can you catch a virus off a cat?

Answer 1

No. virus is species specific and would have to mutate to infect another animial

Answer 2

Yes, you can. If fact, cats carry several viruses that are harmful to humans. My sister-in-law and I both suffered adverse effects from living in a house with a cat. She caught a virus from the cat the doctor diagnoses as transmitted by the cat only. It caused her to be covered in warts up and down her legs that have to be burned off. I can't remember what the virus was called, but the doctor said it came from cats. I developed a severe allergy to cats after living in a house with one for a year. Didn't have a problem before that. Now, I get blisters inside my eyeballs when I'm around a cat, then stop up, mouth itches and lips swell. People having young children or babies in a home with a cat are doing the same thing as having a loaded gun within the child's reach. It is dangerous. You can read all about it on the internet doctor sites. People fuss over smelling perfume when only 4 in 100 have an honest allergy to perfume-orris root. 8 out of 100 people are allergic to cats-twice as many but pet lovers ignore the truth of medically documented evidence.

Answer 3

Other than rabies, I don't know of any viruses that can infect both humans and cats at the same time, since many diseases are species-specific. However, pathogens (bacteria and viruses) can mutate and jump the species barrier. When something like an influenza virus jumps the species barrier, the human immune system is generally naive to the new virus and disease symptoms show up as much more severe. This is what happenned with the Spanish Flu in 1918 (the influenza jumped the species barrier from pigs to humans) and what people fear could happen with bird flu. Rabies is generally spread from bites of infected animals. Very rare cases have been linked to aerosolization of laboratory samples. See this website for more rabies info:

http://www.iowapoison.org/index.asp?pageID=154

Cat bites and scratches contain tons of bacteria. Bites and scratches can cause pretty serious infections, but they are not the same as viruses.

Now, if you want to know if a cat can transmit a human virus without getting sick, or vise-versa, the answer is yes. For instance, you and I can pick up distemper from a sick animal on our clothing or shoes and infect our domestic animals. Theoretically, our cat can also carry human viruses in its fur and we can catch it. Scenario: Our highly social cat goes to visit the neighbor who happens to have the flu. Neighbor sneezes into the cats fur. Cat comes home, we pet sneezed-on fur, we touch our mouth. In both of these scenarios, either we or the cat are vectors for the transmission of a disease that could not possibly make the vector sick.

This is probably much more of an explanation than you bargained for. The short answer is that if your cat has a runny nose, you are probably OK.

Answer 4

YES! And some are quite dangerous! Some diseases mutate and certain highly adaptable viruses can go between many animals of different species. Viruses tend to be very specific to species. So definately no transfer of colds!

Certain diseases can be transmitted from humans to animals or vice versa. Most of these are fairly dangerous, which is why keeping your kitty indoors is important. Vets calls these zoonotic diseases. Such disease are more likely to be caught from other sources, ie Salmonella, and one won't get them unless their immune system is severely compromised. Especially as dogs might do it but people do not sniff or lick cat stool! Many bacteriums (but not virses) are zoonotic.

These included: Rabies, Ringworm, Chlamydia, Roundworms, Hookworms. Hookworms and the like are a biggie. There are also several other viruses msot notably 'cat scratch disease'.

The elderly, the young are always at risk, why several immunocompromised patients like transplant patients (who must repress their uimmune system) or people with AIDS or HIV are also at risk. After all, they are at a much higher risk for getting ill in general than most.

So be clean, make sure to tend to any wounds caused by a cat, and make sure to vaccinate your kitty!

Answer 5

You can not catch a virus off of a cat. Cats can catch viruses from other cats but you can't.

Answer 6

No, but they can catch a virus off of each other.

Answer 7

It would depend on which virus the cat had.

A friend of mine caught a virus off a cow which the hospital said was impossible. ( He was in hospitals for 3 weeks) His legs swelled up to twice the size and we all kept asking if he wanted a bowl of grass and some milk.

Answer 8

I caught ringworm from a kitty I rescued... she showed no symptoms but was a carrier... both of us were treated and are now fine... it's actually not a worm but a fungus that grows on the skin.

Answer 9

It is possible to get rabies for instance from a cat. That's one reason why you need to wash your hands after handling a sick animal.

Answer 10

Not colds. more like ring worm etc