First dog in the USA to test positive for Covid 19

[Missy]

Winston from SC is the first dog in USA to test positive for Covid 19. He is fully recovered now.
Possibly the first dog to test positive for Covid 19.

A North Carolina pug tested positive for coronavirus, possibly the first dog in the U.S.

Winston the pug tested positive for coronavirus, and may be the first dog in the U.S. to have coronavirus. But his owners say not to worry.

www.indystar.com

His mom is an ER physician and DH is a doctor too and they and their kids also got the virus. They found out their dog had the virus because the whole family including their 2 dogs and a cat were tested. The humans all had it but only the dog tested positive and the other furry babies (one cat and one the dog) tested negative.

The dog got it from the humans to be clear. Not the other way around.

If you get sick avoid your pet if possible. As we have been already saying but it bears repeating.

CDC recommends social distancing for our furry babies.

Animals and COVID-19

Learn about animals and COVID-19, the risk of animals spreading the SARS-CoV-2 virus, research on animals and COVID-19, and other guidance.

www.cdc.gov

 

[DAF]

I saw the news story of this on TV and it got me wondering: Can the virus live in them as a host, but they display no symptoms? The dog mom acknowledged that pugs breathe differently and said that he was "hacky" (or something like that), and wasn't interested in his breakfast one morning.

One morning!?!?!? I would assume the disease course is similar to that in humans, where one is symptomatic for days or weeks. If anyone has had a sick fur baby, their loss of appetite is typically days.Did the pug have increased breathing difficulty? I'm assuming no, because she didn't say that.

I'm a bit skeptical. As a physician, I would have thought she would better analyze her dog and should have known to be more concise and informational in her description to the public.

 

[Missy]

I saw the news story of this on TV and it got me wondering: Can the virus live in them as a host, but they display no symptoms? The dog mom acknowledged that pugs breathe differently and said that he was "hacky" (or something like that), and wasn't interested in his breakfast one morning.

One morning!?!?!? I would assume the disease course is similar to that in humans, where one is symptomatic for days or weeks. If anyone has had a sick fur baby, their loss of appetite is typically days.Did the pug have increased breathing difficulty? I'm assuming no, because she didn't say that.

I'm a bit skeptical. As a physician, I would have thought she would better analyze her dog and should have known to be more concise and informational in her description to the public.

I only know about the cat that was diagnosed at a different time in another home. I believe the cat had GI symptoms and was vomiting etc for 9 days IIRC. I’m guessing symptoms vary as they do among people. The presentation varies. Perhaps some get very mild symptoms and some are asymptomatic carriers and others have a more severe presentation. But so far it seems we give it to our furry babies and not (so far) the other way around.

 

[jeaniefish]

The report on one of the national news networks last night said that the dog had been tested, along with the human family members, as part of a research project , and the dog (Winston) tested positive for the virus.

 

[Missy]

The report on one of the national news networks last night said that the dog had been tested, along with the human family members, as part of a research project , and the dog (Winston) tested positive for the virus.

Yes that's what I heard too.

As an aside @jeaniefish I posted some links in your thread that is gone now with some charities to donate to against cruelty to dogs. If you are interested I will try finding it again. I agreed with much of what you wrote by the way.

 

[jeaniefish]

Thanks Missy. I appreciate that. I know it’s a difficult subject to discuss. I just had to do something. I know there was a man ( Mark ? ) in Los Angeles area that is trying to help the dogs in China but the thread was taken down before I could get the info. I started another thread. Hope it gets to stay up.

 

[SandyinAnaheim]

... I know there was a man ( Mark ? ) in Los Angeles area that is trying to help the dogs in China but the thread was taken down before I could get the info. I started another thread. Hope it gets to stay up.

I posted this information. His name is Marc Ching and he is easily found. He owns a pet food store in the Los Angeles area and being Chinese, he is able to go there and purchase from the dog vendors directly. From videos I've seen, he is severely emotionally affected by these trips as he might save a dozen or so, and must leave thousands behind. I don't envy him the agony he surely feels, and the regret he lives with.

 

[OboeGal]

My gut suspicion is that cats can actually become infected, as in have an immune response, and possibly symptoms, but that dogs are fomites - they are essentially "objects", like a doorknob, that can have viral particles on them, and potentially transmit them in that way, but don't actually have the virus attach to receptors in their respiratory tract, replicate, and trigger an immune response. In earlier reports of dogs in China, all that "had the virus" were diagnosed on the basis of tests performed similarly to humans, with nasal swabs. Well, dogs spend their lives "hoovering up" pretty much any and everything in their environment into their prodigious and deep nasal cavities, so if they are in the same environment as an infected person, they are likely to have viral particles end up in their nasal cavities. That's not the same as having the virus attach to receptors in their respiratory tract, replicate, and trigger an immune response, and concomitantly shed viral particles to others. For the case @missy posted about, it matters how the test was done. In the dogs in China, there was no evidence of immune response or antibody formation, and the conclusion was that the dogs, and their nasal cavities, were fomites.

Nevertheless, the advice remains the same: if you're sick with (possibly) COVID-19, stay away from your pets and let someone else take care of them if at all possible, for their sake AND for the sake of not transmitting the virus through them, one way or another, to others. If you have no other options, wear a mask + lots of hand-washing, etc., around them. If you're not infected, DO NOT allow your pets to come around or be handled by others, and keep them out of others' environments - other yards, houses, dog parks, etc. Keep cats inside (which folks should do anyway, but especially now).