So our dog is sick, and sick with what seems like the exact same cold/flu like bug that Mrs. Chandeleur had recently. While talking to the vets office about possible remedies, the nurse says that it’s impossible for colds/flus to be transferred from humans to animals, and vice versa. This true?
Well, as a rule, viral diseases do not cross species lines. But they occasionaly do, as in the case of swine flu. Also cow pox. And AIDS originally started in monkeys, I believe. Maybe an infectious disease expert will elaborate, or correct me if I’m wrong.
IIRC for dogs its true, something about the cold/flu protein unable to attach to the doggy proteins.
Er , something like that do a search here, It’s been discussed …
Not sure about dogs, but all of the ferret books I’ve owned say that ferrets can and do catch human respiratory ‘bugs’
(and get similar cold symptoms), but I’m not sure if they mean bacterial or viral ones. Ferrets are also used in some respiratory-related research trials due to their similarity to humans in that respect.
Some animals can, but its usually very rare. Species, even closely related ones, are usually too diferent for a germ adapted to one to use another host.