As the avian flu outbreak continues to gain momentum in the US, a second company selling raw pet food issued a voluntary recall after cats from two different Oregon households signed H5N1 earlier this month.
Two more cats from different households in Washington have tested positive for bird flu after eating raw pet food from the same brand almost two weeks after the recall, officials announced Wednesday. One cat is euthanized and the other is in veterinary care.
Two raw lots made by Wild Coast Raw are under a voluntary recall. It is not clear whether the new Washington case is linked to recalled lots, etc.
In the US, 100 cats have tested positive for avian flu since 2022, which could be fatal and could allow cats to transmit the virus to humans.
On February 6th, Christine “Kiki” Knop noticed that one of her 11 cats was running a slight fever. Within a few days, the two cats had to be euthanized, with a third in the intensive care unit.
All cats who eat raw pet food will later test positive for avian flu. Only male cats were separated from others, and cats fed canned food remained negative.
Knopp is an artist from Portland, Oregon, breeds and displays the Cornish Rex Cats. For years she fed raw food to everyone except male cats and carefully looked at recent notices about contaminated raw pet food. She believed that food from wild coasts was being tested for H5N1.
“I’ve learned something since then. I don’t think there’s really a safe way to trust someone to say they’re testing it,” she said.
Wild Coast did not respond to Guardian media inquiries regarding why the company had been waiting a week to issue a voluntary recall after being notified of possible contamination, and whether it was reaching out to vendors and customers about the recall.
If Knopp had known, she would have “quickly” switched to canned food. She now recommends to all cat owners who feed raw foods they bought or made themselves.
“It’s not safe,” she said. “Immediately: Don’t feed your cats with raw chicken, raw chicken, raw scraps, or even raw eggs now.”
Raw milk is just as dangerous. Because milk can contain a huge amount of viruses, it is known that raw beef also carries H5N1.
“Eating raw foods is just a risk, especially for now,” said Steve Veleica, a small veterinarian with a public health background.
H5N1 joins many other pathogens, including salmonella, E-coli, campylobacter, listeria, and toxoplasmosis, which are associated with raw pet foods.
One of the most unsettling parts of Knopp: her cat never showed classic symptoms of respiratory infections, such as crowding. Some cats suffered from fever, rapid breathing, and swelling of their eyelids, which ultimately made them difficult to walk. This is a sign of neurological disorders.
However, nothing pointed to the flu until x-rays revealed that two cats who breathed rapidly developed severe pneumonia. That’s when they tested the avian flu.
“Your average person will probably take them to the vet and that’s what happens,” Knopp said. “Your average person may not notice a sudden increase in breathing rates, especially for cats that are probably more hidden. So how many cases are underreported?”
Knopp was concerned that she might get infected and spread the virus herself.
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“I don’t want to be known as ‘Mary of the Avian Flu’,” she said. Her local health department conducted daily symptoms check-in, and she began wearing a face mask when she went out publicly, demanding a test to see if she was sick. The results were negative for influenza A and B.
In 2016, a cat at a New York City shelter told at least one H7N2.
“I know that cats can at least communicate another strain of avian flu directly to people,” Baleika said. “I think these cats can pose some risk to humans. We don’t know how big the risk is, but that should definitely be taken seriously until we know better.”
It is not clear how contaminated poultry is in the supply of raw pet food.
All facilities that process human meat are inspected by the USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Agency (FSI).
Some meat for pets flows through FSIS-inspired facilities, but “evidently, a lot of protein is produced outside of FSIS-inspired facilities and is not intended for human consumption,” said Eric Deeble, deputy director of the Marketing and Regulation Program for the Jan. 16 USDA’s Marketing and Regulation Program.
US officials were investigating whether any of the H5-positive PET products had passed such facilities, he said, but the results have not yet been made public.
“As part of USDA’s efforts to control H5N1, birds from affected flocks are not permitted in food at all,” Deeble said.
Baleika said, “I had no good ideas about why many sick birds are watching them put it in (pets) food supplies – because this has to be the tip of the iceberg.”
There are other steps that pet owners can take to protect animals, and in itself from the bird flu, Bareika said: Don’t let cats hunt dogs or let them play with birds, including ponds and lakes that migratory birds often visit. Mice and rats have also tested positive for H5N1, especially near dairy and poultry farms.
Knopp has posted about her experiences and is holding “Ask Me Anything” sessions on cats and bird flu on social media.
“I have led a lot of sadness to work and education,” she said. For the two cats that were euthanized, she said. “Their death means something. They can save other animals. They can save some people’s grief.”
