New study shows that cats can get COVID-19, though dogs still appear to be safe from the virus.

A recent study has found that cats are vulnerable to COVID-19 and can catch the virus, while dogs remain safe and cannot catch the coronavirus.

The study was conducted to discover what animals are vulnerable to the virus in order to aid in the creation and testing of a vaccine. 

"The study, published on the website of the journal Science, found that ferrets can also become infected with SARS-CoV-2, the scientific term for the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease. Dogs, chickens, pigs and ducks are not likely to catch the virus, however, the researchers found," wrote Reuters.

According to Science Magazine, "experts caution the work was done on a small number of lab animals, which were infected with high doses of the virus. None of the cats showed COVID-19 symptoms, and there is no evidence that felines could infect people with the virus, Nature reports. Research during the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (a coronavirus relative of SARS-CoV-2), showed that cats could become infected with that virus, but they did not appear to play a role in spreading the disease."

The study shows that while cats cannot spread the virus to people, they can spread it to other cats. Based on the evidence so far, the World Health Organization's epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove said, “We don’t believe that they are playing a role in transmission but we think that they may be able to be infected from an infected person.” 

With this new virus, there will continue to be many new discoveries and studies on how it spreads in an attempt to figure out how we can get it under control. We now know that people can give the coronavirus to cats, so, it may be in their best interest to social distance yourself from your furry friend for the time being. As new information surfaces, we cannot blame our pets for the spread of the virus between people, however, we still want to keep them as safe as possible. 

What are your thoughts on cats catching COVID-19? Will you be social distancing from your feline friends? Let us know in the comments.