Cats stricken with deadly coronavirus in Cyprus treated with human Covid meds

This week, the island’s health ministry began discharging the treatment on International Cat Day Veterinary, August 8, from a stockpile originally meant for humans.

A type of feline coronavirus called Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) has been killing thousands of cats on the Mediterranean island in recent months.

Although the mutated feline virus is not related to Covid-19 and cannot be contracted by humans, molnupiravir, the active ingredient in anti-Covid pills, has proved to be beneficial to cats diagnosed with FIP.

‘We have taken stock of 500 boxes of medication,’ said Christodoulos Pipis, the government’s veterinary services director, speaking to the Guardian.

‘This is the first batch of 2,000 packages that will be made available. Each one contains 40 capsules so we are talking about a total of 80,000 [anti-Covid] pills.’

The government gave the green light in line with a recommendation from the agriculture ministry.

Animal activists had previously warned that Cyprus was turning into an island of dead cats, assessing the disease had likely killed much of its million-strong population.

However, the island’s veterinary association argues that reports of up to 300,000 cats dying is an exaggeration, putting the number at under 10,000.

Shed in the faeces of infected cats and then spread through contact, feline coronavirus was first recorded in the 1960s. Outbreaks of FIP are rare, having been previously reported in the UK, US, Taiwan and Greece.

Still, the virus affecting the cats of Cyprus appears to be more infectious, with even indoor pets contracting it.

Legend has it that a Roman empress, Helena, first brought cats to Cyprus to combat poisonous snakes about 1,700 years ago

But archaeological evidence of cats’ domestication on the island dates back to 9,500 years ago at the Neolithic village of Shillourokambos, where the remains of a cat and a human were found deliberately buried together.

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