Researchers finds cats can spread coronavirus to other cats

Cats can infect other cats with the coronavirus, although they may not show any symptoms to humans, according to research published Wednesday. 

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin and multiple Japanese institutions said in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine that they infected three cats and found that all of them tested positive for the virus within three days. When the infected cats were housed with healthy cats, the additional felines also contracted the virus.

By day six of all the cats living together, coronavirus was only detectable in two of the three cats who were initially infected.

None of the animals involved in the study developed symptoms, such as a spike in temperature or weight loss. The researchers used nasal and rectal swab specimens, although no virus was detected in any of the rectal swabs that were tested. 

The researchers said in the Wednesday letter that there is still a need for additional research on transmission of coronavirus from a human to a cat to another human. 

“This is of particular importance given the potential for SARS-CoV-2 transmission between family members in households with cats while living under ‘shelter-in-place’ orders,” they wrote. 

The American Veterinary Medical Association said that the research was conducted in a lab, and it is not clear whether cats can be be infected by coronavirus while interacting in the real world, CNN reported.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said that “at this time, there is no evidence that animals play a significant role in spreading the virus that causes COVID-19,” and that the risk of animals spreading coronavirus infections to people is “considered to be low.”

However, the CDC has also warned pet owners to not allow animals to “interact with people or animals outside the household.” 

The U.S. confirmed the first cases of the coronavirus in companion animals last month after two pet cats tested positive in New York state. Several lions and tigers at the Bronx Zoo also tested positive.