Mabel the Rescue Dog

3 min read (Articles narrated by Mabel)

With all the chaos going on at the moment, I felt like I had to make an article on this topic. Anything new and unfamiliar can be scary for humans, which is why so many people were quick to panic with the news of the coronavirus. Since I’m just a dog, I don’t know much about how it affects humans, but I just wanted to share some information about if you should be worried about your furry friend.

Can Dogs Get it?

After hearing about this virus, the first thing many dog parents feared is that their dog could get sick from it. However, “coronavirus” is a general term for a family of similar-looking viruses. The specific one that’s causing concerns is referred to as COVID-19.

So far, there have been no cases of a dog having COVID-19. Animals can get a type of coronavirus, but even then, it’s mostly just animals like snakes and camels being investigated, not dogs.

There is even one type of the virus called the Canine Coronavirus Disease, but ironically enough, it’s not affecting dogs. There is still a lot of information to learn about these new viruses, but so far, dogs seem to be in the clear. The virus is typically just passed through human interactions, not human-to-animal interactions. Hopefully it stays that way!

Why Did a Dog Test Positive?

Dog parents initially became concerned after a news story about a Pomeranian from Hong Kong. The little dog tested a “weak positive” to COVID-19. The dog was quarantined, but was later released after it was apparent that the dog wasn’t actually sick.

The weak positive had been found in the dog’s nose and mouth samples. It was later concluded that the virus had only gotten on the dog because they had likely touched a contaminated surface or a human with the virus. However, the dog hadn’t gotten sick off the virus like a human would’ve.

That Pomeranian is the only dog so far that has shown signs of this virus. As far as I can tell, us dogs don’t have anything to stress about. However, as always, you should be extra cautious just in case because there’s still a lot of unknown information about all this.

Keeping Your Dog Safe

For your dog, you don’t need to go to any crazy extremes. Just be careful as you always do. Basically, this means that you shouldn’t let them eat anything that could potentially have dangerous germs on it.

Keep an extra close eye on them when you walk them and take them outside to make sure they don’t stick their nose in anything they shouldn’t. Also, pick up your dog’s poop right away since it can carry harmful bacteria that you don’t want anyone else coming into contact with.

Overall, just please don’t panic. Hopefully your regular routine consisted of cleaning your home and washing your hands regularly. Therefore, just keep doing what you’re doing, and make sure your dog doesn’t get into anything they shouldn’t!

I’m no doctor, so my knowledge about all this is minimal, but I just want to remind everyone to relax and wash your hands! Hopefully this will all be figured out soon.

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