Late last year, in Los Angeles County and Oregon, several cats contracted H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus. Public health officials believed raw cat food or unpasteurized milk likely spread the virus to the cats.
“In Los Angeles County, there have now been seven laboratory-confirmed cases of H5 bird flu in cats,” Los Angeles County Department of Public Health agents said in a press release. “Five cats with confirmed H5 bird flu consumed raw milk that was part of a recall due to H5 bird flu contamination. Two cats with confirmed H5 bird flu consumed commercially available raw pet food products. There have been multiple H5 bird flu probable and suspected cases in cats that either consumed raw pet food or raw milk and became acutely ill, but not all cats were able to be tested…
“One commercially available raw pet food, Monarch Raw Pet food, tested positive for H5 bird flu, with live infective virus isolated from the samples.”
On Dec. 31, 2024, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health warned residents not to feed their pets Monarch Raw Pet Food sold at several farmers markets in California due to the detection of the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus in product samples. A house cat that consumed this product tested positive for the virus. Four other house cats from the same household are presumed to have also been positive for HPAI after consuming the product.
In Oregon, one cat caught HPAI virus and subsequently died after eating Northwest Naturals brand 2lb Feline Turkey Recipe raw frozen pet food. Portland, Oregon-based Northwest Naturals recalled one batch of this product after it tested positive for HPAI.
74 cases of avian influenza in domestic cats since 2022
While these cases drew attention to the issue, there have been 74 confirmed cases of bird flu in domestic cats since 2022 reported to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The first case occurred in Linn County, Oregon, in December 2022. Since then, cases have occurred throughout the U.S. All of these HPAI infections in domestic cats have been west of the Appalachian Mountains. The cases corresponded to the Pacific, Central and Mississippi flyways, routes used by migrating birds.
Claims raise questions about raw pet food as avian influenza source
The Oregon Department of Agriculture unequivocally stated that Northwest Naturals raw, frozen pet food was the source of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) that infected and led to the death of a pet cat. However, the owner of Pacific NW Pets, where the product was sold, told Pets+ a different side of the story than presented by state officials. The owner, Jennifer Flanagan, stated the infected cat was not a strictly indoor cat, contradicting the Oregon Department of Agriculture press release. The cat, named Villain, frequently accompanied her owner into Pacific NW Pets, Flanagan said, and appeared in social media posts on outdoor excursions, reported Pets+.
Cats that are allowed outdoors have the potential to encounter wild birds infected with HPAI and contract the virus after eating or interacting with either live or dead birds. Even an environment contaminated with HPAI, or bird flu, could be a vector for infecting a cat, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Another question in this case is how the food safety methods followed by Northwest Naturals may have failed. Northwest Naturals states in a FAQ on its website that the company uses high-pressure processing to reduce the potential for pathogens to survive in their raw products. The company does not yet know why the processing seems to have been ineffective at eliminating the virus.
In a letter to distributors quoted by Pets+, Northwest Naturals noted that more than one million pounds of raw turkey have been processed since the batch of affected turkey involved in the recall went through the system. Also, there had been no other reports of HPAI contamination or infection related to the two recalled lot codes sold in August 2024 prior to the Oregon Department of Agriculture alerting the company of its findings.