Can dogs and cats get coronavirus?

San Jose (USA) - The coronavirus is currently on everyone's lips. Every day we receive new reports of new cases of the disease all over the world. TAG24 bundles all the important news in its own live ticker.

But many owners of dogs and cats will also have asked themselves in recent days whether their pets can actually be infected by the virus and, if so, how bad it will be.

The Californian morning newspaper The Mercury News from San Jose has now taken a closer look at this question and compiled the most important results.

In principle, pets can also get the virus. However, the course of the disease should not be frightening and the pathogen itself should not be transmissible to humans.

"Studies show that many animals are susceptible to coronaviruses, as they are a large, robust and widespread family of pathogens." Birds, pigs, cattle, cows and horses can all be infected with their own viruses.

In dogs, the disease is said to "progress quickly but miserably". For example, the four-legged friends get diarrhea, vomiting or can have intestinal problems. The virus spreads when the dog eats feces.

Dogs can also be infected with a form of coronavirus that causes coughing, sneezing and mucus.

In cats, however, the disease is usually not a big deal. Some suffer from flu-like symptoms, while others are perfectly fine.

However, the virus can mutate from time to time and cause illness in cats, which is fatal for five to ten percent of animals.

While animal viruses can mix with each other, there has never been a documented case of the human coronavirus being transmitted to a pet.

So there is currently no acute risk of our beloved pets catching the disease.

Nevertheless, the Chinese are very worried. Many of them are therefore equipping their dogs with a mask to protect them from transmitting the disease (TAG24 reported).