Keeping my cats (and especially my parents) safe

[susan denning]

To give you to background to my question, I live with my elderly parents (79 years old and 80 years old) and two cats (Trixie, 15+ female and Felix, 3 year old male). My parents are understandably very concerned about catching coronavirus due to their age. I have two older sisters (one of whom is undergoing caner treatment, so is very germ conscious right now, but doesn't live with us) who are concerned about them also. I am working from home.

The cats have their sleeping quarters in our garage. Trixie will get up to eat and drink and use the litterbox and goes outside very rarely. Felix likes to go in our backyard.during the day. He stays pretty close to home and has a good sense of boundaries, but he has been known to hop our fence at times.

I had my sister post me a copy of this article
Cats can infect each other with coronavirus, study finds
which I then shared with my parents I think my Mom is leaning towards keeping Felix in the garage for the duration (we are not allowing the cats inside to to my sister's allergies) while my Dad is afraid he will go stir crazy and doesn't think our backyard is that big of a risk..

I got me thinking about if keeping both cats in the garage would be a safer option (we can do that at least through May). Although Felix is a shy cat, I can't guarantee he won't go out of our yard and have contact with other people or cats, or that other cats (say by leaving their wastes) might not contaminate our yard. I also want to make sure that he doesn't intimidate Trixie and undo her recovery from a UTI in December. There are no perfect options either way, at least until I can get a place of my own.

Please note this isn't a should I give the cats up post. I plan to keep them, barring a clear hazard to my parents' health or to the cats' health. It is a what is the safest way to do that post. Thanks

 

[maggie101]

That is tough. Can you catify the garage to keep them both in?

 

[maggie101]

Can you make a mask? I wish I could sow

 

[susan denning]

That is possible, especially since we aren't
driving much.

 

[susan denning]

Can you make a mask? I wish I could sow

A mask for me? That might be possible.

 

[maggie101]

My dad turned 80 Apr 1. He had a stroke a month ago. He still has a nurse stop by,pt,and someone to get groceries. He and my mom are on a cane by themselves in a 6500 square house! She is worried he will get it so I suggested she get a mask. My mom can go out,not far and walk without a cane most of the time

 

[denice]

The coronavirus that infects cats is not the one that is now infecting humans. There is a coronavirus that is endemic to cats. The virus that is now infecting humans came from one that is endemic to bats and came to humans through another animal in China. The coronavirus in cats is actually very common and it is not transmissible to humans just as the one infecting humans is not transmissible to cats through ordinary contact.

 

[di and bob]

I completely agree with the above There are many coronaviruses, the one going around now is from bats and is transferring from human to human contact. The only worry I would have about my cats going out is someone that has the virus coughing/sneezing/touching the cat and bringing it home. If your cats are shy around others, then no problem. To be completely safe, keep your cats in for the duration of this pandemic. Your parents are much more likely to get the virus from deliveries or going out in the public. Or you and your sister going out and bringing it back. Please wash your hands upon returning home, and maybe even changing clothes since they are so vulnerable. I would even use a separate bathroom.

 

[MissClouseau]

I read the article you shared yesterday somewhere else. That study doesn't say a cat can carry Covid19 from one human to the other but it's possible they might get infected themselves and pass it to another cat. But... in the first case of the cat maybe having Covid 19 the cat was with his human who was infected with Covid19. So there was both longtime exposure and lots of virus. (The cat might have eaten a leftover food, half-bit food of his human.)

The studies are still on-going so I can't speak with certainity but, I very highly doubt even if your cat got petted by someone infected let's say, it seems very unlikely they could pass it to any of you. If that was possible we would hear WAY more stories involving cats from the countries who got local epidemics before things got to pandemic level. If not with passing it to another human, about the cats getting sick too. But that was not the case.

The coronavirus that infects cats is not the one that is now infecting humans.

The OP is referring to a study that found a cat presumably infected with Covid19 passing it to other cats. Not cats' FcOV.

 

[susan denning]

Hi all. Thanks for the updates. I talked to my parents and my sister both, and I think they thought the risk in letting our cats outside was low (I hope that's true). I did see today where a tiger at the Bronx Zoo tested positive, so it does look to me like the virus can definitely go from humans to cats under certain circumstances I am going to work on catifying our garage just in case we do need to bring the cats inside (I think we will have no choice, if we start hearing of the virus going from cats to humans). This all came as kind of a shock to me, as I feel I now have to worry about the cats as well as my family members.