The Coronavirus (COV) is a RNA (Ribonucleic acid) virus. There are different strands of this virus that have been identified over the years. The current COVID 19 pandemic that we are experiencing is known as SARS-Cov-2. The recent COVID 19 pandemic has caused a major increase in research and information available about the SARS-Cov-2 virus. Unfortunately there is still a lot of things still unknown in regards to the virus, including the transmission between different species.
The Origins of the SARS-Cov-2 virus are still unknown, however there is genetic sequencing data that closely resembles genetic sequencing found in Horseshoe bat populations. There is at this stage no current reported cases of pets transmitting the virus to their human owners. However, there have been very limited number of cases (single digit) in France, Hong Kong, Germany and Spain where pets of infected Humans have contracted the virus. The majority of these pets have had mild cases and recovered well. There have been 3 (2 cats and 1 dog) found reported cases of infected pets that have been humanely Euthanised, however these pets have had other major health issues which seem to have influenced the severity of the virus in both cats. The dog recovered from the virus but had to be later Euthanised due to other health issues (the dog was 17 years old).
There has been limited in lab studies to research the transmission of the virus from cat to cat. The study concludes that cats are able to spread the virus from cat to cat, however they only show very mild symptoms (the study was completed with healthy cats) and they have shown to develop antibodies to the virus once being infected. This study was only completed with 3 cats so there is a lot more research that needs to be completed before we can confidently say this is the case.
Due to the lack of knowledge regarding inter species transmission (from dogs and cats to humans) we have seen some very sad situations occurring in other countries were pets are abandoned in streets to be Euthanised. With all these uncertainties we urge that people keep their pets safe with themselves and their families. There are extra precautions that we can take to work towards not contracting the virus. We encourage owners to keep 1.5m away from other humans and pets when exercising their pets and use safe hand hygiene before and after petting their pets.
For more information feel free to complete your own research, check out the worms and germs blog at https://www.wormsandgermsblog.com/ , the World Organisation for Animal Health and the World Health Organisation.