Cats can spread coronavirus to other cats without ever having symptoms, lab test finds

Cats can potentially spread coronavirus to other cats, even if they don’t show any symptoms, according to new lab results.

The University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine released results on Wednesday of a lab experiment.

Coronavirus from a human was used to infect three cats, that were each housed with another cat that didn’t have the virus, according to a letter to the editor published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Tests were conducted each day and all three of the virus-free cats had the infection within five days, the letter states. None of the cats showed any symptoms.

“There was no sneezing, no coughing, they never had a high body temperature or lost any weight,” Peter Halfmann, one of the leaders of the lab experiment, told The Associated Press. “If a pet owner looked at them... they wouldn’t have noticed anything.”

A tiger at a New York City zoo was the first animal to be a confirmed coronavirus case in the U.S. after an asymptomatic staff member spread the virus, McClatchy News previously reported.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed last month two cats living in New York had COVID-19 and ‘are expected to make a full recovery,” according to a press release.

The CDC recommends not letting people interact with other animals outside the household or with people, keeping pets indoors when possible, walking dogs on leash and maintaining 6 feet of distance between the pet and other animals and people, and avoiding dog parks, according to the release.

“Based on the limited information available to date, the risk of animals spreading COVID-19 to people is considered to be low,” the CDC wrote.

Hong Kong officials said they discovered pets could get COVID-19, but there haven’t been any confirmed animal-to-human coronavirus cases, according to The Hill.

This story was originally published May 14, 2020 at 1:25 PM with the headline "Cats can spread coronavirus to other cats without ever having symptoms, lab test finds."