Animal lovers may be wondering if their pets can be carriers of the new coronavirus, but experts say there鈥檚 no evidence they can transmit the disease to humans.

Prof. Scott Weese of the University of Guelph鈥檚 veterinary college said it wasn鈥檛 surprising that a dog in Hong Kong tested weakly positive for the virus in samples from its nose and mouth.

鈥淲hat we need to figure out is was that a really rare thing to happen with that dog or is it common and we haven鈥檛 identified yet,鈥� Weese said in a recent interview.

鈥淭he big question from the public health standpoint is yes, the dog was infected, but does that mean it is infectious?鈥�

The animal was a weak positive, which might means the infection wasn鈥檛 great enough to be passed on but more information is needed, he said.

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The Hong Kong government says pet cats and dogs cannot pass the new coronavirus on to humans, but they can test positive for low levels of the pathogen if they catch it from their owners.

Hong Kong鈥檚 agricultural department said it found no evidence pets were a source of infection or could get sick themselves with the COVID-19 illness. But it suggested pets from a household of an infected person be quarantined.

In general, pet owners should maintain good hygiene, including washing hands before and after handling their animals, their food and supplies, experts advise. People who are sick should avoid contact with pets and a veterinarian should be contacted if changes in a pet鈥檚 health conditions are detected.

Weese said experts were anticipating a little more risk with cats because SARS, which is closely related to the new coronavirus, was able to infect felines.

鈥淎nd cats could transmit it cat to cat. So that鈥檚 my main concern with this virus would be getting into cats.鈥�

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Weese said there hasn鈥檛 been any research on whether the virus can jump between species of pets.

鈥淚t originally went from animal to person,鈥� he said.

鈥淭he question is, has it become a completely human virus or an almost completely human virus or does it have the ability to infect another species and that鈥檚 where we don鈥檛 know.鈥�

Pets can get various respiratory infections where they cough, have flu-like symptoms for a few days and then they recover, he said, adding that animals to be concerned about are those with underlying problems as well as young or older pets.

Experts are concerned about the virus and livestock, he said.

鈥淭he more we can prevent people from exposing animals, the less we have to worry about this,鈥� he said.

鈥淪o if a farmer doesn鈥檛 get exposed then we don鈥檛 have to worry about their livestock.鈥�

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Research is being done internationally on animal models, including looking at infections in different species, he said.

鈥淲e know an exceptional amount considering how new this is but there鈥檚 still so many areas that need to be studied and the animal side, that definitely needs to be done,鈥� Weese said.

鈥� With files from The Associated Press.

Hina Alam, The Canadian Press

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