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Are Pets Catching Covid-19 From their Owners?

Studies Show Many Infected Households Have Pets with Covid -19 Antibodies


The pandemic hasn’t been easy on our pets. It’s been an emotional roller coaster for the furry ones.

At the very beginning of the pandemic, the news that pets could catch Covid-19 prompted a tragic trend: families afraid of catching the virus were abandoning their pets at shelters. A few weeks later, the CDC assured us that transmission from pets to humans was very rare, possibly non-existent, and Spot and Fluffy breathed a sigh of relief. By April 2020, we were in the height of quarantine mode in the U.S., and suddenly everyone was adopting pets, as Americans found themselves housebound, bored, and anxious.

The widespread adoption trend probably helped many people deal with their anxiety during that long, tumultuous year we all experienced. Studies have found that the very action of petting an animal’s fur releases serotonin and dopamine, making you feel happier and less stressed.

Now, as more people return to work, and more children return to school, once again people are bringing their pets back to shelters, saying they don’t have time to take care of them properly. In July and August, animal advocates in California, New York, Pennsylvania and North Carolina made headlines, pleading with people not to return their adopted pets, as capacity in shelters filled to overflowing.

One of the problems facing shelters today is the possibility of Covid-19 infection in abandoned animals. The CDC recommends shelters ask the individual dropping off an animal if the animal had been in contact with a Covid-19 infected person, but people may not be honest, fearing the animal will be euthanized.


Pets, Livestock, and Covid-19

Pets like cats, dogs, rabbits, hamsters, and ferrets are able to catch the Covid-19 virus and can transmit it to each other in varying degrees of likelihood. Cats seem to be most easily able to spread the virus to each other. It was thought at one time that dogs were somewhat ...


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