Kitten dies after catching COVID off her owner in UK

A kitten has died after catching coronavirus off her owner in the UK, scientists at the University of Glasgow have identified, Report informs referring to the Daily Star.

The kitten was just four months old and lived in a household where her owner developed symptoms that were consistent with SARS-CoV-2 infection at the end of March 2020, although the owner was not tested.

The kitten was presented to its veterinary surgeon in April 2020 with difficulty breathing but with her condition deteriorating, she later had to be put down.

Post-mortem lung samples later revealed damage to the lungs consistent with viral pneumonia and there was evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

One more cat to contract COVID in the UK was a six-year-old female Siamese from a household where one owner tested positive for Covid-19. The cat was taken to the vet with nasal discharge and conjunctivitis, but these clinical signs remained mild and the cat later recovered.

At present, there is no evidence of cat-to-human transmission, or that cats, dogs, or other domestic animals play any role in the epidemiology of human infections with SARS-CoV-2.

Whether cats with COVID-19 could naturally transmit the virus to other animals, or back to humans, remains unknown.