Fact or Fiction: Can You Catch a Cold From Your Pet?

Get the best of POPSUGAR
Fitness — in your inbox!

Help us customize your newsletter by selecting your interests (optional):

Yoga Working Out Running Weight Loss

Fact or Fiction: Can You Catch a Cold From Your Pet?

November 15, 2008

I think pets can definitely improve your health, but can you catch a cold from Fido or Fluffy? Take this quiz to see if you can separate fact from fiction and if your cat or dog can give you a cold.

Source

12 Comments

SammySingally 13 weeks 2 days

I carried two puppies who had colds yesterday. I hadn't been around anyone with a cold last week. Anyways, by evening, I started blowing my nose and feeling sick and today, I have got a terrible cold.

mammaten 1 year 18 weeks

Text below is taken from Cornell University College of Veterinary MedicineViral InfectionsMost viruses infect only their natural host species. Human viruses, like those that cause the common cold, infect only humans, while feline immunodeficiency virus, feline infectious peritonitis virus, and feline leukemia virus infect only cats. However, one virus that can be passed from cats to humans is rabies, a viral disease resulting from the bite of an infected animal. Cats are highly susceptible to rabies, which attacks the central nervous system, causing a variety of signs. Rabies is almost always fatal. In people, rabies infections usually occur when an infected animal bites a person. In order to protect human health, rabies vaccination of cats is required by law in many areas. Even if your cat is kept indoors, it is important to keep rabies vaccines current because cats occasionally escape outdoors, and because rabid animals such as bats and raccoons occasionally enter houses. To further reduce your risk of rabies, avoid contact with wildlife and stray animals. See a doctor immediately if you have been bitten by an animal. End of textAm sorry you can not catch a common cold, flue or any other bug from a animals. You just caught it from another human and your pet caught it from a animals it's a known fact human and animals bugs do not mix.....in plain english no you can't not catch your dog or cats cold nor can they catch yours.

mammaten 1 year 18 weeks

Text below is taken from Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine Viral Infections Most viruses infect only their natural host species. Human viruses, like those that cause the common cold, infect only humans, while feline immunodeficiency virus, feline infectious peritonitis virus, and feline leukemia virus infect only cats. However, one virus that can be passed from cats to humans is rabies, a viral disease resulting from the bite of an infected animal. Cats are highly susceptible to rabies, which attacks the central nervous system, causing a variety of signs. Rabies is almost always fatal. In people, rabies infections usually occur when an infected animal bites a person. In order to protect human health, rabies vaccination of cats is required by law in many areas. Even if your cat is kept indoors, it is important to keep rabies vaccines current because cats occasionally escape outdoors, and because rabid animals such as bats and raccoons occasionally enter houses. To further reduce your risk of rabies, avoid contact with wildlife and stray animals. See a doctor immediately if you have been bitten by an animal. End of text Am sorry you can not catch a common cold, flue or any other bug from a animals. You just caught it from another human and your pet caught it from a animals it's a known fact human and animals bugs do not mix.....in plain english no you can't not catch your dog or cats cold nor can they catch yours.

daventeri 1 year 18 weeks

Our dogs both just got a cold we think from contact from another dog. Sally sneezed in my wifes face and what do you know she is now sick with a cold without exposure to anyone who was sick. My wife got sick with pneumonia on a trip a few years ago and as a result she now wont touch doorknobs and if she does touch something that others have touched she carries hand sanitizer. My point is we live reclusive lives with no exposure but when the dog picked up a virus we were exposed by a sneeze directly into her face. She sounds awful and can barely breathe right now. I've heard there is no evidence of pets spreading a cold but have there been real studies or is that just what the vet says to allay hysteria? In reading the last few posts that seem identical to ours one might be open to another line of thinking.

2 years 2 weeks

I'm reading these comments, cause my small dog has had a cold for a few days, and yesterday I woke up with a head cold. So, I believe I got the cold from her. She's the only one I get my face close to besides my hubby, and he's fine and dandy.

3 years 28 weeks

Yes you can catch their colds! I have one right now from them. I took one of my cats to the vet to get a cortisone shot a few days later she started sneezing then over the weekend she got real sick with runny eyes and blowing bubbles from her nose. I think she picked it up at the vet's office. She sneezed directly into my face and now I have her cold and so do my other cats.