It is still not completely ruled out that pets will carry the coronavirus further. So, infected pet owners are wise to avoid their cats or dogs, just as they should avoid their fellow humans. So says Els Broens, head of the Veterinary Microbiological Diagnostic Center (VMDC) of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Utrecht University. She is making the call as a precaution, after new research.
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Door Online writing
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Broens and colleagues examined the test results of 156 dogs and 154 cats from 196 households. They presented the findings at a European conference on microbiology and infectious diseases. Six cats and seven dogs tested positive for corona and 31 cats and 23 dogs for antibodies. Eight cats and dogs living in the same homes as the animals tested positive for corona were also examined and found to be negative. Nevertheless, corona regularly occurs in animals of people with the disease. And although the research has not yet revealed any transmission from pets to humans and the role of pets in the pandemic seems negligible for the time being, one should err on the side of caution, according to Broens.
“Leave nothing to chance”
Now that we are tackling human-to-human contamination with reasonable success, she says we should leave nothing to chance. «So if you go into isolation in the attic, don’t let the cat go there, but leave the animal with the other housemates elsewhere in the house. Many people treat their pets like family members, so do the same if you’re infected.”
Taking pets to bed, as many owners do, has always been very unwise for Broens. Animals themselves usually do not get sick from corona, with exceptions.
