Question Two pet domestic cats diagnosed with coronavirus in NYC

[koinflipper]

We heard previously that a tiger in Brooklyn zoo for coronavirus. Now 7 tigers are infected. Last night news reported that two pet domestic cats in different areas of NYC had mild respiratory illness and vet found coronavirus. So Covid-19 supposedly jumped from bats to humans in China. How are tigers and pet cats catching Covid-19?

REVISION: CDC Press release. The virus may have been transmitted to this cat by mildly ill or asymptomatic household members or through contact with an infected person outside its home. Second cat: The owner of the cat tested positive for COVID-19 prior to the cat showing signs. Another cat in the household has shown no signs of illness.

"Avoid contact with your pet, including petting, snuggling, being kissed or licked, and sharing food or bedding."

CDC Newsroom

Press releases, advisories, telebriefings, transcripts and archives.

www.cdc.gov

Same with tigers in zoo. They never said if zookeepers had tested positive. No visitors to zoo and no visitors to home under social distancing.

They are telling us that humans cannot catch it from their pets but pets can catch from humans. Can we believe that since virus already transferred from animal to human once?

There are many coronaviruses out there including cause of common cold. My dog was vaccinated for a coronavirus infecting dogs. Could it be these new animal infections are being misdiagnosed as Covid-19? (No, Chinese actually infected cats with virus from Wuhan so same virus).

 

[hellopunyhumans]

Possibly. There are only a few known human coronaviruses and most have the potency of a common cold. It may well be that the test we use on people don't work as well at identifying this specific disease in cats.

 

[koinflipper]

Just found scientific paper about experiments using Covid-19 the Chinese performed using on ferrets, cats, dogs, ducks, chicken and pigs. They inonculated the noses of animals with actual virus discovered in Wuhan.

They found ferrets got mildly sick. On autopsy (after euthanasia), the ferrets had virus in nose, throat, tonsils but nothing in lungs.

Cats got mildly sick (they were young cats 6 months to 9 months old) . On autopsy (after euthanasia), the cats had infection in nose, throat, tonsils and also lungs. They also found that cats placed in cage next to infected ones, also got infected.

So I do not believe humans cannot catch it from infected pet cats. Don't let your cat lick you.

Dogs, ducks, pigs and chicken were not susceptible.

Science | AAAS

science.sciencemag.org

So would seem that humans COULD catch Covid-19 from their pet cats and ferrets but not dogs or pigs.