Pets are collateral victims of the Covid-19 pandemic

Pets displaced by coronavirus pandemic

To this day, there is no scientific evidence that pets can transmit Covid-19. In China, with the spread of the epidemic, companion animals have suffered from population displacements and confinement measures. The other way that dogs and cats have been negatively impacted is when the family members left their city before the city’s lockdown. They don't leave enough food for their dogs and cats thinking that they would return in a few days. However, when the lockdown became indefinite, distressed, the pets’ owners started to appeal to animal protection organizations in China for them to go to their apartments and to feed their dogs and cats.

Some organizations fear that this situation will recur elsewhere in the world. In France, as confinement measures were set in place, shelters are worried they won’t be able to handle abandonments.The French Society for the Protection of Animals houses more than 3,500 animals every month. For the moment, people are quarantined and can't leave their homes, so they can't come to adopt in the shelters. According to the French SPA, if the shelters are saturated, this could lead to a wave of euthanasia in the pounds. In response, they are committed to simplifying the adoption procedures.

How to quarantine with your pets

If you’re quarantined with your animals, several measures can be taken to care for them: make sure you have enough food to feed them, designate someone to take care of them if you get sick, and play with them while respecting hygiene measures. If you need to see a veterinarian, they can do check ups with telemedicine, over the phone, and with the video conference to see if that dog really needs to be seen and minimize that traffic. For information about pet care and adoption in the United States, visit the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals website.

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