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COVID-19 Coronavirus

Hey guys. The coronavirus has reached my city do I need to protect my piggies from it? If so how can I ?

There is no information about any transmission to pets; keep in mind that the issue with Covid-19 is that it is an entirely new virus that has jumped over to humans.

However, guinea pigs generally do not catch viruses from humans.

Please apply the usual good hygiene and minimalised contact practice that we recommend for other viral illnesses like colds and flu or tummy bugs.
Covid-19 is more like a strong flu; and like with a flu (which kills many more people each year), at risk are specifically the frail, the very young and the very old with a lowered or not yet fully developed immune system. The vast majority of people who catch it experience only mild symptoms.
It is obviously highly transmittable but much less deadly than the real nasties likes MERS, SARS or ebola which have a much higher death rate but do not transmit as easily.

Here are our full care tips and recommendations for infected people looking after guinea pigs; they are basic commonsense measures for whenever you are ill but also apply for people catching the new coronavirus strain: Human Colds/flu And Tummy Bug Advice
 
My niece is in China teaching, they have been on lock down in their rooms,teaching by what they call E- teachers,she said its very hard not to be with the children,aged6-7 years in the class room.she been there 18 months.
 
It will eventually be in everyone's city. Really, the most likely route of infection for indoor pets is the humans who live there, so make sure to practice really good handwashing before handling pets. It's in all of our best interests to practice good handwashing anyhow! I have heard of infections being found in dogs and cats, but nothing about other animals thus far.
I'm supposed to be going on a cruise in two weeks and I am very nervous about being stuck in quarantine or the ship being denied entry at ports. I am less concerned about getting sick, as I'm relatively young with no pre-existing conditions, as are the rest of the people traveling with me, and I know if we catch it we are statistically at fairly low risk, plus I'm sure it will circulate in our community before long too. I am very worried about paying a ton of money for a trip that isn't allowed to dock, or being forced into hospital on a Carribean Island and not allowed back on the ship, etc.
 
I think the best source is not online media outlets.... i heard of a school closing which is about 40 mins from me.... a bit too close for comfort but i believe some staff and pupils had recently returned from an Italian skiing trip..

Schools closing is what made me wonder. A high school the other side of town sent pupils home after a half term ski trip. I'm not really worried for myself. I'm healthy, get the odd cold/viral infection but work with two year olds so I'm usually surrounded by some bug or other. My worry is for friends/family that have pre existing conditions that would affect this.... I always worry though ☹
 
Hey guys. The coronavirus has reached my city do I need to protect my piggies from it? If so how can I ?
I doubt if they get it you will be able to protect them cuz they are tiny, but the likelyhood of them getting it depends. Where abouts do you live?
 
I doubt if they get it you will be able to protect them cuz they are tiny, but the likelyhood of them getting it depends. Where abouts do you live?
@LunaOreoPigz the size an animal does not affect their susceptibility to viruses, and Covid-19 is currently a disease of humans not piggies.
Wiebke has written a great guide addressing corona virus concerns, that is pinned at the top of the main forum homepage, which should provide more information- it is sensible to employ good hygiene practices if you yourself are ill with any infectious disease, but there is no cause for alarm on your pet's behalf just because other people in the area may be affected.
 
I doubt if they get it you will be able to protect them cuz they are tiny, but the likelyhood of them getting it depends. Where abouts do you live?

Viruses are species specific. They rarely jump across. Just because Covid-19 has jumped one species border doesn't mean it is also infective to a species that is so different from humans like the rodents are.

But if you worry about your piggies, then you can make sure that you have got enough hay and pellets at home for a month so they have got enough staples during a quarantine/illness. They can make do without fresh veg for a time or can live off fresh grass (which is high in vitamin C) from the garden as long as a member of the household is not infected but not without hay.

Here is our advice re. guinea pigs: Worried about Covid-19 (coronavirus) transmission risk to your guinea pigs?
 
It will eventually be in everyone's city. Really, the most likely route of infection for indoor pets is the humans who live there, so make sure to practice really good handwashing before handling pets. It's in all of our best interests to practice good handwashing anyhow! I have heard of infections being found in dogs and cats, but nothing about other animals thus far.
I'm supposed to be going on a cruise in two weeks and I am very nervous about being stuck in quarantine or the ship being denied entry at ports. I am less concerned about getting sick, as I'm relatively young with no pre-existing conditions, as are the rest of the people traveling with me, and I know if we catch it we are statistically at fairly low risk, plus I'm sure it will circulate in our community before long too. I am very worried about paying a ton of money for a trip that isn't allowed to dock, or being forced into hospital on a Carribean Island and not allowed back on the ship, etc.
That's a tricky situation. Hope it goes ok.
 
To anyone concerned, (as I am) I've found this really helpful to rationalise the situation.
It's a website that not only showed confirmed cases but also, active cases, those recovered etc and also breaks it down into countries.
Coronavirus Update (Live): 87,670 Cases and 2,994 Deaths from COVID-19 Wuhan China Virus Outbreak - Worldometer

The image below was screenshotted by myself on Thursday, as you can see the number of active cases is actually decreasing as the days go on, (by nearly 4,000) cases despite the media reporting on more and more cases.

IMG_3115.PNG
Follow usual hygiene procedures and NHS guidelines, not only helps you, but everyone else in terms of all germs spreading. It's going to be okay :)
 
Hope no one minds me jumping in here, I actually came here to see what my best options were to prepare in case of quarantine (get more hay, can always cut grass was the answer, btw), but since I'm here, my favoured source of information not blown hugely out of proportion by the press is actually the WHO themselves.
Coronavirus
That's their rolling update page, the daily situation reports actually are both incredibly informative and very reassuring.

There is actually very little evidence of transmission between humans and captive species beyond one, unconfirmed report of a dog in Japan registering a "weak positive" test. Essentially, provided you're maintaining decent handwashing and cleanliness standards around your pigs and their homes/food, they should be absolutely fine.
As an aside, evacuation in the UK would be pointless, it's a small island, should cases reach true pandemic status, there will be nowhere to evacuate to. Quarantine is a much more likely scenario, and that is easily handled by keeping spare stock of things you need to be on the safe side.

Essentially, the UK is currently in the containment phase still. If we can get to the warmer months in spring, when other seasonal virii aren't causing as much strain on healthcare, we have an excellent chance at beating the living crap out of corona before mass spread becomes an issue. The WHO is currently working on 20 independent vaccines around the world, one of which is already in the second set of testing on humans. This is a very beatable situation provided people stick together and, crucially, do not panic whilst maintaining cleanliness and doing their part to inhibit spread.

Please excuse this bargain basement TED talk but good grief the sheer quantity of misinformation (LOOKING AT YOU, FACEBOOK...) I've seen online is just painful to see and I know humankind can do better than that.
 
To anyone concerned, (as I am) I've found this really helpful to rationalise the situation.
It's a website that not only showed confirmed cases but also, active cases, those recovered etc and also breaks it down into countries.
Coronavirus Update (Live): 87,670 Cases and 2,994 Deaths from COVID-19 Wuhan China Virus Outbreak - Worldometer

The image below was screenshotted by myself on Thursday, as you can see the number of active cases is actually decreasing as the days go on, (by nearly 4,000) cases despite the media reporting on more and more cases.

View attachment 134753
Follow usual hygiene procedures and NHS guidelines, not only helps you, but everyone else in terms of all germs spreading. It's going to be okay :)

Have been looking on this site once daily to see the new statistics.

I've stopped looking online, the horrible headlines are getting worse!
 
Have been looking on this site once daily to see the new statistics.

I've stopped looking online, the horrible headlines are getting worse!
The worrying part is, when the governemt and NHS think that washing hands is the best way to keep it under control 🤣
 
As far as I know there is only currently one case in Scotland, I think everybody needs to completely stop travelling (at least in the meantime) to prevent further spread in countries that have little to no cases

I have read (online, so take this with a pinch of salt) that it can affect dogs, so I’m not sure if it can be spread to other animals, so I’d just be vigilant
 
Seems too specific and why a bat? An animal thwt we probably have one of the least contact with. It's probably true but it seems like a cover up that the majority of public ( sheep mentality) will go along with
 
There is no evidence it will cross the species barrier into our pets. They found the virus on a dog the operative word being ‘on’ not in

practice good Hygiene and wash your hands lots. Make sure it is the first thing you do as you enter the house.
 
There is no evidence it will cross the species barrier into our pets. They found the virus on a dog the operative word being ‘on’ not in

practice good Hygiene and wash your hands lots. Make sure it is the first thing you do as you enter the house.
That’ll be what I read... I skimmed through the article so didn’t really read much
 
The WHO do not know the origin of the virus neither do they know patient zero.

At this point it matters not, it is here. Not going away and until a vaccine is available we are going to have to fight it globally. It is not one countries problem it is humanities issue.
 
Seems too specific and why a bat? An animal thwt we probably have one of the least contact with. It's probably true but it seems like a cover up that the majority of public ( sheep mentality) will go along with
Don’t they eat bat soup? 🙈
I’m only going off what I’ve heard. Plus I think bats/wild rodents/birds can harbour lots of diseases

I don’t really know much... I’m not very up to date with recent events
 
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