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Since last weeks column on COVID-19, the American Veterinary Medical Association has updated its advice to veterinarians.

The AVMA is now recommending that pets living in a household with a COVID-19-infected individual should not be brought to a veterinary office without first contacting the state public health veterinarian or other public health official.

Veterinarians are being asked to contact these officials for advice before accepting appointments from pets that have been exposed to COVID-19 positive individuals.

The AVMA frequently asked questions document includes the following advice for households with COVID-19 infections and pets that may require veterinary care:

If you are sick with COVID-19 you need to be careful to avoid transmitting it to other people. Applying some commonsense measures can help prevent that from happening.

Stay at home except to get medical care and call ahead before visiting your doctor.

Minimize your contact with other people, including separating yourself from other members of your household who are not ill; using a different bathroom, if available; and wearing a facemask when you are around other people or pets and before you enter a healthcare providers office

Out of an abundance of caution, the AVMA recommends you take the same common-sense approach when interacting with your pets or other animals in your home, including service animals. You should tell your physician and public health official that you have a pet or other animal in your home

If you are sick with COVID-19 or another communicable disease, you should stay at home, minimizing contact with other people, until you are well. Accordingly, if this is a non-urgent appointment that needs to be scheduled for your pet or service animal (e.g., annual wellness examination, routine vaccination, elective surgery), you should wait to schedule that appointment until your physician and your public health official believe you no longer present a risk of transmitting your infection to other people you may encounter during such a visit, including owners of pets or other animals and veterinary clinic staff.

If you are sick with COVID-19, and you believe your pet or service animal is ill, please seek assistance from your veterinarian and public health official to determine how to best ensure your pet or service animal can be appropriately cared for while minimizing risks of transmitting COVID-19 to other people

Talk with the public health official working with the person who is ill with COVID-19. Your public health official can then consult with a public health veterinarian who, in turn, can provide assistance to your veterinarian to ensure your pet or service animal is appropriately evaluated.

If the state public health veterinarian recommends that you take your pet or service animal to your veterinarian for an examination, please call your veterinarian in advance to let them know that you are bringing in a sick animal that has been exposed to someone with COVID-19. Advance notice will support the veterinary clinic/hospital in preparing for the proper admittance of that animal, including the preparation of an isolation area as needed. Do not take the animal to a veterinary clinic until you have consulted with the public health official and your veterinarian.

There is still no evidence that pets can transmit the virus to people or that they can become sick after exposure. However, this is an emerging disease and there is a lot that is still unknown.

The AVMA is posting frequent updates to its coronavirus information page at AVMA.org.

Please check there for the latest information related to COVID-19 and veterinary medicine.

The most up to date and reliable site for all COVID-19 information is coronavirus.gov. Please be careful believing other information sources.

Michael J. Watts, D.V.M., is a companion animal general practitioner and the owner of Clevengers Corner Veterinary Care in Amissville.

See the article here:
ASK DR. WATTS: If you have COVID-19, don't bring your pet to the vet without health expert's OK - starexponent.com

This entry was posted on March 17, 2020 at 9:45 am and is filed under Veterinary Medicine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |