PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Jose L. Gonzales AU - Mart C.M. de Jong AU - Nora M. Gerhards AU - Wim H. M. Van der Poel TI - The SARS-CoV-2 reproduction number <em>R<sub>0</sub></em> in cats AID - 10.1101/2021.07.20.453027 DP - 2021 Jan 01 TA - bioRxiv PG - 2021.07.20.453027 4099 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/07/20/2021.07.20.453027.short 4100 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/07/20/2021.07.20.453027.full AB - Domestic cats are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 virus infection and given that they are in close contact with people, assessing the potential risk cats represent for the transmission and maintenance of SARS-CoV-2 is important. Assessing this risk implies quantifying transmission from humans-to-cats, from cats-to-cats and from cats-to-humans. Here we quantified the risk of cat-to-cat transmission by reviewing published literature describing transmission either experimentally or under natural conditions in infected households. Data from these studies were collated to quantify the SARS-CoV-2 reproduction number R0 among cats. The estimated R0 was significantly higher than 1, hence cats could play a role in the transmission and maintenance of SARS-CoV-2. Questions that remain to be addressed are the risk of transmission from humans-to-cats and cats-to-humans. Further data on household transmission and data on virus levels in both the environment around infected cats and their exhaled air could be a step towards assessing these risks.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.