Coronavirus and Pets Update May 28, 2021
Coronavirus and Pets Update August 12, 2020
As you might have heard on the news, the NC State Veterinary School recently had a dog in their care that passed away after having tested positive for a SARS-COV-2 diagnosis, the virus that causes COVID-19.  The cause of death in this dog remains under investigation, and it is possible that the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was an incidental finding and not the cause of the disease. There is still much that needs to be figured out with this case.
The incidence of pets contracting COVID is still VERY, VERY rare and the recommendations set out by AVMA and CDC remain unchanged to date. If you are showing COVID-like symptoms or have tested positive for COVID-19, please practice isolation from people and your pets for the recommended time periods outlined by the CDC. Pets are not being tested for COVID-19 without approval from the state veterinarian and then only in cases that meet very specific criteria. General practice hospitals do not have the authority nor capability to test pets for COVID.
We want to reassure you that we are staying informed and will continue to communicate as we receive information from authoritative sources, such as the CDC and AVMA.
Coronavirus and Pets Update June 5, 2020
[There is] no evidence to date that they [pets] transmit the virus to people.”–AMVA
June 3, 2020. The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) updated their report on SARS-CoV-2.*
Headlined “Pets Do Not Appear to Be Easily Infected with SARS-COV-2“, the AVMA reports that in five months of the outbreak, globally, no more than 20 pets tested positive with confirmation. To put it in context, over 6 million people in the world have been infected to date. So far there is no evidence that pets transmit the virus to humans.
Quoting the AMVA:
“There is little to no evidence that domestic animals are easily infected with SARS-CoV-2 under natural conditions and no evidence to date that they transmit the virus to people. The primary mode of transmission of COVID-19 in humans is person-to-person spread.”
* SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease. Coronavirus is the large group of viruses that includes SARS-CoV-2.
A German Shepherd is First US Dog Confirmed with Coronavirus
A National Geographic article reported that the USDA has confirmed a German shepherd as the first dog in the US who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. In April, researchers at Duke University had reported that a pug tested positive, but when it was reviewed by the USDA the results could not be confirmed.
NC Reduces Restrictions for Phase 2 Starting May 22
May 22, 2020 through June 26, 2020 is the period planned for Phase 2 reopening. A NC Government site has an FAQ page that answers many questions.
NC Easing Restrictions Phase 1 – May 8Â
May 8, 2020. We are pleased to let you know that given the latest announcement from Governor Cooper regarding Phase 1 easing restrictions, ALL of Harmony Animal Hospital, Pet Resort & Spa services are available with curbside drop-off and pick-up.
This includes:
- Wellness visits
- Elective surgeries, such as spays and neuters
- Dental care
- Grooming
- Doggie Daycare
- Boarding –Â book with no deposit and cancel without risk
Harmony’s COVID-19 Protocols Still In Place
Our team strictly adheres to the following safety protocols:
- Only Harmony team members are allowed in the building.
- All staff will use PPE appropriately and responsibly.
- All staff will take their temperature every morning BEFORE coming into work.
- Staff will communicate to management if they feel ill in any way and stay home.
- If staff believes they may have had exposure to COVID-19, they will stay at home.
- No one with a temp of 100.4 or higher, will be allowed at work, per CDC recommendations.
- Our staff is physically separated into small working groups of 2-3 team members to maximize social distancing and minimize the number of people in contact with each pet in our care.
- We will continue to keep you informed of updates and changes.
Protocols we invite you to follow, if you have symptoms or COVID-19 exposure risk:
- If your pet’s needs are not immediate, simply reschedule for a date 14+ days out
- If your pet is ill or needs urgent care:
- Call us at (919) 303-3456 and inform our team
- Find a healthy neighbor, friend or family member to bring your pet in
- If that’s not possible, call us back and we’ll happily work with you
Your pet’s safety and medical needs are a priority for us, just as your peace of mind is.
We sincerely consider it an honor to be part of your family and for you to be part of ours. We fully embrace our responsibility to be here for you and your pets. If you or your pets need help in any way, please give us a call. We are very happy to help in any way we can.
Jodi Reed, DVM
(Updated April 17, 2020)
Important News Updates
Wake County Extends Stay At Home Order Extends Through April 30th
CDC’s Guidelines if You Have Pets – The 6 Foot Rule Applies for Pet Interactions with People and Other Animals
COVID-19 in Animals
The USDA Statement on the Confirmation of COVID-19 in a Tiger in New York April 5, 2020
Exposed to a zoo employee who tested positive for the virus, lions and tigers at the Bronx Zoo started showing respiratory signs. They tested one tiger–as you can imagine, it’s a bit of an ordeal to get a respiratory swab from a tiger (hint: it requires general anesthesia), and it was unfortunately positive for COVID-19.
World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) One Health Committee Chair Dr. Lappin
Summary of webinar update (approx March 30, 2020)
- Only four pets from COVID positive homes have had positive tests (compared to 1.26 million people). Two cats, Two dogs.
- In high dose experimental infections, dogs, cat and ferrets were positive on respiratory PCR for the virus, and some of all three species would seroconvert. That means they found the virus in their respiratory track (which can be an infection or a contaminant) AND their bodies made antibodies which it really only does after an infection- so, they can be infected in experimental settings at least. Only ferrets, and to a lesser extent cats were able to transmit the virus to other ferrets/cats.
- There is NO evidence at this time that a person has ever gotten this from a pet. ZERO. NONE. 1.26 million people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the world and only 2 dogs, 2 cats and 1 tiger.
- Wide scale testing (thousands) at IDEXX has shown no positives from pet samples in the US. Trupanion pet insurance reports no increase in claims or any respiratory or GI claims across their very large network (500,000 pet owners). That means very plainly this is currently NOT (and hopefully will never be) a problem in our pets. People are the primary problem here.
- The lions and tigers do however help confirm we can give it to some animals. Still, there is *NO* evidence they can spread it to us.
- The advice is still: If you are sick, isolate from all other people AND your pet as much as you can. If you can have someone else care for your pets while you are sick that is ideal. If not, then limit contact and wash your hands thoroughly before and wear a mask or cloth to cover your nose and mouth during any necessary care-taking of your pet.
- If someone in your household has COVID-19 and your pet has an emergency medical need YOU MUST call the veterinary hospital BEFORE bringing the pet in so that the team can go through their protocol with you and be fully prepared for intake of the sick or injured pet.
- If you are a vet team member, and need to see a pet who an emergent situation AND has been in contact with a COVID positive person, every member of the veterinary team in contact with this pet should be using FULL COVERAGE PPE. Although there is a very low chance that the pet will spread it as a fomite or directly, but this is a good time to be overly cautious especially with ever changing information. We are also being asked to contact the state veterinarian if we have to care for a pet from a known COVID-19 positive household.
Wake County Stay-At-Home Order
Valued Harmony Clients,
As of Friday 3/27/20 at 5:00pm, Wake County, including the Town of Apex, began enforcing a Stay-At-Home order until 4/17/20. As well, beginning Monday 3/30/20 at 5:00 pm, the State of NC will begin enforcing a Stay-At-Home order until 4/30/20, but may be extended.
Read Governor Cooper’s announcement here.
As an Essential Business, Harmony Will be Open
Under the Stay-At-Home order, only essential businesses will be able to continue operating: the order specifically lists veterinary hospitals and pet stores as essential businesses. This means that we will be here at Harmony Animal Hospital, Pet Resort & Spa.
- Harmony Animal Hospital will be open for urgent pet care
- Harmony’s Pet Resort will be open for First Responders and Frontline Workers, those who must work, and those caring for a Loved One
- Harmony’s Spa – Grooming Services are closed temporarily, following the recommendation of the AVMA and NCVMA.
Urgent Pet Care
If you feel that your pet’s medical appointment or procedure is essential to their quality of life and/or well-being, then we are here for you, and we are happy to see your pet. If you would like to postpone your pet’s appointment or procedure until a later date, please give us a call, and we will be happy to assist you.
Postponing All Elective Procedures Until…
In accordance with AVMA and NCVMA and in an effort to preserve our limited Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and surgical supplies for urgent and emergent procedures, we will NOT be doing elective procedures such as spay and neuters until after 4/17. If you have one already scheduled during this time period, a Harmony technician will be calling you to reschedule. A possible exception to this is if you have an additional essential procedure, along with the spay/neuter, that would warrant keeping the current appointment.
We feel strongly that we are a team with our clients and patients. Therefore, we are always happy to discuss the circumstances of your individual pet’s needs and come up with the best plan together.
As a reminder, given that pets are now being taken from the parking lot into the building by Harmony staff, it is essential to your pet’s safety that all cats are in carriers and all dogs are on leashes w/ snug collars. We can provide a carrier or slip lead if needed, and we will ask that you please put your pet in the carrier or put the slip lead on prior to letting your pet out of the car.
Our team will continue to strictly adhere to the following safety protocols we have put in place to limit the spread of COVID-19:
- Only Harmony team members are allowed in the building.
- All staff will use PPE appropriately and responsibly.
- All staff will take their temperature every morning BEFORE coming into work. No one is allowed to come in if temp is 100.4 or higher, per CDC recommendations.
- Our staff is physically separated into small working groups of 2-3 team members to maximize social distancing and minimize the number of people in contact with each pet in our care.
- Staff will communicate to management if they feel ill in any way or believe they may have had exposure to COVID-19, and they will stay at home.
If you, as one of our clients, have any symptoms of fever, cough, sore throat, or shortness of breath, or if you have a known or possible exposure to COVID-19 and your pet’s needs are not immediate, we would ask you to please schedule for a date at a minimum of 14 days out. If you are sick or potentially exposed and your pet has any illness or urgent need, we ask that you communicate this with our team prior to coming in. We will ask for you to seek out a neighbor, friend, or family member who is healthy to bring in your pet for you. If this is not possible, call us and a Harmony employee will happily work with you to find a way to get your pet here safely so their medical needs can be met and you can have peace of mind.
We will continue to make it our top priority to keep you informed of any updates or changes as quickly as possible given the ever changing and dynamic situation. All of us at Harmony realize what a challenging time this is. We sincerely consider it an honor to be part of your family and for you to be part of ours. We fully embrace our responsibility to be here for you and your pets. If you or your pets need help in any way, please give us a call. We are very happy to help in any way we can.
Warmest Wishes
Jodi Reed, DVM
Online Prescription and Food Orders Update March 24, 2020 5:00 PM
We wanted to let you know that our online pharmacy, Vetsource, as well as all other online pharmacies, are incredibly busy right now. This is causing orders to take longer to process and ship. If you need to get medication or food refills online, we recommend ordering early and allowing a few more days for shipping than normal.
Order online from Vetsource.comÂ
Protocol Update March 24, 2020 10:00 AM
In our commitment to being here for our clients, patients and staff in this unfolding situation, we have put some additional protocols in place and will continue to do so as new recommendations from trusted sources become available. It is essential that we keep our staff healthy so that we can serve your pet’s needs. We will no longer be able to allow clients, reps, or anyone other than our team into the hospital or resort.
- If you have an illness or have been exposed to anyone who has a contagious illness, please call us at (919) 303-3456 before coming for your appointment so that we can prepare to optimize safety and protection for everyone.
- If you have an non-urgent appointment and have any signs of illness or have been exposed to anyone who has an illness, we ask that you please reschedule your appointment for a minimum of two weeks after your symptoms have completely subsided. This is not limited to COVID-19 but rather for any and all potentially communicable diseases.
- If you do not have an appointment, please call us to schedule so we can assess your needs and determine an appropriate time for your visit.
- For all visits to our hospital, as well as the pet resort & spa, one of our staff will meet you in the parking lot where we will take your pet safely to his or her appointment.
- Though it can be difficult to impossible to maintain 6’ of distance when handing off your pet to a Harmony team member, we do ask that you be as socially responsible as possible.
- To support all of us being socially responsible, it is best to safely have your cat or smaller dog in some sort of restraint/carrier and your larger dogs on at least a 6 foot leash so close face-to-face interaction is avoided. We will disinfect your pet’s restraint/carrier or leash before returning to you.
- Once we take your pet into the hospital, we will communicate with you via your mobile phone.
We are seeing patients with limited staff and new protocols that require a bit more time and increased attention to detail. We sincerely appreciate your patience, kindness, and support as we all work to get through this uncertain time together.
Email Sent To Harmony Community on March 16, 2020
Our Valued Harmony Clients,
First, we apologize for adding yet another business update on COVID-19 protocols into your inbox. However, as a small business who is proud to be part of a larger community, we are committed to the responsibility of being informed and supportive of our team, our clients, our patients, and our entire community. So, we believe it is important to let everyone know what we are doing to help keep our community healthy while we serve your needs.
Our Cleaning Standards
Ensuring everyone who comes to Harmony is in a safe and healthy environment is our first priority.
As a hospital with the highest standards, you can be assured we are not suddenly now paying attention to the disinfection of our facility. Harmony has stringent cleaning protocols in place to ensure a clean, safe environment to limit infectious diseases from spreading between our patients. We have always had and will continue to have a full-time custodian whose primary role is to keep the hospital clean and tidy, as well as, a nighttime cleaning crew, in addition to our entire team being a proactive part in cleanliness and sanitation.
We are supplementing our current protocols using the AVMA and CDC guidelines to be even more diligent about minimizing the spread of germs between people, too. This includes more frequent disinfecting of all client and staff touch-points in the hospital throughout the day. We are disinfecting door handles, computers, phones, counters, benches, and any other places where we have person-to-person contact.
We believe that by utilizing our hospital’s current and updated disinfecting protocols, we can minimize the opportunity for illness to affect our team, our clients, and our patients.
Guidelines For Protection & Prevention of COVID-19
The AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have recommended a variety of steps that we are implementing to help reduce the potential for the virus to enter our building. Here’s how we can work together to protect ourselves, as well as, prevent the spread throughout our community.
1. Sick employees are required to stay home, and we ask the same of our clients. If anyone has any symptoms of respiratory illness, including cough, fever, sore throat, and/or shortness of breath. We strongly encourage in support of CDC and government mandates to avoid public places, including Harmony Animal Hospital, if experiencing any of these symptoms.
2. Clients have appointment choices. In an effort to support our clients in every way possible, you the option to come in for your scheduled appointment as usual. Or, if preferred, we are happy to have a team member to meet you at your car and take your pet in for their services (includes hospital or pet resort services) while you wait in the car or come back at a later scheduled time for pick up. All communication can then be via the phone rather than face-to-face.
3. Practice proper hand washing hygiene.
All employees have been coached and will continue to receive coaching and are required to thoroughly wash their hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds upon entering the building, between each patient and client, and throughout the day. We highly encourage clients to do the same and we have ensured that supplies of soap and hand sanitizer are available throughout the hospital.
4. Cover your mouth and nose with your elbow or a tissue when coughing or sneezing. Immediately wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water after any coughing or sneezing.
Please review the CDC’s information on coughing and sneezing etiquette.
5. Perform routine environmental cleaning. As mentioned above, Harmony is cleaning and sanitizing touch-points hospital-wide throughout the day.
6. To address questions regarding our pets and Coronavirus please refer to this article by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA):
Harmony Animal Hospital, Pet Resort & Spa knows that this situation is concerning for all of us. Please know that we are committed to being here for you and your pets. We are also committed to doing our part to minimize the spread of illness and help our community get back to normal operations as quickly and safely as possible.
*If you have any additional concerns regarding our plan to deal with Coronavirus, please do not hesitate to call our hospital at (919) 303-3456, and we would be happy to provide additional information.
*If you or your family are experiencing unusual circumstances, know we are here for you in your (and your pets) time of need. Please let us know if you need any special assistance that we can help you with.