Pets in lockdown, cat vs dog debate – The Wall Street Journal

If you have a dog that is not what Americans call a 'yard dog'; you will know how important that daily or twice daily walk is for Max, Charlie, Buddy, Teddy or Bella, Lucy and Daisy. Have you noticed how our pets are increasingly given human names? Socks and Spots don't seem to be that popular anymore. With the lockdown in South Africa, dogs don't have a lot to do apart from chasing a ball in the garden and waiting for scraps to fall from the table. There are also less people walking past that they can chase at the gate or along the garden fence. But as this article in the Wall Street Journal  indicates; they are loving the constant company. Cats appear to be the pet that have an enviable life right now, as they are the only pets that can escape for a bit of socialising or a good scrape with other cats that venture into their territory. In countries where citizens in lockdown are allowed to go out and walk their dogs, the dogs are having a really good time. My dog, Milo – a labradoodle who without a regular clipping now looks like the sheep that was forgotten in the mountains after more than six weeks of lockdown – can't believe his luck as the members of our household offer him four walks a day. In this tongue-in-cheek article, WSJ stages a dog versus cat debate on easing the lockdown. And if you are worried about your pets contracting Covid-19, Prof James Logan from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Disease in UK has recently told BizNews that a recent study has proved that dogs are not very susceptible to the novel coronavirus but cats are, but the risk is not high. – Linda van Tilburg