A laboratory study (preprint) showed that covid could live in cat and ferret respiratory systems, but not dogs, pigs, chickens, or ducks. It further found that covid could be passed to from an infected to an uninfected cat in an adjacent cage (doesn’t look like they tested transmission in ferrets).
A survey (preprint) of Wuhan cats indicated 15% of cats surveyed after the outbreak had antibodies to covid. 0 of 39 cats caught before the outbreak had antibodies. (ETA 4/9: They don’t mention what they were sampling from, from what they imply I think 15% is an overestimate but still enough to establish the possibility).
At least one zoo tiger has test-confirmed covid, and several big cats at the zoo are showing symptoms
So it seems pretty likely cats are vulnerable to covid, and may be able to pass it to humans.
Does the fact that 15% of cats had antibodies suggest that far more Wuhan residents were infected than the official totals? Officially I think only around 1 in 200 Wuhan residents were infected. It says that the cats were sampled from animal shelters or pet hospitals so maybe the workers there had to keep coming in every day to care for the animals even during lockdown and thus were more at risk.
Where do you get that the cats were sampled from shelters and hospitals? I see
Consistent with the high neutralizing titer, the owners of Cat#4, Cat#14 and Cat#15 were diagnosed as COVID-19 patients. Cat#1, Cat#5∼9 was from pet hospitals, while Cat#2, Cat#10∼13 were initially stray cats and kept in animal protection shelters after the outbreak.
So hospitals and shelters were certainly part of the sample, but it seems like they also tested some human patients’ cats.
A laboratory study (preprint) showed that covid could live in cat and ferret respiratory systems, but not dogs, pigs, chickens, or ducks. It further found that covid could be passed to from an infected to an uninfected cat in an adjacent cage (doesn’t look like they tested transmission in ferrets).
A survey (preprint) of Wuhan cats indicated 15% of cats surveyed after the outbreak had antibodies to covid. 0 of 39 cats caught before the outbreak had antibodies. (ETA 4/9: They don’t mention what they were sampling from, from what they imply I think 15% is an overestimate but still enough to establish the possibility).
At least one zoo tiger has test-confirmed covid, and several big cats at the zoo are showing symptoms
So it seems pretty likely cats are vulnerable to covid, and may be able to pass it to humans.
Does the fact that 15% of cats had antibodies suggest that far more Wuhan residents were infected than the official totals? Officially I think only around 1 in 200 Wuhan residents were infected. It says that the cats were sampled from animal shelters or pet hospitals so maybe the workers there had to keep coming in every day to care for the animals even during lockdown and thus were more at risk.
Where do you get that the cats were sampled from shelters and hospitals? I see
So hospitals and shelters were certainly part of the sample, but it seems like they also tested some human patients’ cats.