Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Gisschace t1_j7hqt4o wrote

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

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

29

SocialWinker t1_j7hse94 wrote

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

10

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/

22

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.

1