and Japan report that in the laboratory, cats can readily become infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and may be able to pass the virus to other cats.

Professor of Pathobiological Sciences at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine Yoshihiro Kawaoka led the study, in which researchers administered to three cats SARS-CoV-2 isolated from a human patient.

The following day, the researchers swabbed the nasal passages of the cats and were able to detect the virus in two of the animals.

The day after the researchers administered virus to the first three cats, they placed another cat in each of their cages.

Researchers did not administer SARS-CoV-2 virus to these cats.

Within two days, one of the previously uninfected cats was shedding virus, detected in the nasal swab, and within six days, all of the cats were shedding virus.

The virus was not lethal and none of the cats showed signs of illness.

The findings suggest cats may be capable of becoming infected with the virus when exposed to people or other cats positive for SARS-CoV-2.

It follows a study published in Science by scientists at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences that also showed cats (and ferrets) could become infected with and potentially transmit the virus.

Both researchers advise that people with symptoms of COVID-19 avoid contact with cats.

They also advise cat owners to keep their pets indoors, in order to limit the contact their cats have with other people and animals.

There is no evidence cats readily transmit the virus to humans, nor are there documented cases in which humans have become ill with COVID-19 because of contact with cats.

There are, however, confirmed instances of cats becoming infected because of close contact with humans infected with the virus, and several large cats at the Bronx Zoo have also tested positive for the virus.

Department of Agriculture, two cats in two private homes in New York state tested positive for COVID-19.

The cats showed mild signs of respiratory illness and were expected to make a full recovery.

Additional cats have also tested positive for COVID-19 after close contact with their human companions, says Sandra Newbury, director of the UW–Madison Shelter Medicine Program.

The UW–Madison study helps confirm experimentally that cats can become infected, though the risk of natural infection from exposure to SARS-CoV-2 seems to be quite low, Newbury says.

Of the 22 animals the program has tested, none have had positive polymerase chain reaction tests for the virus, she adds.

Testing should be targeted to populations of cats and other species shown to be susceptible to the virus and virus transmission.