TY - JOUR T1 - SARS-CoV-2 neutralising antibodies in Dogs and Cats in the United Kingdom JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/2021.06.23.449594 SP - 2021.06.23.449594 AU - Shirley L. Smith AU - Enyia. R. Anderson AU - Cintia Cansado-Utrilla AU - Tessa Prince AU - Sean Farrell AU - Bethaney Brant AU - Stephen Smyth AU - Peter-John M. Noble AU - Gina L. Pinchbeck AU - Nikki Marshall AU - Larry Roberts AU - Grant L. Hughes AU - Alan D. Radford AU - Edward I. Patterson Y1 - 2021/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/06/23/2021.06.23.449594.abstract N2 - Companion animals are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection and sporadic cases of pet infections have occurred in the United Kingdom. Here we present the first large-scale serological survey of SARS-CoV-2 neutralising antibodies in dogs and cats in the UK. Results are reported for 688 sera (454 canine, 234 feline) collected by a large veterinary diagnostic laboratory for routine haematology during three time periods; pre-COVID-19 (January 2020), during the first wave of UK human infections (April-May 2020) and during the second wave of UK human infections (September 2020-February 2021). Both pre-COVID-19 sera and those from the first wave tested negative. However, in sera collected during the second wave, 1.4% (n=4) of dogs and 2.2% (n=2) cats tested positive for neutralising antibodies. The low numbers of animals testing positive suggests pet animals are unlikely to be a major reservoir for human infection in the UK. However, continued surveillance of in-contact susceptible animals should be performed as part of ongoing population health surveillance initiatives.Competing Interest StatementNM and LR are employed by IDEXX Laboratories. All other authors declare no competing interests. ER -