Two pet cats in New York state have tested positive for the coronavirus, marking the first confirmed cases in companion animals in the US, federal officials said Wednesday.

The cats, which had mild respiratory illnesses and are expected to recover, are thought to have contracted the virus from people in their households or neighborhoods, the US Department of Agriculture and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The finding, which comes after positive tests in some tigers and lions at the Bronx Zoo, adds to a small number of confirmed cases of the virus in animals worldwide. US authorities say that while it appears some animals can get the virus from people, there is no indication pets are transmitting it to human beings.

“We don’t want people to panic. We don’t want people to be afraid of pets” or to rush to test them en masse, said Dr Casey Barton Behravesh, a CDC official who works on human-animal health connections. “There’s no evidence that pets are playing a role in spreading this disease to people.”

Dr Anthony Fauci, the White House’s top medical adviser on the coronavirus outbreak, struck a similar note of caution in Wednesday’s press briefing.

Pets and animals can get infected with the virus, but “there’s no evidence that the virus is transmitted from a pet to a human”, Fauci said.

“Anything is possible,” Fauci added, but right now it seemed unlikely.

Still, the CDC is recommending that people prevent their pets from interacting with people or animals outside their homes – by keeping cats indoors and dogs out of dog parks, for instance.

Scientists studying the virus have been looking closely at links between humans and animals. While a consensus is still evolving, the leading theory is that infection among humans began at an animal market in China, probably from an animal that got the virus from a bat.

The first of the two New York cats fell ill about a week after a person in its household had a short respiratory illness, though the person’s ailment wasn’t confirmed to be Covid-19, Barton Behravesh said. The animal goes outdoors at times and might have come into contact with an infected person in the area, she said.

The second cat’s owner tested positive for Covid-19 before the cat became sick, officials said. Another cat in the same home has not shown any signs of illness.

The cats’ symptoms included coughing and slightly runny noses, officials said.

The agencies have recommended that any pet owners with Covid-19 avoid petting, snuggling or other contact with their animals as much as possible, including wearing a face covering while caring for them.

There have been a handful of reports outside the US of pet dogs or cats becoming infected after close contact with contagious people, including a dog in Hong Kong. A four-year-old Malayan tiger, named Nadia, at the Bronx Zoo was believed to have the first confirmed coronavirus case in an animal in the US or a tiger anywhere.