Two cats in New York are first pets in US to test positive for COVID-19

April 23, 2020 11:30

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Two cats in New York State have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, marking the first confirmed case of the COVID-19 infection in pets in the US, according to health authorities. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the United States Department of Agriculture's National Veterinary Services Laboratories said on Wednesday that the two cats, who live in separate areas of New York state, have become the first pets in the country to test positive for coronavirus.

"These are the first pets in the United States to test positive," the two agencies said in a joint statement. The agencies said that both pets had mild respiratory illness and are expected to make a full recovery. COVID19 infections have been reported in very few animals worldwide and mostly in those that had close contact with a person with COVID-19. Even as public health officials are still learning about the virus, there is no evidence that pets play a role in spreading coronavirus to humans in the United States.

The two agencies said that in the New York cases, a veterinarian had tested the first cat after it showed mild respiratory signs even though no individuals in the household were confirmed to be ill with COVID-19. It is likely that the virus may have been transmitted to the cat by mildly ill or asymptomatic household members or through contact with an infected person outside its home. -- PTI

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