The coronavirus pandemic was caused by a virus that originated in other animals. If this virus can jump species, what’s to stop it from attacking our pets? Science from previous coronavirus outbreaks like SARS suggest that cats are susceptible! Now, a full grown tiger at the Bronx zoo has gotten sick with the new coronavirus. Luckily, science is on the case. Coronavirus can infect cats but doesn’t seem to affect dogs. Luckily, cats don’t show symptoms and there’s no evidence for widespread infections or cat-to-human transmission. We can all sleep soundly tonight - if Max would just move over, already!

Written and reported by Sumner L. Norman, Ph.D.

1. 
   
2. 
   

   SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) by the numbers.

   
   
   
3. 
   

   Cyranoski, D. Mystery deepens over animal source of coronavirus. Nature 579, 18–19 (2020).

   
   
   
4. 
   

   Chen, H. Susceptibility of ferrets, cats, dogs, and different domestic animals to SARS-coronavirus-2. bioRxiv (2020).

   
   
   
5. 
   

   Goldstein, Joseph. Bronx Zoo Tiger Is Sick With the Coronavirus. New York Times (2020).