Covid transmission ‘common’ in pet cats and dogs

Covid is common in pet cats and dogs whose owners have the disease, research suggests.

Swabs were taken from 310 pets in 196 households where a human infection had been detected.

Six cats and seven dogs returned a positive PCR result, while 54 animals tested positive for virus antibodies.

“If you have Covid, you should avoid contact with your cat or dog, just as you would do with other people,” Dr Els Broens, from Utrecht University, said.

“The main concern is not the animals’ health but the potential risk that pets could act as a reservoir of the virus and reintroduce it into the human population.”

The authors of the study said no evidence of pet-to-owner transmission had been recorded to date but it would be difficult to detect while the virus was still spreading easily between humans.

Most infected pets tend to be asymptomatic or display mild Covid symptoms.

Photo: A dog looks on in the empty Preseren square, in Ljubljana, Slovenia. EPA-EFE/IGOR KUPLJENIK

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