I think most people agree that the best thing we can do with pets of people with COVID-19 is to keep them in the home with the owner. However, what do we do with someone’s pet if they have to be admitted to the hospital and they live alone? Someone needs to take care of
SARS-CoV-2 in ferrets, cats and dogs: A new experimental study
Hot on the heels of the experimental study of SARS-CoV-2 in ferrets that I discussed a couple days ago is another new study, available in pre-print, that looked at susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 in a slightly wider range of animals, including ferrets, cats, dogs, pigs and poultry (Shi et al. 2020). Bear in mind that
Social distancing WITHIN veterinary clinics
I’ve written several posts in the last two weeks about social distancing and small animal veterinary clinics. They’ve mostly focused on social distancing between veterinary personnel and pet owners. However, veterinary clinics almost always have multiple people working in the clinic itself, and sometimes close contact between staff is unavoidable. I’m getting lots of
Pet treat recall: Whole dried fish
While it feels like “all COVID all the time,” other infectious disease issues still carry on beyond the current pandemic. They’re not as big, but they’re still relevant (and a break from writing about COVID-19 is nice).
The FDA has announced a voluntary recall of whole capelin fish treats from IcelandicPlus LLC, because
French translation: La médecine vétérinaire en période de restriction des services électifs et de distanciation sociale
Une traduction française de notre document récent, La médecine vétérinaire en période de restriction des services électifs et de distanciation sociale, est maintenant disponible. Traduit par Dre Nathalie Therrien, MV (merci beaucoup!).
For the English version, please see our previous post on veterinary medicine, essential services and social distancing.
COVID-19 virus in a dog: Update March 26
Much has been reported about the 17-year-old Pomeranian in Hong Kong that was the first dog to test positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It was positive on a series of PCR tests on nasal and oral swabs over the first week it was in quarantine. They also collected blood samples to test
Mobile veterinarians and COVID-19
I’ve written a lot about COVID-19 issues in veterinary medicine, but most of that material has focused on brick-and-mortar practices. There are lots of mobile veterinarians out there too, and they have different challenges with COVID-19. Small animal mobile veterinarians are at increased risk of exposure because they go into households where they can’t use
Latest Canadian statement on COVID-19 and animals
It’s still an evolving area with many unknowns, so definitive statements about COVID-19 and animals are often lacking. We realize we might change some recommendations as we continue to regularly re-assess the evidence. Nonetheless, here’s the most recent information for the public on COVID-19 and animals from the Government of Canada (specifically the Canadian Food
COVID-19: What we don’t know (but that doesn’t mean we can’t do something)
Long post alert….
I’ve spent more time than I can count on calls about COVID-19. Lots of questions about animal aspects come up and there are few good answers. Too often, there’s a desire to come up with definitive statements, despite the lack of evidence. That’s been done by some groups, and then they’ve had
Hand sanitizer: A community effort
With all the stress of these extraordinary times, there are countless good news stories about people stepping up to help. These often get buried amid the scarier news stories, but they’re important to recognize – not that people are doing it for recognition, but to show our resilience. I never thought I’d be writing about