{"id":13919,"date":"2021-11-03T09:03:32","date_gmt":"2021-11-03T08:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/disturbmenot.co\/?p=13919"},"modified":"2021-11-03T00:04:38","modified_gmt":"2021-11-02T23:04:38","slug":"co-sleeping-with-pets-exposes-them-to-covid-19-infection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disturbmenot.co\/co-sleeping-with-pets-exposes-them-to-covid-19-infection\/","title":{"rendered":"Co-Sleeping with Pets Exposes Them to COVID-19 Infection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recent research suggests that we should deny ourselves yet another feel-good interaction due to the COVID-19 pandemic\u2014co-sleeping with our pets.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the research presented in the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (<\/span>ECCMID<\/span><\/a>), humans can transfer coronavirus infections to their dogs and cats, especially if they let the animals sleep in their beds.<\/span><\/p>\n

To determine how susceptible pets are to contracting COVID-19 from their owners, a team of researchers from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, tested 54 dogs and 48 cats for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The pets were selected from 77 households where the owners had reported a past COVID-19 infection. For comparison, 75 stray cats and the same number of shelter animals (dogs and cats) were also tested for past COVID-19 infections.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The results showed that more than <\/span>two-thirds<\/span><\/a> of the pet cats (67%) and 43% of the pet dogs tested had contracted the virus. On the other hand, only 9% of the shelter cats and dogs and 3% of the stray cats tested positive for coronavirus antibodies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cats (27%) were more prone to symptomatic manifestation than dogs (20%). The cats\u2014three of which were severely ill\u2014had a runny nose and breathing difficulties. The dogs mostly had a mild form of the virus, with symptoms like lack of energy and appetite loss.<\/span><\/p>\n

Scientists compared the results with owners\u2019 feedback about the closeness and duration of their daily contact with their pets.<\/span><\/p>\n

It turned out that cats with prolonged and close contact with their owners were more likely to get infected. <\/span>Cats\u2019 receptors<\/span><\/a> make these animals more vulnerable to infection with COVID-19. However, the duration of exposure and closeness didn\u2019t seem to be a factor with dogs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Although co-sleeping with pets is a stress-relieving experience, to protect your four-legged friend, you should probably rely on a <\/span>natural sleep aid<\/span><\/a> to help you sleep better. The <\/span>CDC advises<\/span><\/a> pet owners who feel sick to keep their distance from their pets and avoid close contact.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recent research suggests that we should deny ourselves yet another feel-good interaction due to the COVID-19 pandemic\u2014co-sleeping with our pets.\u00a0\u00a0 According to the research presented in the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID), humans can transfer coronavirus infections to their dogs and cats, especially if they let the animals sleep in their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":13920,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/disturbmenot.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13919"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/disturbmenot.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/disturbmenot.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disturbmenot.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disturbmenot.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/disturbmenot.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disturbmenot.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/disturbmenot.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disturbmenot.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disturbmenot.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}