This guidance has been updated in the light of revised Government advice (23.6.20) on Coronavirus to balance public health protection requirements and the need for businesses to keep working. There remains no evidence that pets are implicated in the transmission of Coronavirus to people and infection of the pet is unlikely, but that there is some risk of virus being carried by pets and their belongings. However the risk of transmission between infected clients and business staff remains and the disease status of the client, if known, will assist in risk assessment.

The status of a household is an important element of risk assessment. Clearly contact with an infected or self-isolating household carries a higher risk than with any other. The risk to the household of shielding or vulnerable people is greater and therefore requires more precautions. Because there is some possibility of the pet carrying virus between households it is appropriate to evaluate the risk in each circumstance to minimise the public health consequences. It is inevitable that the status of a household can change from one group to another and that the precautions suitable for the pet will change at the same time.

The simple precaution of washing hands for twenty seconds as frequently as possible should now be intrinsic in every activity. In this advice document it is assumed that hand washing and social distancing are intrinsic in all activities.

CFSG has produced a business handover protocol between people walking friends’ and neighbours’ dogs. The protocol should also be used when handing over dogs between a business and client.

You can read the full CFSG Animal Business Guidance Document here.

(Updated 4th July 2020 – This guidance is subject to change depending on Government advice).

If you have any ideas or experiences that you would like to share with us on how you are managing with a pet business during COVID-19, you can email us at bvna@bvna.co.uk or contact us via our Facebook page.