5 cats caught from Covid centre die in Kasargod

Kasargod: In a strange and for unexplained reasons, five cats caught from the Covid Care Centre in the General Hospital here died spreading concern.

According to The New Indian Express, the Animal Husbandry Department conducted a postmortem on one of the cats and is planning to send the organs to the State Institute of Animal Disease Centre to check for COVID-19.

Patients at the Covid Care Centre complained to the collector that stray cats were loitering in the wards. The district collector asked the Department of Animal Husbandry to take action. Subsequently, the department sent its dog catchers who caught five cats — a female cat and her two kittens and two adult male cats.

The cats were put up in a crate at the Animal Birth Control centre in Kasaragod. Two days later the mother cat died. Two more cats died later and on Monday, the kittens too died.

There was no evidence of pneumonia in the lungs or haemorrhage in the intestine, which would have pointed to infection by Coronavirus. TNIE quoted two vet doctors saying that the cats could have died due to stress and starvation.

However, not wanting to take any chances, the Animal Husbandry Department said a final picture will emerge only when the organs are studied.