Cats and SARS-CoV-2: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, various animal species were found to be susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. The close contact that exists between humans and cats warrants special attention to the role of this species. Therefore, a scoping review was performed to obtain a comprehensive overview of the existing literature, and to map key concepts, types of research, and possible gaps in the research. A systematic search of the databases PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus and the preprint servers medRxiv and bioRxiv was performed. After a two-step screening process, 27 peer-reviewed articles, 8 scientific communication items, and 2 unpublished pre-prints were included. The main themes discussed were susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2, induced immunity, prevalence of infection, manifestation of infection, interspecies transmission between humans and cats, and lastly, intraspecies transmission between cats. The main gaps in the research identified were a lack of large-scale studies, underrepresentation of stray, feral, and shelter cat populations, lack of investigation into cat-to-cat transmissions under non-experimental conditions, and the relation of cats to other animal species regarding SARS-CoV-2. Overall, cats seemingly play a limited role in the spread of SARS-CoV-2. While cats are susceptible to the virus and reverse zoonotic transmission from humans to cats happens regularly, there is currently no evidence of SARS-CoV-2 circulation among cats.