This one’s still as easy to write as the first version…..we have no clue. Overall, the health risk to horses is probably very low. If horses were getting sick, or at least very sick, we’d presumably know. I’ve not had any indication that we’re seeing a disease impact. We still don’t know if horses are getting infected from people and whether, if infected, they can spread it back to people, between horses or to other…

Mink…not a species most people think about. When they do, it’s most often thoughts about mink coats or fur farming protests. While the mink industry has been on the decline in most regions, there is still a massive number of mink being farmed for fur internationally. Some of these farms are very large. Lots of animals in close contact with each other and with contact with people leads to risk of passing pathogens such as…

Mink are not a species most people think about. When they do, they typically think of mink coats or fur farming protests. While the mink industry has been on the decline in most regions for many years, there is still a massive number of mink being farmed for fur internationally. Some of these farms are very large, which makes for lots of animals in close contact with each other, and in contact with their human…

What we know about SARS-CoV-2 in pigs hasn’t changed a lot since the first version. It’s still a fairly ‘good news’ situation, but one that could also use some more investigation. Are pigs susceptible to this virus? Kind of, but not really. There are somewhat conflicting experimental data but the debate really is whether pigs have little vs no susceptibility to the virus. There is obviously a difference between ‘no’ and ‘yes, but only a…

What we know about SARS-CoV-2 in pigs hasn’t changed a lot since the first version of this post. It’s still a fairly “good news” situation, but one that could also use some more investigation. Are pigs susceptible to SARS-CoV-2? Kind of, but not really.  There are somewhat conflicting experimental data, but the debate is really whether pigs have very little vs no susceptibility to the virus. There is obviously a difference between “no” and…

There’s not as much to update about dogs. We have more numbers but the overall issues and understanding haven’t changed. Spoiler alert….dogs and owners can both relax since the risks are very limited. Are dogs susceptible to this virus? Yes…but…not very…maybe. Depends what you mean by ‘susceptible’. Nice and clear, eh? There’s a difference between being infected and being sick. Yes, dogs can clearly become infected. However, they don’t seem to be as susceptible as…

Earlier, I wrote a series of posts about what we know about SARS-CoV-2 and different animal species. It’s a dynamic field so it’s about time I got around to updating them. We’ll start back at the beginning and in one of the most susceptible domestic species, the domestic cat. A lot of papers have come out in the interim, and they’ve largely supported what initial observations and have refined what we know. Are cats susceptible…