COVID-19 & Pets Project
If you or someone in your household have RECENTLY (in the past one-to-four days)
tested positive for SARS-CoV2 (the virus that causes the disease COVID-19)
and you own a dog, a cat, or another type of pet—we would like to take some samples from your pets!
A project team at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Science (CVMBS) are interested in sampling pets (dogs and cats only) and people that live in homes with confirmed human COVID-19 cases in Brazos County and surrounding areas to learn more about animal exposure and transmission pathways, with the ultimate goal of protecting human and animal health.
Participation will involve our field team visiting you and your pet/s at your home to collect samples from all individuals in the house (humans and pets) on three instances over a two-week period. Sampling should take 30 minutes or less per session. On the first visit, we will have you answer some questions and self-swab noses for every person in the house. We will then collect blood by the finger poke method on the first visit only, which should take less than 1 minute. Each pet will also be sampled. The second two visits are quicker. There is also an option for small proximity loggers to be worn by all participants to gather data on how close people are to animals. After 3 visits, we have a $100 gift card as a small token of appreciation.
To opt-in or to ask questions, please complete our contact form, and a member of our project team will contact you.
Thank you for helping us learn more about the ecology of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Sarah A. Hamer, PhD, DVM, DACVPM (Epi) | Principal Investigator (PI)
Associate Professor of Epidemiology | Veterinary Integrative Biosciences (VIBS)
Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM)
4458 TAMU | College Station, Texas, USA 77843-4458
Email: shamer@cvm.tamu.edu | Tel: 979.847.5693
Check out the results from the initial study!
- SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 variant of concern detected in a pet dog and cat after exposure to a person with COVID-19, USA. 2022. Transbound Emerg Dis, in press.
- SARS-CoV-2 infections and viral isolations among serially tested cats and dogs in households with infected owners in Texas, USA. Viruses 2021. 13(5): 938.
- Roundy CM, Nunez CM, Thomas LF, Auckland LD, Tang W, Richison III JJ, Green BR, Hilton CD, Cherry MJ, Pauvolid-Corrêa A, Hamer GL, Cook WE, Hamer SA. 2022. High seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) at one of three captive cervid facilities in Texas. Microbiol Spectr, in press.