A B.C.-based veterinary society is telling pet owners that having their animals tested for COVID-19 is not recommended or necessary.
The Society of BC Veterinarians Chapter said it’s getting many requests for information about the testing of household pets for the virus.
The chapter, which gets its advice and guidance from the province's assistant chief veterinary officer, said public health testing must be the priority to protect human health and prevent and slow the rate of transmission in humans.
It re-affirms medical opinion that the pandemic has been driven “by person to person transmission with current evidence and expert opinion suggesting that the risk for human infection through animal contact remains low.”
In the event that a human transmitted the virus to an animal, “the human, not the animal, poses the greatest risk of infecting other humans,” added the chapter.
In short, it is unlikely that pets can infect people with the COVID-19 virus. There have been no reports of cases where pets or other domestic animals have transmitted the virus to people. There have been no reports of livestock being infected by COVID-19.
There are things you can do to protect your pet if you are infected with COVID-19, and there are 7 great FAQs with detailed answers available in the society's information sheet here.
In general, said the chapter, test results will not change the clinical management of the animal or change the recommended measures to manage the potential risks if an animal tests positive.
“The mere act of testing, much less a positive test result, risks stigmatizing an animal, or more broadly the entire species of animal. Such stigmatization risks damaging the human-animal bond or threatening animal welfare.”
Also, the chapter said the test performance (sensitivity and specificity) on animal samples is unknown.
The BC Centre For Disease Control has updated its FAQs for pet owners. You can read the entire information sheet by clicking here.
