Arab-Canadian public speaking coach and author of The Million Dollar Speaker Maher Elusini on how to make your speech command value for time and money
Buddy the seven-year-old German shepherd became sick in April, around the same time his owner Robert Mahoney was recovering from Covid-19, according to the magazine this week.
Buddy seemed to have a stuffed nose and difficulty breathing, and his condition only worsened over the following weeks and months.
Mahoney and his wife Allison, who live in New York, eventually euthanized the dog on July 11 after Buddy began vomiting blood clots, urinating blood and was unable to walk.
But the family told National Geographic they had a hard time confirming their suspicion that Buddy was infected with SARS-CoV-2.
"Without a shadow of a doubt, I thought (Buddy) was positive," Mahoney said, but many vets in their area were closed because of the pandemic.
Some of them were skeptical about pets contracting the virus at all. And most testing supplies were being conserved for human use anyway.
A clinic was finally able to confirm that Buddy was positive, and found that the family's 10-month-old puppy -- who was never sick -- had virus antibodies.
Buddy's vets later discovered the dog was likely also suffering from lymphoma, raising the question of whether animals -- like humans -- with pre-existing conditions might also be more susceptible to serious illness from the new coronavirus.
Neither public health officials nor veterinarians could offer the family much information, they told National Geographic, because there was not enough data about the virus in animals, beyond the fact that infection appeared to be rare.
"We had zero knowledge or experience with the scientific basis of COVID in dogs," Robert Cohen, the vet who tested Buddy, told the magazine.
And it seemed to them that neither city nor federal health authorities were very interested in learning from Buddy's case. By the time they decided to do a necropsy, Buddy had already been cremated.
The official word from the World Health Organization is that pets likely do not often transmit the virus to their owners.
But Shelley Rankin, a veterinarian at the University of Pennsylvania, said more study is necessary.
"If we're telling the world that prevalence (of animal cases) is low, then we have to look at high numbers" of animals, she said.
Twelve dogs and 10 cats have tested positive for coronavirus in the US, according to National Geographic.
The Mahoneys say they want Buddy's story heard.
Arab-Canadian public speaking coach and author of The Million Dollar Speaker Maher Elusini on how to make your speech command value for time and money
The legendary Greek-Russian conductor Teodor Currentzis, who is all set to perform at the Dubai Opera next week, on music transcending cultural and language barriers
Not every kid is meant to go to university or college. So, it makes sense to teach them entrepreneurial skills early
Some hotels quote Dh1,000 to Dh8,000 for standard hotel room that would usually start at around Dh345 per night
When feeling stuck in life, it's important to revise your thinking patterns
A guide on the channels to report complaints about violations at your workplace
The standout performances came from Arwa Saleh, Mohammed Al-Dhahouri and Amna Al-Loughani on the Taekwondo mat
The story of a non-resident Bangladeshi family establishing and running the famed perfume company Al Haramain and its successful subsidiaries