COVID -19 – Revised – Halo Pet Blog

COVID-19-REVISITED

Five months after the outbreak began, Covid is still in the news. None of us could have imagined the magnitude of the impact that this virus would have on our life daily, financially and worldwide.

First were the questions: Could people catch Covid of their pets and vice versa? Now, Stories are appearing About pets dying, possibly as a direct result of COVID-19.

Are pets at risk of COVID-19?

That question is actually more difficult to answer what it seems. Typically, the coronavirus are relatively specific to the species, that is, a feline coronavirus infects cats, the canine coronavirus infects the dogs and the cattle coronavirus infects the cattle.

COVID-19 is a new coronavirus (that is, before 2019, it was not detected) that it is supposed to skip species and now threatens humans. The susceptibility of other animals, including pets, is considered relatively low, although infection in research environments has been demonstrated and positive cases have been reported in cats and dogs. The most serious clinical result of COVID-19 in humans, SAR (severe acute respiratory syndrome), does not seem to be a clinical manifestation of COVID-19 in dogs or cats. For the most part, COVID-19 does not seem to cause any serious disease in dogs or cats. It seems that the clinical image of COVID-19 for these animals can be the same as its specific regular coronavirus of the species, which generally causes minimal signs, if there are, of signs or signs gastrointestinal respiratory self-limited self-limited mild.

But what about Buddy?

If you have seen the story in the previous hyperlink, you will see that Buddy’s family was very worried that he has died of Covid. According to the media article, the veterinarians reviewed their case and there were questions about their underlying state of health and their cause of death was attributed to other conditions, not Covid. Not being his veterinarian of his family, I am not in possession of the details, so I will refrain from speculating about the cause of his death beyond stating that there is little evidence that Covid causes serious diseases in dogs.

Can COVID-19 cause serious illness in compromised animals?

The very few deaths reported in pets infected with COVID-19 have greatly attributed to concurrent health problems. That leads us to two different questions: do pets infected with Covid with greater risk of contracting other health problems? Are pets with underlying health disorders at greater risk of contracting Covid? Are pets in poor health at risk of dying of Covid? The short answer is that we still don’t know. Although it is an extremely fast interest area, research on COVID-19 clinical manifestations in pets is minimal. That said, there are some things we know.

We know that the incidence of manifest infection of COVID-19 in pets is exceptionally low. We know that the risk of transmission of the virus between pet parents and their pets is low. Cats and dogs represent little risk to their owners and vice versa. However, the fact that the risk is low does not mean that we cannot work to mitigate it. Exactly how then, do we mitigate Covid? It seems the same recommendations we have to safeguard our own health: physical distancing between pets and people outside their family and practicing good hygiene. The best recognized transmission forms of COVID are physical contact and aerosols, so distancing, masks and hygiene are the recommended interventions to delay the propagation of the virus. That does not mean that we should avoid contact with our pets, put masks or disinfect their legs. It means that we must think where we are going with our pets, with whom/what they are interacting and washing our hands after playing with them.

Keep your sons of leather safe and love,

Dr. Sarah Dodd