Corona reporting requirement for pets

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In rare cases, pets can also be infected with the new corona virus. From July there should therefore be an obligation to report animal corona cases.

It doesn't happen very often, but it does happen: Certain domestic and zoo animals can also be infected with the corona virus. In order to better research this, there should soon be an obligation to report corona cases in animals. Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner (CDU) is counting on the Federal Council to give the green light on July 3.

Receptive, but (mostly) no carriers

But that doesn't mean that dog or cat owners and their pets have to go to the vet right away. There is also no evidence that pets infect their owners, emphasized Klöckner.

The pandemic is driven by human-to-human transmission, confirms Thomas Mettenleiter, head of the Friedrich Loeffler Institute, the Federal Research Institute for Animal Health and, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), there is so far no evidence that pets such as dogs and cats can transmit the virus to humans.

Nevertheless, one also has to keep an eye on the situation with animals. It has been shown that "certain animal species are also susceptible to Sars-CoV-2," says the draft regulation that is available to the German Press Agency. First the specialist portal "Agrarheute" reported about it.

Veterinarians should report cases

The obligation to notify is aimed at veterinarians, authorities and other test centers. It stipulates that veterinarians must report cases to the authorities. This should apply to all animals kept by humans, including zoo animals.

Cases of cats that have become infected with the coronavirus are known above all. Lions and tigers have also become infected in a New York zoo. There are also infections in dogs, said Mettenleiter. However, these are less susceptible to the virus and usually show no symptoms. In experiments, however, ferrets can easily be infected. In the Netherlands there are cases of minks that were bred for fur - there are also indications that people could have been infected by the animals.

Test not mandatory

The aim is to research ways of infection and other questions. The federal government is not planning any mandatory tests for the approximately 31 million pets in Germany. However, it could make sense to have cats who live in households with corona infected people tested, said Klöckner. The costs are only covered if a veterinary office orders the test. If you want to have your pet tested voluntarily, you have to pay for it yourself - the costs would be "in the lower double-digit range," said Mettenleiter. Antibody tests that show a survived infection are a little more expensive.

Similar to humans, according to Mettenleiter, many corona infections in animals run completely without symptoms.But it could also lead to respiratory diseases - for cat owners this is indistinguishable from normal cat flu. According to previous knowledge, naturally infected animals have not yet died of the disease. This has already happened in experiments, especially in younger cats, which studies in China have shown to be more seriously ill than older cats.

Cat quarantine and mouse luck

There is no special treatment, according to Mettenleiter. In certain cases, it could make sense to "interrupt contact with the pet as best as possible" - for example through a kind of quarantine in a certain room or at a quarantine station in a veterinary office. Similar to humans, the quarantine period is around two weeks.

The all-clear for animal lovers who keep rats or mice: According to current knowledge, they are not infectable, said Mettenleiter. His institute is also testing what it looks like with farm animals. Pigs and chickens are therefore not infected. Experiments with ruminants such as cattle should follow. (caf / dpa)

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