Many students have one or more pets in their household which may result in the question, during this pandemic can your pets get COVID-19? 

According to Alyssa Orcuilo,  researcher at Mira Washington DC & NYC, says that unlike most viruses in human to human contact, it should still be taken into consideration to wash your hands when you do in fact touch your pet and follow basic hygiene practices . Although, there hasn’t been any evidence that your pet can catch COVID-19 from a human to animal transmission as a validated point according to the CDC (Center for Disease Control).

As COVID-19 still takes over across our world today, we should be taking precautionary measures on animals. You’ll never know what could possibly happen from symptoms of a pet as they are hard to detect. 

Here are some tips on how you can prepare for your pet during this epidemic: 

Stock Up On Pet Supplies

You should prepare an emergency kit with 30 days of your pet’s medication and at least 2 weeks of pet food. 

Set Up An Emergency Caregiver

Contact a caregiver for short-term or long-term care in the event that you are unable to take care of your pets. This can be a family member, neighbor, or someone that is a part of a relative.  

Create A Pet Emergency Info Book

This will help the caregiver find an easier way to provide the pets information to emergency veterinarians in the event of an emergency. Veterinarians will ask the following from: habits, food preferences, medical conditions and medications taken, veterinarian contact information, and any behavioral tendencies. 

Persons that have questions about their pet should call their local provider or veterinarian to check if testing is available for pets during this COVID-19 outbreak.