Cuddling with cats and dogs, folks with COVID-19 can infect and make them ill
Key Takeaways:
- According to a Canadian study, pet owners who cuddle their cats and dogs while carrying COVID-19 risk making the animals unwell.
- Depending on how well the virus binds to the receptor in the cat or dog's respiratory system, according to Bienzle.
A Canadian study found that owners of cats and dogs who snuggle their pets while carrying COVID-19 risk making the animals ill.
According to the study, the transmission of COVID-19 may occur more frequently than previously believed, although animals, including cats, dogs, ferrets, and hamsters, appear vulnerable.
69 cats as well as 49 dogs, including pets and animals from shelters and neutering clinics, participated in the study, which was published this month in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Additionally, a survey regarding pet owners' interactions with their animals was made available online.
According to the study, "these findings suggest a frequent transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from humans to animals rather and also that certain human-animal encounters — for instance, kissing the pet or having the pet lie on the bed — appear to increase the risk."
Given the pandemic core of this virus in humans and the limited interaction that most domestic pets have with other animals, we deduced that infections in dogs and cats indicate direct transfer from humans to animals.
According to study co-author Prof. Scott Weese of the University of Guelph's Ontario Veterinary College, dogs and cats living in shelters had lower rates of COVID-19 infection than those that lived with people.
Weese remarked, "It was a rather considerable difference, as we expected.
Results imply that cats have a higher rate of COVID-19 infection than dogs, according to lead author Prof. Dorothee Bienzle of the University of Guelph's pathobiology department.
According to Bienzle, it depends on how successfully the virus attaches to the receptor in the cat or dog's respiratory system.
She said that researchers were taken aback by the high incidence of COVID-19 antibodies in cats.
We didn't anticipate quite that many, the woman said. "That's a very high percentage—over 50 percent—of the cats that reside in a COVID patient's home had antibodies."
According to her, COVID-19-infected animals exhibit symptoms that are comparable to those experienced by COVID-19-sick people.
According to her, they may sniffle and cough, feel lousy, sleep more, and have no appetite.
Weese claimed that cats could spread the virus to one another as well as to people.
Just being sneezed on an infected cat owned by a patient who had tested positive for the virus, a veterinarian in Thailand was identified as having COVID-19 in August 2021, the source reported. Genetic testing revealed, according to Weese, that the virus was passed from the cat owner to their pet before reaching the doctor.
He added that there is proof that humans-infected minks can spread the virus to other people.
Owners may reduce human-to-animal transmission by keeping their distance, donning a mask, and adopting additional safety measures, just as they would avoid infecting a person, he said.
So that humans can restrict their contact with animals when ill, "ideally, what we want to do is keep it from spreading as much as possible." "That's perfect."
The Canadian Press first released this article on June 26, 2022.