Can Your Dog Catch Your Cold? Sicknesses That Pass Between Dogs and People

When you catch a cold you might keep your distance from family and friends to avoid passing it on to them. Should you also socially distance from your dog? In this article, we’ll look at what illnesses pass between dogs and people, how to prevent them, and how to treat them.

How Dogs Improve Your Health

Before we get into how you and your dog can make each other sick, let’s talk about how dogs keep you healthy! About 60% of houses in the Western world own pets, mostly dogs. In the modern world, the impact of well-cared-for dogs on their owner’s health is overwhelmingly positive.

Studies have shown that pets increase their owners’ activity levels, contributing to better cholesterol and triglyceride numbers and fewer heart problems. They reduce stress and anxiety and create higher self-esteem in their owners. This is a significant health benefit at a time when depression and anxiety have become global health crises. In addition to all of this, specially-trained dogs can warn their owners of health conditions, perform search-and-rescue operations, and assist the police and armed forces.

How Can Your Dog Make You Sick?

Unfortunately, there’s a flip side to this love-fest between dogs and people. Dogs are a major source of viral and bacterial diseases transmitted to people. They transmit these to people through saliva (licking, drooling, or sharing food), aerosols (through sneezing or coughing), urine or feces (as the owners clean up accidents), or other forms of contact with the animal, such as simply petting them or sleeping with them.

These are some of the most common illnesses dogs can transmit to humans. These can be especially dangerous for children, the elderly, and people who are immunocompromised.

• Bacterial Diseases: Brucellosis, camphylobacteriosis, capnocytophaga, leptospirosis, MRSA, salmonellosis
• Viral Diseases: Rabies
• Fungal Diseases: Ringworm
• Parasitic Diseases: Cryptosporidiosis, echinococcosis, giardiasis, hookworm, roundworm, tapeworm

How Can You Make Your Dog Sick?

These are diseases people can pass to dogs in many of the same ways (saliva, aerosols, urine, feces, physical contact):

• Salmonellosis
• Campylobacteriosis
• MRSA
• Tuberculosis
• COVID-19
• Ringworm

Some dogs have tested positive for COVID-19, caught from their owners. Animals either have no symptoms or mild ones of COVID, though. The risk of infection going the other direction, from dogs to people, is considered low.

Diseases Not to Worry About

Now here’s some good news. You don’t have to worry about any of the illnesses in this list:

1. The flu: Two viruses can cause canine influenza, but people cannot catch it. Dogs can catch some human flu viruses, like H1N1 and H3N2, but they don’t get sick from them.
2. The common cold: Dogs do catch colds, but from a different virus than the source of human colds. Dogs and humans cannot contract colds from each other’s viruses.
3. Bronchitis: Dogs can’t catch bronchitis from people. Their version of it is kennel cough, which they catch from other dogs. Surprisingly, people can catch kennel cough, but it is very rare. Just don’t kiss a coughing dog and wash your hands after you handle it.
4. Cold sores: These are caused by the herpes simplex virus (HSV-1 or HSV-2). Humans cannot transmit this virus to dogs. Dogs can get canine herpesvirus (CHV) but cannot pass it to humans.
5. Mumps: There is some research suggesting dogs can get mumps from people without getting ill. However, human vaccinations for mumps have virtually wiped it out in the United States.

What Are Common Signs of Illness in a Dog?

Dogs tend to hide symptoms of illness, which is likely a survival instinct to avoid being targeted by predators. But because you spend every day with your dog, you’ll be able to tell when they’re not acting normally. Here are some signs to look for:

• Loss of appetite, weight loss
• Bad breath or stinky ears or skin
• Drinking a lot of water and urinating a lot
• Difficulty urinating or defecating
• Coughing, sneezing, panting
• Lethargy, hiding under the furniture
• Vomiting, diarrhea
• Whining, crying
• Difficulty walking or climbing stairs
• A hot, dry nose can be a symptom of fever or dehydration

If you see any of the signs below, they could be life-threatening, so get your dog to an emergency vet:

• A hard, swollen belly
• Inability to urinate
• Struggling to breathe
• A lot of diarrhea or vomiting
• Seizures
• Uncoordinated or unable to stand

How Can You Keep Yourself and Your Dog Healthy?

Here are some things you can do to avoid passing illnesses to dogs or catching something from them:

• Clean up feces and urine thoroughly and sanitize the area.
• Wash your hands after handling your dog or cleaning up after them.
• Many illnesses enter your body from your eyes, nose, or mouth. Protect this area by not touching your face while playing with your dog, and do not kiss your dog or let it lick you in the face.
• Wash your dog’s bedding, and your own, regularly in hot water.
• Make sure you and your dog have all the recommended vaccinations for your species.
• Make sure you and your dog eat a nutritious diet and get exercise to keep your immune systems strong.
• Avoid contact with your dog if either of you has an illness the other could catch.
• Treat any bites or scratches with antibacterial ointment. Watch for signs of infection and see a doctor for antibiotics if so.
• If you are bitten or scratched by a stray dog that is acting strangely, including staggering, drooling a lot, being excessively aggressive, or tilting its head to one side, get immediate medical attention for possible rabies.

The Bottom Line

So the bottom line is, no, your dog cannot catch your cold or flu and you cannot catch theirs. They might be able to catch COVID-19 from you but the symptoms are not serious in animals. And there is no definitive proof you can catch it from them. However, there are a lot of other diseases and parasites that can pass between humans and dogs. We know it’s a big ask, but you need to find ways to love on your dog that don’t involve getting up in each other’s faces, particularly when one of you is sick. And washing your hands frequently and not touching your face is good practice during cold and flu season whether or not you are a dog owner.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Zontica/Shutterstock.com