According to a Canadian study, owners of cats and dogs who hug their pets when they are infected with COVID-19 could end up making the animals sick with the virus.
The study said that while it was already known that animals, such as cats, dogs, ferrets and hamsters, appear to be susceptible to COVID-19, transmission may be happening more often than previously thought.
The research, published this month in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, involved 69 cats and 49 dogs, including pets and animals from shelters and neutral clinics.
Pet owners were also asked to complete an online survey about the nature of their interaction with their animals.
“These data indicate a relatively common transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from humans to animals and that certain human-animal contacts, for example, kissing the pet, sleeping in bed, appear to increase the risk,” the study said.
“We have deduced that infections in dogs and cats reflect direct transmission from humans to animals, given the pandemic nature of this virus in humans and the limited contact of most pets with other animals.”
Dogs and cats living in shelters showed lower rates of COVID-19 infection compared to those living with humans, said study co-author Professor Scott Weese of the College of Veterinary Medicine. ‘Ontario University of Guelph.
“It was a pretty substantial difference as we would have expected,” Weese said.
The lead author, Professor Dorothee Bienzle, of the Department of Pathobiology at the University of Guelph, said the results suggest that cats have a higher rate of COVID-19 infection than dogs.
“It has to do with how well the virus attaches to the cat’s or dog’s respiratory system receptor,” Bienzle said.
The high prevalence of COVID-19 antibodies in cats surprised researchers, he said.
“We didn’t expect so much,” he said. “More than half of the cats living in the home of a person who had COVID had antibodies. That’s very high.”
Animals infected with COVID-19 show symptoms similar to humans becoming ill with the virus, he said.
“They’re not hungry, they feel spoiled, they sleep more, they can sneeze and cough,” he said.
Weese said cats are able to transmit the infection to each other and to humans as well.
A Thai veterinarian was diagnosed with COVID-19 in August 2021, after being sneezed by an infected cat owned by a patient who had tested positive for the virus, he said. Genetic analysis showed the virus was transmitted from the cat owner to the pet and the vet, Weese said.
There is also evidence that human-infected minks can transmit the virus to other people, he said.
Transmission from humans to animals can be minimized if owners keep their distance, wear a mask, and take other precautions, just as they would to avoid infecting a person, he said.
“Ideally, what we want to do is prevent it from spreading as much as possible so that people can limit the contact they have with animals when they are infected,” he said. “That’s ideal.”
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on June 26, 2022.
The Canadian press