Pet owners a worried lot during lockdown

Dehradun

: Reports of big cats testing positive for novel coronavirus have left

pet

owners in Uttarakhand a worried lot, with many of them ringing up veterinarians to check about the vulnerability of their animals.

Many animal welfare organisations too have confirmed that they have been receiving numerous calls from panic-stricken residents asking what the probability of stray dogs catching the virus is.

Talking to TOI, Dehradun-based veterinarian Dr SK Gupta said, “I have received several calls from pet owners who are worried whether their pet cat or dog will catch the infection. There has been no such case in India so far. However, they can be at risk if they are being attended by a Covid-19 positive human being. Hence, I always ask pet owners to wash the animals on a regular basis and then clean their own hands immediately.”

Ashu Arora from the NGO Doon Animal Welfare said, “I have received more than 15 calls from people across the state who want to know about ways to check if an animal is corona positive. We recently received a call from a Roorkee man who said that a dog in their locality is infected. When we asked about how the caller was sure about the dog being corona positive, he replied that it has been coughing for the last two days.” He added that the NGO later arranged one of their volunteers to examine the dog and found that a bone was stuck in its throat.

Ashu said that their volunteers have been stopped multiple times from feeding stray and abandoned dogs due to the fear of Covid-19 spread.

Shevata Rai Talwar, a resident of Race Course, said “I have bought food in large quantities to feed stray dogs during lockdown. We can be safe by washing hands and maintaining cleanliness. What about them?”