Scott Weese, DVM, says the first report of the B.1.1.7 SARS-CoV-2 variant being found in a dog and cat in Texas will cause a bit of concern, but unnecessarily. He reviews and challenges a recent paper yet to be peer-reviewed. This study simply showed that animals can be infected. It does not indicate anything about pets’ role in outbreak dynamics or anything else.
Source: WormsandGerms, March 19, 2021. Link.
Therefore, there is an urgent need to greatly accelerate and strengthen the investigations and surveillance of animal infections by highly-transmissible variants such as British B.1.1.7, South-African B1.351 and Brazilian P.1 variants as part of the global response to the ongoing multi-species COVID-19 pandemic.”