pune optional and often skipped canine coronavirus vaccine has suddenly caught the eyes of dog owners in the city with many confusing it to be a shot against the novel coronavirus infection pet parent tanya ginwala did not know about the vaccine for the past 12 years when she got her dog after i came to know about the novel coronavirus covid19 outbreak in china and other countries i promptly took my dog to a veterinarian and got it vaccinated she saidbaner resident manjeet kaul another pet parent who got her dog vaccinated said i adopted a german shepherd some days back and decided to get its checkup done as a precautionary measure after hearing about the coronavirus outbreakveterinarian milind mhatre however clarified that the canine coronavirus vaccine was not to safeguard pets against the covid19 infection it was an optional shot which pet parents used to skip from the list of annual vaccinations since the covid19 outbreak in china and other nations pet parents have suddenly started getting their dogs administered with the canine coronavirus vaccine i used to administer about 20 canine coronavirus vaccines in a month earlier but the number has gone up to 35 now he saidmhatre said while people were getting the shot administered to their pets in panic they should understand that the vaccine was for different purposes covid19 is a different strain of the coronavirus family altogether he saida veterinarian claimed that samples from a dogs nasal and oral cavities in hong kong had tested positive for the novel coronavirus infection last friday it is believed to be the first dog in the world to test positive for covid19 however no research is available to prove that dogs and cats can be infected by covid19 he clarifieddogs use smell and tongue as a means of sense the dog owner in hong kong was infected and i believe that dog also got infected due to contact canine coronavirus has been there for very long but covid19 which a mutated strain of the virus is what is affecting humans the canine coronavirus causes gastrointestinal problems in dogs unlike the respiratory issues caused by covid19 in humans however panicstricken pet owners are opting to administer the vaccine to their pets jeya bharath a veterinarian with a clinic on sus road saidthe strain of the current outbreak of coronavirus is completely different from the one that dogs and cats get infected with megavac cc is the vaccine meant for canine coronavirus and has been available in the market for nearly 15 to 20 years bhavya kumar another veterinarian said