidence of the virus in two dogs: a Pomeranian and a German shepherd, though neither became sick.

None of the eight cats were infected or had been sick. However, there is a separate report of an infected cat from Hong Kong.

To read more on this story, click here: Can Pets Get The Coronavirus, And Can We Catch It From Them? Here's The Science


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