IMPORTANT DOG AND CAT EBOLA INFO: From a Veterinary Surgeon

My wife is a veterinary surgeon. I remember reading a post on here about how cats and dogs can be carriers for ebola. I told my wife about this so she went and looked up and read the scientific literature on the subject. It was concerning to her because 4 days a week she is in direct contact with bodily fluids of dogs and cats.

She found some interesting details.

The dogs in West Africa contracting and spreading Ebola are actually digging up the dead corpses and dragging them out and eating the bodies, thus contracting Ebola.

Here's the scary part. Dogs are carriers and do not show symptoms. Transmission can be through licking too. Ebola generally passes through the canine with little to no evidence the animal is carrying the virus. Dogs can also contract the virus by licking up the vomit of an infected person.

So in a bad situation a pet could lick up part of the vomit from a person infected with ebola and then spread to others because there are no clear signs the animal is infected.

As far as cats are concerned there isn't enough research to provide a sound discussion on how they respond / react to Ebola.

She also found that the vomit from Duncan in Dallas was only cleaned up today or yesterday and was on the outside of the family's apartment building. Are pets allowed there? Are any occupants in that complex pet owners? If so, did their dogs come into contact with the vomit outside?

That's a contagion vector I haven't heard about.

Last Edited by The Årtist on 10/05/2014 06:07 PM