Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 readily transmits between domestic cats. We found that domestic cats that recover from an initial infection might be protected from reinfection. However, we found long-term persistence of inflammation and other lung lesions after infection, despite a lack of clinical symptoms and limited viral replication in the lungs.
Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; cats; coronavirus disease; lung sequelae; protective immunity; reinfection; respiratory infections; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; viruses; zoonoses.