COVID-19 in Pets: Should We Worry?

    The possibility of pets contracting covid-19 is a quickly growing concern in the veterinary community. It has now been proven that dogs and cats are both capable of being infected with coronavirus, but this article from The New York Times sheds some light on the tendencies of transmission between pets and humans. I found this article to be extremely informational, and it aided me in understanding the relationship between covid-19 and animals. I couldn't keep all of this pertinent information to myself, so I decided to share it with you all!

 

  

Dog Wearing Mask: https://theconversation.com/hong-kong-dog-causes-panic-but-heres-why-you-neednt-worry-about-pets-spreading-covid-19-133304

  The biggest question a majority of people, including myself, have is: Can we get covid-19 from our pets? The answer is no; or, at least a no for now. Currently, there isn't quite enough evidence that suggests that pets can transmit the disease to humans. Although it is unlikely, we can however transmit the disease to our pets. Among animals, dogs haven't shown any signs of shedding the disease to other dogs, but cats do shed the virus and infect other cats.

    Pets are not a massive concern for human infection according to the authors of the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences. Although infection rates are relatively high in laboratory studies, infection in real-life scenarios doesn't occur the same way infection occurs in the lab. In the lab, pipettes are inserted into the nasal cavities of animals and the virus is injected. In the real world, it is a matter of breathing in viral particles from an infected animal and normal contact does not necessarily result in infection from animals. Therefore, transmission from human to animal and animal to animal is possible, but not likely. 

Transmission route of COVID-19: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/8/9/1405/htm

    If you're anything like myself, you will probably ignore the fact that the chance of transmission to your pets is rare and worry anyway. I am here to tell you that there is no need to worry or stress! You can do really simple things to prevent your pet's exposure to coronavirus such as keeping them inside and reducing interaction with animals that don't reside in your household. Just to be safe, you may want to avoid your pets while positive and quarantining for covid-19, but it isn't very likely for your pet to contract it, and it is even less likely for them to transmit it back to you. 

A link to this Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/29/science/cats-coronavirus-immunity.html

Works Cited:

Bosco-Lauth, Angela et al. "Experimental infection of domestic dogs and cats with SARS-CoV2: Pathogenesis, transmission, and response to reexposure in cats." PNAS, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 20 October 2020, https://www.pnas.org/content/117/42/26382. 

"COVID-19 and Animals." CDC, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 18 November 2020, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/animals.html.

Gorman, James. "Cats Shed More Than Dogs. The Coronavirus, Not Fur." The New York Times, The New York Times. 29 September 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/29/science/cats-coronavirus-immunity.html.