The current pandemic situation caused by a new virus of animal origin has aroused countless doubts among all those who enjoy the company of a cat in their home. These questions have increased in recent days due to the news that have indicated the contagion of a domestic cat and felines housed in zoos.
Always based on the scientific evidence available so far, in this article, we will explain if cats can have corona virus or not, as well as if they transmit it to people.
What is COVID-19?
Before determining if cats can have corona virus, we are going to briefly present some basic concepts around this new virus. Specifically, its name is SARS-CoV-2 and it generates a disease that has been called COVID-19. It is a virus belonging to a well-known family of these pathogens, corona viruses, and viruses capable of affecting different species, such as pigs, cats, dogs or, also, humans.
This new virus is similar to one present in bats and it is assumed that, through one or more intermediary animals, it has managed to affect humans. The first case was detected in China in December 2019. Since that time, the virus has spread rapidly among people around the world, progressing symptomatically, causing mild respiratory symptoms or, in a lower percentage of cases, serious respiratory problems that some patients cannot overcome. At the moment, there are no specific drugs against the virus or vaccines.
COVID-19 and cats – Cases of contagion
As we have explained, the new COVID-19 disease can be considered a zoonosis, which means that it has been transmitted from animals to humans. In this regard, questions may arise such as which animals can infect us with this corona virus or which other species can be infected.
In this context, in recent days the role of felines has been gaining importance and it has been questioned whether cats can have corona virus. This is because news has begun to appear reporting the discovery of sick felines. The first case was that of a cat in Belgium, which not only had tested positive for the new corona virus in feces, but also suffered respiratory and digestive symptoms. On the other hand, other supposedly positive cats, tigers and lions were reported at a New York zoo, as only one tigress was tested. In this case, some of them had respiratory signs of the disease.
But the truth is that in the Belgian cat, already recovered, it has not been determined that its symptoms were due to the corona virus and, in both cases, the virus came from the human caretakers of the animals. Taking into account the millions of people in the world potentially positive for the corona virus who live in contact with felines and the minimum number of cases reported today in this species, we can say that the presence of COVID-19 in them is anecdotal.
First case of COVID-19 infection in animals in Spain
Recently, the first case of COVID-19 infection in animals has also been detected in Spain. It is about a cat that came to the vet for respiratory problems. After performing some tests, they detected small amounts of SARS-CoV-2 in the family member’s body. However, several of the cat’s caregivers were affected by COVID-19, so everything indicates that the caregivers infected the cat, and not the other way around.
Can Cats Spread COVID-19 to People? – Applied studies
Although the new corona virus has only been identified for a short time, numerous scientific studies have emerged that seek to expand the knowledge about it. Among them, they have sought to answer the question of whether cats can have corona virus. As it is an animal that usually lives in close contact with people, the relevance of determining this issue is understood.
In this regard, several studies stand out. The first, that of Shi and collaborators, which has been released these days. In it, it has been concluded that cats can contract the virus, it manages to replicate in their body, causing some mild respiratory symptoms. In addition, these cats could infect other healthy conveners. In this same study, ferrets were in the same situation. In contrast, in dogs the susceptibility was much more limited and other animals such as pigs, chickens and ducks were not susceptible at all.
But, although the headlines might alarm us, the truth is that the study must be examined in detail. The participating cats were exposed to very high doses of the virus, which in no case would occur in a natural environment. Still, the susceptibility was very low, as was the ability to transmit the virus, which was determined to be very limited.
Other studies from this year have reached similar conclusions. Thus, from the seismological analysis of 102 cats carried out by Zhang et al. It is derived that only 15 were positive, but only three presented some immunological reaction.
Other studies not yet translated from Chinese have looked for the new corona virus in cats, dogs, ferrets, foxes and raccoons with unexplained respiratory symptoms or deaths. All these animals, more than 800, underwent PCR tests to search for the virus. They all tested negative.
For all this, all the organizations involved in human public health and veterinary health conclude that, based on the data collected so far, cats have no relevance in COVID-19. Currently, there is no evidence that companion animals transmit the disease and transmission from people to animals would only occur in exceptional situations. Still, it is recommended that people positive for the corona virus leave their cats in the care of family or friends or, if not possible, maintain the recommended hygiene guidelines.
The feline corona virus, different from COVID-19
It is true that cats can have corona virus, but of other types. That is why we can hear about these viruses in the veterinary field. They do not refer to SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19. For decades, it has been known that a type of corona virus, very widespread in cats, causes symptoms at the digestive level, which is not usually serious. But, in some specimens, this virus mutates and is capable of triggering a very serious and fatal disease known as FIP or feline infectious peritonitis. In any case, none of these feline corona viruses are related to COVID-19.
