[imagesource: Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images]

We have listened to your concerns regarding this headline and have amended it to read “Some Cats And Dogs In Hong Kong Have Tested Positive For The Coronavirus”.

It is also clearly laid out in the story that pet owners do not need to worry.

We are animal lovers, just like the rest of you, and regularly post in support of organisations like the SPCA and DARG, and are sorry for the distress the previous headline caused.

Don’t panic, your precious fur child hasn’t suddenly transformed into a harbinger of disease and destruction.

There is currently no evidence that pet animals can be a source of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and owners should not abandon their pets.

If you’re an animal lover, though, this isn’t an easy story to read.

We know that countries worldwide are working on a vaccine for the coronavirus. At the same time, studies are being conducted to gain a better understanding of how the virus is transmitted, including whether or not human to animal and animal to human transmission is possible.

I don’t love it, either, but it’s apparently how these things are done.

Scientific American reports that research underway at Harbin Veterinary Research Institute in China, has produced some interesting results.

Cats can be infected with the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 and spread it to other cats, but dogs are not really susceptible to the infection.

The results are based on lab experiments in which a small number of animals were deliberately infected with high doses of the virus, SARS-CoV-2, and do not represent real-life interactions between people and their pets, says virologist Linda Saif at The Ohio State University in Columbus. There is no direct evidence that the infected cats secreted enough coronavirus to infect people, she says.

Other animals that are unlikely to catch the virus include chickens, pigs, and ducks.

So far there have been few reports of pets being infected outside of a lab, with the exception of a cat in Belgium and two dogs and a cat in Hong Kong.

“Cats and dogs are in close contact with humans, and therefore it is important to understand their susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 for COVID-19 control,” write the authors of the latest study, a preprint posted on bioRxiv on 31 March.

None of the animals showed symptoms of the illness and it looks like the virus is not highly transmissible in cats, but more tests are needed to produce conclusive evidence.

Pets have been a great source of comfort during lockdowns across the globe.

For videos of how people and their pets are staying entertained, see here.

[source:scientificamerican]