Could hospitalizing a cat with respiratory disease while waiting for H1N1 diagnosis be a liability for staff and other patients?
Simply put, we don’t know if an H1N1-infected pet is capable of spreading the virus to other animals or to people. Our best advice at this time is to follow standard veterinary protocols for hospitalizing pets with respiratory disease, and use proper isolation/quarantine, hygiene and sanitation procedures. Veterinarians can refer to the Compendium of Veterinary Standard Precautions for Zoonotic Disease Prevention in Veterinary Personnel for guidance.
