Pets
Containment with your dog or cat: our complete guide
Since March 17, 2020, France has been in containment to fight the Covid-19 disease caused by the SARS-Cov-2 coronavirus. It is not easy to take on these new lifestyle habits. When we have an animal, there are so many adaptations and questions that work for us.
Outings with my pet during confinement
Are outings with my pet allowed?
Outings are authorized for:
- Dogs who have to poop
outside - Animals to go to the vet
It is however highly recommended to keep cats indoors for the duration of the confinement. One may wonder why since cats are not at risk of getting the disease, but it is good not to break our confinement. A cat that goes out is more likely to hurt itself, to be injured, to fight, to be struck by a car, which would require consulting a veterinarian and therefore exposing us and the healthcare team during the consultation.
In the same way, a rabbit, ferret or any other NAC should be kept indoors, the exits are not essential to them.
How long and where can I take my dog out?
Dog trips should be as brief as possible, reserved for the emission of stool and urine, the time to do its business therefore. A few minutes are enough.
You must stay around your home: at the bottom of your
building or around your block only.
You don’t have to walk 10 minutes to get to the forest,
or go to the river, you have to go to the essentials within a maximum radius
1 km.
Remember that outings are limited to 1 hour
maximum per day, you cannot go out for 1 hour each time
time !
It is of course excluded in town to go to dog parks or any place of gathering. It is necessary to make its needs to your dog on a sidewalk or in a gutter and to collect its excrement immediately.
What precautions to take during outings?
Before going out you have to print or write by hand your derogatory travel certificate for the reason “brief trips, within the limit of one hour daily and within a maximum radius of one kilometer around the home, linked […] the needs of pets. “
The dog must be kept on a short leash and it is necessary:
- avoid contact with other dogs and other people. Always keep at least 1 meter between you and others, but also between dogs.
- watch your dog at all times so that he does not risk swallowing something inedible, getting hurt, etc.
Can my pet bring the virus outside?
Your pet can’t bring the virus out of the house any more than you can! And there is less risk than for you.
If you respect barrier gestures and good hygiene
hands for you, so the risk is minimal.
It has been shown that the virus can be found on the
coat of an animal and in its nasal passages (as for the dog in Hong-Kong
in February). The animal can therefore “carry” the virus like any other
what an object, like a door handle, like a pharmacy counter, like
elevator or credit card terminal buttons. That’s why
that you should wash your hands well and not put your hands on your face.
It is true that theoretically your dog could walk
in a contaminated human sputum. Then he could put his paws on
you and then hypothetically you could touch the very place with your hands
where your dog would have put his paws, then you would still have to wear
your hands to your face so the virus can reach you. It is therefore
that you would not have respected the hygienic barrier gestures: washing yourself
hands before you touch your face and don’t touch your face.
Do I have to wash or disinfect my pet’s legs after each outing?
It is not at all advisable to disinfect your dog’s paws after returning from outings. If you disinfect several times a day, you irritate the skin, weaken the skin barrier and skin problems may appear. A foot bath of diluted soap would be a lesser harm in the rigor but it is not essential if you respect the barrier gestures for you.
The precautionary principle is that you wash your
hands after each contact with your animal (which also prevents
transmission of zoonoses such as transmission of parasites for example).
What should I do if my animal is sick during confinement?
Are veterinarians open during containment?
Yes, veterinary practices and clinics are open.
Veterinarians remain available for emergencies that cannot be postponed: injured animal, acute ailments, conditions whose short and medium term repercussions will very significantly reduce the comfort and life expectancy of the animal, management of populations at risk of infection (shelters, poundages, farms).
The acts to be deferred are the consultations of
good health check, check-ups, follow-ups, preventive medicine consultations, castrations,
sterilizations and all surgery of convenience, scaling without affection
serious oral, old conditions that do not involve or
life expectancy and animal welfare.
The aim is to limit population movements and
limit human contact throughout the confinement period. This for
protect yourself and the healthcare team.
You must call your veterinarian before anything else.
Your veterinarian will give you an appointment schedule
which must be respected so as not to end up at the clinic at the same time
than other people. He may not let you in
inside, that you have to wait outside, only letting in
your pet and contact the veterinarian by phone.
Take your pet alone, with no other person on your
family.
You will also need to have your certificate with you with the
pet needs box. Checked.
Postponing vaccination of dogs and cats during confinement
Can I take my dog / cat to the vet for his vaccine?
No, vaccination is an act of preventive medicine, it must be postponed after the end of confinement in order to comply with the government decree.
A vaccination booster is not a life-saving emergency,
delaying a vaccine injection does not jeopardize the life-threatening
the animal.
Primary vaccination may need to be resumed
according to the duration of the confinement and therefore of the deadline for exceeding the date of
reminder. It is unfortunate indeed but the health crisis is important, we are
must comply with government recommendations and measures for our
good to all.
What is the risk for my pet if the vaccine is not recalled on the scheduled date?
For adult dogs and cats that have been to date
vaccinated correctly, we can distinguish the essential valences of
circumstantial valences:
- For essential valences: disease of
Square, Rubarth hepatitis and parvovirus in dogs; rhinotracheitis,
calicivirosis and typhus in cats, it is advisable to vaccinate animals
every 3 years after having carried out a correct primary vaccination. - For the other valences (leptospirosis,
leukosis, kennel cough, piroplasmosis, Lyme disease, rabies …) immunity is
one year with the possibility of extending the recall date by 1 to 3 months.
You are asked to keep your pets indoors (except for dogs to relieve themselves) in order to limit their exposure to infectious diseases including parvovirus (in the feces of other animals), leptospirosis (in standing water), cat leukosis (friendly contact between cats).
Kennel cough is a respiratory syndrome
community, during confinement gatherings are prohibited, the
risk is therefore limited.
To protect against vector-borne diseases
by ticks and sandflies, it is advisable to apply a
effective pest control and tag the dog twice a day with a
after the outings in rural areas.
For rabies: it is a regulated disease, but it is not a vital emergency, France being a country free from rabies and travel is impossible at this time. Vaccination should be resumed after containment.
For puppies whose primary vaccination could not be
performed completely (3 injections at 8, 12 and 16 weeks then a booster between
6 and 12 months of age): the risk of infection is greater
more attention. You have to limit the outings to the maximum, maintain the puppy
indoors if possible, avoid risky places (droppings
in town prohibited!).
Note on the period of socialization of puppies:
we will not be able to expose the puppy to all kinds of situations and
human and animal contact as advised during this period between 2
and 4 months, you shouldn’t do it. The priority is to avoid endangerment
of the human population.