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SocialWinker t1_j7hkvkc wrote

Reply to comment by humanophile in (Virology) Has SARS-CoV-2 outcompeted all the other coronaviruses which have been called the ‘common cold’? by jsgui

I feel like I remember seeing a few sporadic articles about household pets testing positive for COVID during 2020, though it may have been later. I know the first time I had to quarantine, the telehealth nurse on the phone told me to avoid my pets, if possible, to prevent spreading it to them. Seemed sort of weird at the time, even though I was aware that it’s possible for a virus to jump species easily enough.

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Gisschace t1_j7hqt4o wrote

If I recall; dogs and cats can carry it but it doesn’t really effect dogs that badly whereas Cats can have similar symptoms to us

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SocialWinker t1_j7hse94 wrote

I could see that. I never heard anything about them actually getting "sick", just little things like the CDC site.

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Gisschace t1_j7ht4cf wrote

This is a shitty site but explains it, dogs have a mutation in their ACE2 which means they have a natural resistance to it, which cats don’t. So they can catch it but the virus replicates poorly and so it doesn’t really spread to us or other dogs.

https://www.aaha.org/publications/newstat/articles/2020-08/the-reason-cats-get-covid-and-dogs-dont/

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xoriatis71 t1_j7jpiha wrote

It's not just about the severity of COVID when it comes to pets. Like a previous commenter stated, COVID can jump ship, infecting animals as well as humans. While infected, animals can help COVID mutate, and due to the fact that it can then jump back to humans, we risk contracting a completely new COVID variant at worst.

Edit: A reply right below this one said that due to a mutation in their ACE2, dogs are resistant to COVID, as that mutation doesn't allow COVID to multiply efficiently, thus reducing transmissibility between humans and other dogs. As a result, my reply doesn't really apply to dogs.

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PainfulJoke t1_j7hobw2 wrote

I also heard that same advice being mentioned to avoid animals being uninfected carriers of the disease (as in on their fur, saliva, etc).

I'd be interested to learn if it's currently known to be transmittable to common housepets or if that advice was out of an abundance of caution.

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SocialWinker t1_j7hori9 wrote

The CDC site says it has been transmitted to household pets. >Pets worldwide, including cats and dogs, have been infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, mostly after close contact with people with COVID-19.

Sounds like it's a realistic concern. Not that there's a ton of information on there.

Source: https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/covid-19/pets.html

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birdstork t1_j7jhsvh wrote

In NYC we were concerned about cats after a Lion and a few tigers at the Bronx Zoo caught covid. The zoo had been closed to the public but caretakers were coming to work as usual. This was a rough week; we’d already been hearing sirens nonstop (ambulances) and then it was like “oh come ON now cats too???”

https://newsroom.wcs.org/News-Releases/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/14084/Update-Bronx-Zoo-Tigers-and-Lions-Recovering-from-COVID-19.aspx

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