The current pandemic situation caused by a new virus of animal origin has raised countless doubts among all those people who enjoy the company of a cat at home. These questions have increased in recent days due to the news that has indicated the contagion of a domestic cat and felines housed in zoos.
Always based on the scientific evidence available so far, in this article on our site, we will explain ifCats may or may not have coronavirus , as well as whether they transmit it to people.
What is COVID-19?
Before determining if cats can have coronavirus, we are going to briefly explain some basic concepts around this new virus. Specifically, its name is SARS-CoV-2 and it generates a disease that has been called COVID-19This is a virus belonging to a well-known family of these pathogens, the coronaviruses, viruses capable of affecting different species , such as pigs, cats, dogs or even 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 human beings. The first case was detected in China in December 2019. Since then, the virus has spread rapidly among people around the world, being asymptomatic, causing a mild respiratory condition or, in a smaller percentage of cases,, severe respiratory problems that some patients are unable to 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 disease COVID-19 can be considered a zoonosis, which means that it has been transmitted from animals to the human being. In this regard, questions may arise such as what animals can infect us with this coronavirus or what 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 coronaviruses. This is because news has begun to appear reporting the finding of sick felines The first case was that of a cat in Belgium, which had not only tested positive to the new coronavirus in feces, but also suffered respiratory and digestive symptoms. On the other hand, other felines, tigers and lions, supposedly positive were reported in a New York zoo, since 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, now recovered, it has not been determined that his symptoms were due to the coronavirus and, in both cases, the virus came from the human caretakers of animals Taking into account the millions of people in the world potentially positive for coronavirus who live in contact with felines and the minimum number of cases reported to date in this species, we can say that the presence of COVID-19 in them is anecdotal.
First case of contagion of COVID-19 in animals in Spain
Recently the first case of contagion of COVID-19 in animals in Spain has also been detected. This is 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 keepers were affected by COVID-19, so everything points to the keepers infecting the cat, and not the other way around.
Can cats spread COVID-19 to people? - Applied studies
Although the new coronavirus has been identified for a very short time, numerous scientific studies have emerged that seek to expand knowledge about it. Among them, they have sought to answer the question of whether cats can have coronaviruses. As it is an animal that is used to living 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. It has come to the conclusion that cats can contract the virus, which manages to replicate in their body, causing some mild respiratory symptoms. In addition, these cats could infect other he althy congeners In this same study, ferrets were in this same situation. In contrast, in dogs the susceptibility was much more limited and other animals such as pigs, chickens and ducks were not at all susceptible.
But, although the headlines could alarm us, the truth is that the study must be examined in detail. The participating cats were exposed to extremely high doses of the virus, which would never occur in a natural environment. Still, 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, the serological analysis of 102 cats carried out by Zhang et al. shows that only 15 were positive, but only three had some immunological reaction.
Other studies not yet translated from Chinese have looked for the novel coronavirus in cats, dogs, ferrets, foxes, and raccoons with respiratory symptoms or unexplained deaths. All these animals, more than 800, underwent PCR tests to search for the virus. All tested negative.
For all these reasons, all the organizations involved in human public he alth and veterinary he alth conclude that, based on the data collected to date, cats do not have no relevance to 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. Even so, it is recommended that people who are positive for the coronavirus leave their cats in the care of family or friends or, if this is not possible, maintain the recommended hygiene guidelines.
The feline coronavirus, different from COVID-19
Yes it is true that cats can have coronavirus, 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 coronavirus, widespread in cats, causes symptoms at the digestive level, which are not usually serious. But, in some specimens, this virus mutates and is capable of triggering a very serious and deadly disease known as FIP or feline infectious peritonitisIn any case, none of these feline coronaviruses are related to COVID-19.
