A four-year-old cat named Bold has become only the sixth feline in the world confirmed to have contracted the coronavirus, according to researchers at the Animal Health Research Centre (Cresa) in Barcelona. The cat, who belonged to a family in Catalonia where several members had fallen ill with Covid-19, was euthanized after developing severe health problems including respiratory difficulties, heart failure, and dangerously low platelet counts.
How the Cat with Coronavirus Was Discovered and Analyzed
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The cat’s condition was serious, prompting medical intervention that ultimately led to the difficult decision to euthanize the animal due to his deteriorating health.
Researchers at the facility conducted comprehensive tests to determine whether the coronavirus might have played a role in the animal’s illness, particularly given the known Covid-19 infections among his human family members.
The scientific team performed detailed analyses on multiple organs, searching specifically for traces of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for Covid-19. Despite this thorough examination, they detected viral presence in only two locations: the nasal cavity and a lymph node positioned near the intestine. Importantly, the researchers noted that even in these positive samples, the viral load was very low, suggesting a limited infection rather than a systemic viral disease.
Underlying Health Issues, Not Coronavirus, Caused Cat’s Death
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The comprehensive veterinary investigation into Bold’s case revealed a critical finding: while the cat did test positive for coronavirus, this infection was not responsible for his death or severe health deterioration. Instead, the analysis uncovered that the four-year-old feline suffered from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a serious congenital heart condition known to cause sudden death in cats.
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy involves an abnormal thickening of the heart muscle, which can lead to impaired cardiac function, heart failure, and other serious complications. Veterinary experts confirmed that the lesions and health problems observed in Bold were consistent with this underlying heart disease rather than any pathology typically associated with viral infections.
Dr. Nàtalia Majó, director of Cresa, emphasized this distinction, stating that the findings “only shows that sometimes very isolated cats can be collateral victims of the pandemic, but there is very little chance that they can infect people.” This careful wording reflects the scientific consensus that while certain animals can contract the virus from infected humans, they appear unlikely to serve as significant sources of transmission back to people.
Context of Animal Coronavirus Cases Worldwide
Bold’s case in Barcelona adds to a remarkably small number of confirmed coronavirus infections in animals worldwide, despite the virus having infected millions of humans globally. At the time of this report, with human cases exceeding 3.7 million and deaths surpassing 260,000, fewer than a dozen animals had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.
Beyond cats, the list of infected animals included just two dogs and a tigress at the Bronx Zoo in New York – an extraordinarily limited number given the scale of the human pandemic.
This pattern suggests that while certain animal species appear susceptible to infection when exposed to the virus through close contact with infected humans, such transmissions remain extremely rare.
