Can Your Pets Contract COVID-19?

What We Know

We know the coronavirus COVID-19 originated from animals and you may have heard about a dog in Hong Kong testing positive for the coronavirus. So could our cats and dogs possibly get the Coronavirus, and even spread it to other animals and humans?

According to the World Health Organization, the Coronavirus COV-19 spreads from humans to humans in close contact via nasal and oral pathway.

As of now, there’s no evidence that pets could get coronavirus from contact with an infected human - hence the human to animal transmission theory is yet to be validated at this point. That said, cats and dogs are mammals too, there is a small chance your dog tested positive. They have many of the same types of receptors on their cells that we do. Therefore, the virus could theoretically attach to these receptors. But the chances of the Coronavirus COV-19 going into their cells and replicating are very slim.

Similarly, there were also fears over coronavirus spreading to pets during the SARS (another type of coronavirus) outbreak in 2003 when over 280 people died in Hong Kong. It is true that dogs and cats get coronaviruses -- but typically they are different viruses compared to the COVID-19 outbreak, said Jane Gray, Hong Kong SPCA's chief veterinary surgeon. The strains dogs and cats typically get don't cause respiratory problems.

What You Can Do

Animal owners should then stick to the basics: proper hygiene.

WHO advises owners to wash their hands with soap after handling pets. If the dog owners are especially worried, they should clean the paws of their dog with antiseptic wipes after having had a walk outside — but they should be careful not to overdo it.