Pet cats could soon be tested for coronavirus in Australia and owners who catch COVID-19 are being warned to send their feline companions away while they recover from the illness.

Key points: Cats can catch coronavirus from humans, but cannot transmit it

Cats can catch coronavirus from humans, but cannot transmit it Owners who test positive are being urged to house pet cats somewhere else

Owners who test positive are being urged to house pet cats somewhere else More testing will become available for felines in the near future

Australia's Chief Veterinary Officer Mark Schipp said coronavirus cases in domestic and large cats overseas, including tigers, showed the animals were susceptible to picking up the virus from humans.

"Cats have the same receptors as humans do to coronavirus so they have respiratory symptoms and also they have some gastrointestinal symptoms, so we might expect to see diarrhea but also coughing and sneezing and that type of behaviour," he said.

"But there's absolutely no evidence that these animals are able to pass it back to humans — indeed, they seem to be the victims of this pandemic just as much as humans are."

Dr Schipp said a commercial coronavirus test for cats had become available, with confirmatory testing to be carried out at the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness.

Commercial coronavirus tests for cats are available. ( Unsplash: Kristin Brown )

However, he said tests would not be offered to everyone who was concerned about their pet.

"We're not encouraging people to test their animals, but it might be that health authorities or animal health authorities wish to see an animal tested in a particular circumstance," he said.

"[For instance,] if we see unexplained illness in pets that cannot be diagnosed or cannot be sheeted home to another diagnosis. Or if there is illness in pets but the owners are asymptomatic.

"There is a set of criteria that has been decided upon and distributed and we're working to fulfil those protocols."

Cats need to be anaesthetised for testing to take place

Dr Schipp said testing procedures for cats were similar to those used for humans, with swabs taken from the animal's nose and throat.

"To do that in a cat you need to anesthetise the cat, so it's quite invasive and the veterinarian needs to be wearing personal protective equipment — that equipment is in short supply nationally and indeed globally," he said.

"So we want to ensure that it's used on the highest priority cases."

He said people who tested positive to COVID-19 should ask someone else to look after the cat while they recovered.

"This might mean that they need to make arrangements for their veterinarian or a friend," he said.

"And also practice good hygiene around the home, to wash hands before and after handling pets, to avoid sleeping and eating with pets and those types of general good hygiene."

Ferrets are also susceptible to coronavirus, but Dr Schipp said dogs, pigs and poultry were not considered to be at risk.