Corona virus in kitten? Can it be passed to a human?

[sunshineclare]

You can test them for the corona virus and if they are negative (only 25% of cats are negative generally speaking), then you can be certain THAT'S not the problem, but there's no way to know for sure if it is the problem except with the passing of time and the course of the disease.  ... FIP is not contagious, but corona virus is.  Usually it's no big deal, causes no illness or a mild upper respiratory cold or an intestinal upset including diarrhea, and then passes.

Hello, just joined this excellent forum... I hope your kitty is getting better [emoji]128578[/emoji] I just had a question red top rescue, is that correct that 75% of cats carry the corona virus?? I ask because my partner had 3 heart attacks earlier this year and miraculously he has made a great recovery, when he was well enough we went to see a complex homeopath who found 2 forms of the corona virus and one other virus, which is what we concluded stopped his heart in that first moment, adding in he was run down that day and had a few other things going on. I know there lots of forms of the corona virus, would be great if you could clarify about cats and the corona virus... And can cats pass it to humans? Thank you! [emoji]128578[/emoji]

 

[Geoffrey]

 

You can test them for the corona virus and if they are negative (only 25% of cats are negative generally speaking), then you can be certain THAT'S not the problem, but there's no way to know for sure if it is the problem except with the passing of time and the course of the disease.  ... FIP is not contagious, but corona virus is.  Usually it's no big deal, causes no illness or a mild upper respiratory cold or an intestinal upset including diarrhea, and then passes.

Hello, just joined this excellent forum... I hope your kitty is getting better [emoji]128578[/emoji] I just had a question red top rescue, is that correct that 75% of cats carry the corona virus?? I ask because my partner had 3 heart attacks earlier this year and miraculously he has made a great recovery, when he was well enough we went to see a complex homeopath who found 2 forms of the corona virus and one other virus, which is what we concluded stopped his heart in that first moment, adding in he was run down that day and had a few other things going on. I know there lots of forms of the corona virus, would be great if you could clarify about cats and the corona virus... And can cats pass it to humans? Thank you! [emoji]128578[/emoji]

I am a human doctor, not a vet.  I have to interject to say that your partner was very unwise to see that osteopath as the osteopath appears to be confused about the causes of coronary heart disease.  Coronary heart disease has nothing whatsoever to do with the corona virus, nor any other virus.  The condition is due to disease of the coronary arteries, so called because they have the anatomical appearance of a crown around the heart - and the Latin for crown is corona! 

The condition is usually very serious and is not something that an osteopath can, nor should, treat. 

Incidentally, as far as I am aware, cats do not suffer from coronary heart disease.

With best wishes,

Geoffrey

 

[sunshineclare]

Hi Geoffrey, thanks for your reply. As written we didn't see an osteopath so not sure where you got that from. I'd rather not go into loads of detail about my partner here as I'd rather stick to cats and their carrying the corona virus! There's clearly 2 trains of thought: people open to alternatives to the main pharma western hospital way of thinking and people who are not. Fine to be in either camp, do what works for you. Sometimes a combination of both. I know what has worked for my partner [emoji]128578[/emoji]
Back to cats anyway; I read on another thread that the corona virus can be an indication that cats might have FIV? Is this correct? And it's only a factor? Ie they could carry the corona virus and not have FIV or they could contract FIV without the corona virus? I'm just interested [emoji]128578[/emoji] Thank you for any replies. [emoji]128578[/emoji]

 

[red top rescue]

Actually the disease associated with the feline corona virus is FIP, not FIV.  (FIV is associated with the feline leukemia virus and results in some deficiency in the immune system).  FIP stands for Feline Infectious Peritonitis, which occurs only when the normal feline corona virus MUTATES into a deadly form that leaves the intestine and attacks the internal organs (simplified explanation but it will do). 

The corona virus is a common species of viruses that have little points on them that resemble a crown, thus the name.  Most of them are specific to one species or similar species, so your feline corona virus would not be infecting a human, nor would your human corona virus, i.e. the common cold virus, be infecting your kittens.  I don't think there is any connection between the corona virus found in your partner and any that might be found in your kittens.

There are two major exceptions, corona viruses that have been shown to infect both humans and animals:  SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, which can infect humans AND animals, but they are rare and the CDC is watching them closely.  If you are interested in learning more, here is a very technical article about them.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/about/

 

[sunshineclare]

Thank you so much for the reply red top rescue that's super interesting! I think my partner had the Mers type as he had gone to Saudi to survey this large building and I remember the homeopath who tested him thinking he must've picked it up there. There were lots of other contributing factors though too.

G Geoffrey if you're still following this thread my partner was found to only have mild atherosclerosis, he's lived a super clean healthy life his whole life so he doesn't have coronary heart disease. And, lol, we didn't mix up coronary heart disease with the corona virus haha, we know the difference! Appreciate you taking the time to write though [emoji]128578[/emoji]

red top rescue , please can you explain the first comment I asked about? Do 75% of cats carry some form of corona? Thank you so much for your reply this is a great forum it's great to be able to talk with such knowledgeable cat people. Happy new year everyone [emoji]128578[/emoji]

 

[talkingpeanut]

Just curious - how did the homeopath test him?

 

[sunshineclare]

Talking peanut - he uses electro dermal screening. [emoji]128578[/emoji]

 

[Geoffrey]

Talking peanut - he uses electro dermal screening. [emoji]128578[/emoji]

What is "Electro-dermal" screening?   and how can you do it?

Regards,

Geoffrey

 

[sunshineclare]

Hi Geoffrey,

If you google National health sciences electro dermal screening you'll be able to read more about it.

I'm sure you'll be able to find multiple links rubbishing it as well like most other holistic things. So I hope you can keep an open mind!!

The guy we see has outstanding results. He used to be a regular doctor like yourself, was even in the army for 12 years as an air ambulance doctor, then did the additional complex homeopathic training.

Equally I've seen similar treatments offered in london by non trained doctors and I wouldn't go to them. It definitely depends on the skill knowledge and experience of the practitioner but this the same even for normal hospital doctors.

Since we've gone well off topic anyway, I saw another post of yours Geoffrey where you said you approach cats or any animals like you do humans, if you've got a patient who is puzzling you:

You said do nothing, if they get better then you've cured them
If they stay the same then wait for further symptoms to present then take a view
If they get worse then you can treat accordingly

With the utmost respect and I say that sincerely, this in my opinion is surely the worst way to go about things.

If a patient had symptoms that then go away from you doing nothing... How can you possibly claim to have cured them?! You've not only done nothing but you've got no idea what caused their symptoms in the first place!! So you'd have no idea whether the patient is cured completely or the body has just masked it and then it'll come back loads worse?!

As a doctor don't you want to do your utmost to give a your patients the best possible health? If, when you don't know what to do you just do nothing.., how is that helping?! Sure, not doing various intrusive tests might be a good idea but surely you'd want to get to the bottom of it?!

I know when my partner was in hospital they couldn't figure out why he had had his heart attacks for ages, they still never really gave us a conclusive answer as they admitted they didn't know!!

Anyway there are many methods of the alternative holistic variety that can spot things and get to the cause rather than just treat the symptoms. I'd rather get to the cause of any health issues. The guy we see is not claiming to cure heart disease. He just removes viruses and bacteria which burden the system and it then gives the body the best possible chance to heal itself.

 

[sunshineclare]

I put a link Geoffrey but just got a message saying its against forum rules. Think the url was NHS arizona or similar.

 

[Geoffrey]

I have investigated the electro-dermal screening machine and am satisfied that it is nothing more than a galvanometer that has been used by Quacks for their own purposes.  There is no possible way that a galvanometer could identify different viruses. 

I  have no intention in getting involved in using this Forum for a discussion about homeopathy or holistics.  There have been careful medical trials performed demonstrating that homeopathy, as a treatment, is no more effective than a placebo - and I will leave it at that.

With regards,

Geoffrey

 

[red top rescue]

The statement about 75% of cats testing positive for corona virus was from several articles about FIP and corona virus.  However, you have to remember that it's not like 100% of ALL cats are tested for corona virus and 75% of those have it because that is hardly the case.  Rather, of the number of cats are tested for corona virus (usually because they have some kind of symptoms, or else they come from catteries or shelters where cats re much more likely to be exposed to corona virus, approximately 75% of the cats that ARE tested do test positive for exposure to corona virus.  That doesn't prove its one of the strains that mutates to FIP either, so if you have a cat that tests positive, he could have had any form of feline corona virus.  One of the main reasons for testing is that (1) someone had a cat who died of FIP ad they want to see if their other cats were infected by the virus, and (2) you are adopting or buying a cat or kitten from a group situation and you know your cat at home is negative and you do not want to risk bringing in any form of corona virus.  Most people just take their chances and most don't even know about it until the first time they adopt a kitten who later develops FIP.  Even the form that mutates doesn't do so in all cats.  Very often one litter mate gets it and the other doesn't in pairs that have been adopted out together.    I've seen roughly the same proportion in rescue kittens over the years, 50% of a litter may get FIP and the other 50% are perfectly fine, even though they were all together through the time when some sickened and died. 

 

[sunshineclare]

Thank you so much for your detailed reply Red Top Rescue [emoji]128578[/emoji]