Vancouver Feline Hospital - Cat Veterinary Clinic

Sars and Cats
" Not a reason to Kill Cats"

A recent article published in Nature (Nature vol 425, p915) resulted in some scary journalism from our news services. So to set the record straight, let us just mention a few facts!

Yes, cats can get the SARS virus in laboratory conditions - when deliberately injected with the virus isolate.

This does not mean they can get it in the natural state - but it does raise concern because they too are susceptible to this horrible disease. They can transmit it to each other under laboratory conditions. But this does not mean that they can infect people, or even get the virus from people (other than researchers who forcibly infect them!).

NO cat has yet caught SARS from an infected human, nor passed it on to a human.

Even the two cats that tested positive in China during the outbreak are thought to have acquired the infected from the same infected sewage that caused the disease in people.

Albert Osterhaus, the researcher who made the discovery, says that the chance of a person catching SARS from their pet cat is "infinitely remote". He goes on to say that " even in an outbreak, you are much much more likely to catch SARS from another person than from a cat ."

"This means that in an outbreak, if you quarantine people after exposure to SARS, maybe you should quarantine their (pets) too, and test them to make sure you contain the infection," continues Osterhaus, "But this is absolutely not a reason to kill cats ."

Quotes are from New Scientist - www.newscientist.com