can cats catch pneumonia from humans?

My roommate has been sick the past week and he just found out it is pneumonia. I know it can be contagious between humans, but can cats catch it from us? I searched google and found one yahoo! answer about it, but the person spelled pneumonia "namonia" so I didn't even bother taking the answer seriously. One of my cats is a three month old kitten, and I'm worried since his immune system isn't fully chargedyet.

Viral - no. The majority of your viruses are host specific. Bacterial... possibly, but I sort of doubt it because that usually happens secondary to another problem. A cat would need a similar set of circumstances to get a bacterial lung infection.

So, the cats should be perfectly fine - but you aren't. Be careful, wash your hands, and no letting the roommate cough or sneeze all over you.

If you're still not sure, give your vet a quick call and pose the question to them. Also, you may want to give your doctor a call, too, the pneumonia shot may offer you some protection as the common virus that causes it can hang around in the environment for a bit.

Several years ago I caught walking pneumonia. I was given antibiotics for it, and although I didn't feel better after the course of antibiotics, the doctor told me that she was sure that they would have cleared it up. I went back home and spent a week or two with my cats that lived in another city with my mother. Before I left, I noticed that the older of my two cats didn't look well, and asked my mother if she would take her to the vet and get her antibiotics as I was leaving the next day. She did, and that cat got better. However I didn't realize the other younger cat has also gotten it. It wasn't until I came back to visit 6 months later and asked where the other cat was that my mother had told me he had sickened and died. They had done an autopsy and determined the cause of death to be pneumonia.
I was devastated.
I had killed my cat.
I had no idea that this could be passed from humans to animals. I called my doctor and told her what had happened, and she said that wasn't possible. Well she had been wrong twice, with devastating results. Whatever you are told- I am here to tell you that indeed pneumonia can be passed to cats. Young or old, healthy and compromised. Please don't let this happen to your pets.

strange_wings said:

So, the cats should be perfectly fine - but you aren't. Be careful, wash your hands, and no letting the roommate cough or sneeze all over you.

 

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On that note, one more thing to be mindful of - whether or not your cat can pick up the virus, your roommate could transfer the virus to your cat and then to you.

TO STRANGE_WINGS:  THERE ARE SEVERAL TYPES OF PNEUMONIA. I HAVE/HAD VIRAL PNEUMONIA EVEN THO I GOT THE PNEUMONIA VACCINE.  JUST CURIOUS, ARE YOU A VETERINARIAN??