Washington, D.C. April 22, 2020 – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) today announced the first confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) infection in two pet cats. These are the first pets in the United States to test positive for SARS-CoV-2.
The cats live in two separate areas of New York state. Both had mild respiratory illness and are expected to make a full recovery. SARS-CoV-2 infections have been reported in very few animals worldwide, mostly in those that had close contact with a person with COVID-19.
At this time, routine testing of animals is not recommended. Should other animals be confirmed positive for SARS-CoV-2 in the United States, USDA will post the findingsexternal icon. State animal health and public health officials will take the lead in making determinations about whether animals should be tested for SARS-CoV-2.
In the NY cases announced today, a veterinarian tested the first cat after it showed mild respiratory signs. No individuals in the household were confirmed to be ill with COVID-19. The virus may have been transmitted to this cat by mildly ill or asymptomatic household members or through contact with an infected person outside its home.
Samples from the second cat were taken after it showed signs of respiratory illness. The owner of the cat tested positive for COVID-19 prior to the cat showing signs. Another cat in the household has shown no signs of illness.
Both cats tested presumptive positive for SARS-CoV-2 at a private veterinary laboratory, which then reported the results to state and federal officials. The confirmatory testing was conducted at NVSL and included collection of additional samples. NVSL serves as an international reference laboratory and provides expertise and guidance on diagnostic techniques, as well as confirmatory testing for foreign and emerging animal diseases. Such testing is required for certain animal diseases in the U.S. in order to comply with national and international reporting procedures. The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) considers SARS-CoV-2 an emerging disease, and therefore USDA must report confirmed U.S. animal infections to the OIE.
We had a customer last month who told me she caught the flu from her cat. I politely disbelieved her (in that I was just like, huh). I feel like I should apologize to her, but that would involve admitting I didn’t believe her, and also I haven’t seen her. Now I’m worried about her.
Last month, my brother and I went on a dive trip to Belize but he was so sick with Coronavirus like symptoms that we didn’t even dive one time. We pretty much just spent a couple grand apiece to drink crappy beer and buy toilet paper. When I returned home, I developed a fever and sore throat, but that’s as far as it went for me. But then my most playful, most active, youngest cat got sick. She didn’t eat for 3 days. She would just lay on the floor, not sleeping, just laying there with her eyes open. She finally ate some tilapia and she’s doing much better now. She’s not as playful as she was before but she’s running around the house at mealtime now.
@BadTouchRobot Bummer about your trip. And your poor kitty. Since it takes humans several or more weeks to feel better if they get really sick hopefully that pattern follows with cats and she will get back to normal soon. As she didn’t eat for 3 days she might have suffered a bit of liver damage (that can some on pretty quickly with cats - “fatty liver disease”) which takes a bit of time to get over. And hopefully she didn’t give it to another cat in your household.
@BadTouchRobot cool. My daughter went to Belize to dive and get married about 15 yrs ago. We didn’t go for the wedding since the groom’s mom wasn’t too keen on flying and we felt it would be awkward if we went and they didn’t. On their 10th anniversary they decided to go back and that time we went. Stayed in the middle of the country at an eco-lodge run by an ex cheesemaker from Switzerland for several days and did day trips and an overnight to Guatemala to see Tikal.
Stayed in a Garifuna drum center in Hopkins and did some diving around there which was fun. Never made it to Amber Gris but the kids did their wedding at Ramon’s. Had a good time and would go back readily, as long as we didn’t have to spend much time in Belize City…
@chienfou Ambergris Caye is so much nicer than Belize City and it is only a $70 15 min flight from the Belize airport. The reef is only 5 minutes out from shore, so you do your surface interval back on land. You can go get some breakfast or lunch in between dives.
When my son was sick a few weeks ago he totally stayed away from the pets even though we couldn’t find any information on human to animal transmission. All the information we found at that time said there was no reason to think you can get it from your pet. Happily, the people and pets in our household all seem healthy now.
@callow I had the stomach flu a few years ago. When I was finally well enough to go back to work, I came home to find out my dog had contracted it. It was not pleasant.
The cats live in two separate areas of New York state. Both had mild respiratory illness and are expected to make a full recovery. SARS-CoV-2 infections have been reported in very few animals worldwide, mostly in those that had close contact with a person with COVID-19.
At this time, routine testing of animals is not recommended. Should other animals be confirmed positive for SARS-CoV-2 in the United States, USDA will post the findingsexternal icon. State animal health and public health officials will take the lead in making determinations about whether animals should be tested for SARS-CoV-2.
In the NY cases announced today, a veterinarian tested the first cat after it showed mild respiratory signs. No individuals in the household were confirmed to be ill with COVID-19. The virus may have been transmitted to this cat by mildly ill or asymptomatic household members or through contact with an infected person outside its home.
Samples from the second cat were taken after it showed signs of respiratory illness. The owner of the cat tested positive for COVID-19 prior to the cat showing signs. Another cat in the household has shown no signs of illness.
Both cats tested presumptive positive for SARS-CoV-2 at a private veterinary laboratory, which then reported the results to state and federal officials. The confirmatory testing was conducted at NVSL and included collection of additional samples. NVSL serves as an international reference laboratory and provides expertise and guidance on diagnostic techniques, as well as confirmatory testing for foreign and emerging animal diseases. Such testing is required for certain animal diseases in the U.S. in order to comply with national and international reporting procedures. The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) considers SARS-CoV-2 an emerging disease, and therefore USDA must report confirmed U.S. animal infections to the OIE.
here’s the link to the page at the CDC
Meanwhile at work today I saw at least three or four dogs coming in with their owners.
@RiotDemon were they at least wearing masks…?
![](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==)
(the dogs… never mind the owners!)
@chienfou right! Can you imagine, they’ll probably start retrofitting muzzles into masks for dogs.
/image Spanish flu cat
![$args](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==)
@RiotDemon
And I’ll have one more ‘contestant’ to vie with for the scarce N95 masks as pet owners start to put them on their animals.
![](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==)
/giphy sigh
We already knew cats were susceptible. Are there any confirmed canine cases?
@f00l I think I read that there was one.
@f00l From the article at the top:
Of course that’s just the US…
So cats love their owners more? And dogs just create shit. This isn’t news
We had a customer last month who told me she caught the flu from her cat. I politely disbelieved her (in that I was just like, huh). I feel like I should apologize to her, but that would involve admitting I didn’t believe her, and also I haven’t seen her. Now I’m worried about her.
They’re saying they don’t think pets are transmitting it to humans, but of course they seem to find out new things about it every day.
@RiotDemon please. They’d wait for him to die then eat him. Cats don’t throw out perfectly good food
Last month, my brother and I went on a dive trip to Belize but he was so sick with Coronavirus like symptoms that we didn’t even dive one time. We pretty much just spent a couple grand apiece to drink crappy beer and buy toilet paper. When I returned home, I developed a fever and sore throat, but that’s as far as it went for me. But then my most playful, most active, youngest cat got sick. She didn’t eat for 3 days. She would just lay on the floor, not sleeping, just laying there with her eyes open. She finally ate some tilapia and she’s doing much better now. She’s not as playful as she was before but she’s running around the house at mealtime now.
@BadTouchRobot bummer. Where did you go? The last time I went diving was in Belize off the coast at Hopkins. (several yrs ago now…)
@BadTouchRobot Bummer about your trip. And your poor kitty. Since it takes humans several or more weeks to feel better if they get really sick hopefully that pattern follows with cats and she will get back to normal soon. As she didn’t eat for 3 days she might have suffered a bit of liver damage (that can some on pretty quickly with cats - “fatty liver disease”) which takes a bit of time to get over. And hopefully she didn’t give it to another cat in your household.
@chienfou It was Ambergis Caye. There’s a lot of good diving around there.
@Kidsandliz She seems a lot better now. I hope there are no problems. The other cats seem okay.
@BadTouchRobot Stay at Ramon’s?
@chienfou No, we stay at Paradise Villas, by the Palapa Bar.
@BadTouchRobot cool. My daughter went to Belize to dive and get married about 15 yrs ago. We didn’t go for the wedding since the groom’s mom wasn’t too keen on flying and we felt it would be awkward if we went and they didn’t. On their 10th anniversary they decided to go back and that time we went. Stayed in the middle of the country at an eco-lodge run by an ex cheesemaker from Switzerland for several days and did day trips and an overnight to Guatemala to see Tikal.
Stayed in a Garifuna drum center in Hopkins and did some diving around there which was fun. Never made it to Amber Gris but the kids did their wedding at Ramon’s. Had a good time and would go back readily, as long as we didn’t have to spend much time in Belize City…
@chienfou Ambergris Caye is so much nicer than Belize City and it is only a $70 15 min flight from the Belize airport. The reef is only 5 minutes out from shore, so you do your surface interval back on land. You can go get some breakfast or lunch in between dives.
@themutilator
that seems more than fair!
When my son was sick a few weeks ago he totally stayed away from the pets even though we couldn’t find any information on human to animal transmission. All the information we found at that time said there was no reason to think you can get it from your pet. Happily, the people and pets in our household all seem healthy now.
@callow I had the stomach flu a few years ago. When I was finally well enough to go back to work, I came home to find out my dog had contracted it. It was not pleasant.
And there is now a story about a dog with Covid-19.