Coronavirus: don’t abandon your cat because of unproven scientific research, experts say

After a study found Covid-19 antibodies in the bloodstreams of both pet and stray cats in Wuhan, social media users were quick to suggest bloodthirsty ways to neutralise the ‘threat’

But scientists say there is no evidence to suggest the coronavirus can pass from cats to humans, and people should be more concerned about making their animals sick than vice versa

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Scientists say cats are more at risk of contracting Covid-19 from humans than vice versa. Photo: AFP

Published: 2:53pm, 5 Apr 2020Updated: 10:10pm, 6 Apr 2020

Experts from Hong Kong and Britain have urged cat owners and the public in general not to overreact to unverified scientific reports suggesting they might be at risk of contracting Covid-19 from their feline companions.

Dirk Pfeiffer, chair professor of One Health at Hong Kong City University’s School of Veterinary Medicine, made his appeal after Chinese social media users suggested the country’s stray cats be exterminated to eliminate the risk, as was the case with poultry infected with bird flu.

The radical solution was proposed after a study conducted in Wuhan – the central China city where the coronavirus was first identified – and published on Friday, found that almost 15 per cent of cats, including family pets, strays and those living in shelters in the city, had antibodies against the pathogen in their blood.

A separate study, also released last week, appeared to show the possibility of inter-feline transmission of the coronavirus, after healthy cats that had been in proximity to infected ones were found to have contracted it.

Despite the extreme proposals made on Weibo – China’s Twitter-like platform – the teams behind both pieces of research said that there was no evidence to suggest the coronavirus had been transmitted from cats to humans.