Can dogs catch COVID-19?
As COVID-19 continues to take over the world, pet owners across the globe are all asking the same question: ‘Can my dog catch COVID-19?’. In this blog post, I am going to try my best to break down the answer to you summing up the extensive research I have gathered over the recent months.
As I am sure many of you know, COVID-19 is a respiratory disease that is spread through droplets that leave the mouth or nose. It tends to affect the respiratory system, i.e. lungs, trachea etc, however, there have been cases where this coronavirus has affected the digestive system and even the nervous system! It is still being studied whether these effects are similar in animals.
So, where did COVID-19 start? There are hundreds of theories in where the first case of COVID-19 begun, but many scientists agree it started with bats. As you may know, bats are small, flying mammas that dwell in damp caves, a perfect breeding ground for viruses and other pathogens. Bats, and many other animals, carry diseases around all the time, however, usually, these diseases tend to only infect the bat species. How did COVID-19 reach humans?
In the coronaviruses place of origin, Wuhan, China, there is an abundance of food markets called ‘Wet Markets’. These markets tend to prepare and sell wild animals in cramped, unhygienic spaces. Many animals, from beavers to crocodiles, are cramped in cages extremely close to each other, making it easy for highly transmittable viruses, such as COVID-19, to spread. It is believed that bats, a delicacy in China, transmitted the virus to pangolins which then passed it to us, humans. But what is a pangolin and how did it help the spread of COVID-19?
Pangolins are the only mammals in the world that are covered in scales! These scales are the reason pangolins are the most illegally traded mammals in the world. Their scales are believed to have medicinal properties (they do not, they are made from keratin just like our fingernails) and so are harvested and sold for ridiculous prices; this illegal trade is estimated to be worth around $3 million US dollars! The pangolin also has a genetic characteristic, allowing it to mutate pathogens so they can be transmitted to humans. Viruses that can jump from animals to humans are known as ‘zoonotic diseases’. This makes pangolins the key culprit for being intermediary host between bats and humans, and it is being investigated on whether this was the case and the reason COVID-19 was able to mutate into a highly transmittable disease between different species.
So, can my dog catch COVID-19? Well in short, yes. A few animals throughout the world have tested positive for COVID-19, including lions and tiger in the New York Zoo, minks in farms and domestic cats and dogs. All of these animals are thought to have caught the virus from humans and showed similar symptoms to which we show; continuous coughs and high temperatures.
However, The World Organisation for Animal Health says it is extremely unlikely your pet will catch COVID-19 as only a small number of pets have tested positive. Scientific research also shows your precious pooch is also very unlikely to spread the virus to any other organism so you are in luck! The chances of your dog catching COVID-19 are extremely slim, so do not worry!
At Adventurous Pets, we would like to try and promote social distancing, face mask-wearing and frequent cleaning of hands to try and curb the spread of COVID-19. Please try and follow your government guidelines so we can all go back to the dog parks and show off our dog’s stylish new coat, or super clean teeth ASAP!
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Terrell at Adventurous Pets!
