January 09, 2025
Inge Wallumrød/Pexels
Local veterinarians recommend that pet owners keep their cats indoors and avoid feeding them raw meat to ensure they're shielded from the latest bird flu outbreak.
While bird flu has caused outbreaks in poultry and dairy cows in the United States, there have also been dozens of reported cases found in cats. One even died last month in Oregon after contracting the virus by eating contaminated frozen, raw food from the Northwest Naturals brand, which is also sold in stores in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
While the risk is small that your pet will be exposed, there are steps to take to protect your feline friends and yourself after the first human death was reported in Louisiana this week.
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Since the outbreak in cattle began in March, there have been 66 people across 10 states infected with bird flu, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. No cases have been reported in humans in Pennsylvania or New Jersey, although 200 snow geese died from the illness in Northampton and Lehigh counties in Pennsylvania.
With cases confirmed in over 800 herds of dairy cattle across 16 states, how worried should Philly area pet owners be about their animals?
"At the moment, cat exposure to (bird flu) is pretty avoidable," said Zack Glantz, a veterinarian and medical coordinator at Art City Vets.
Cats most often become infected through consuming unpasteurized milk or raw or undercooked meat, but they can also be exposed through wild birds or people who work on affected farms, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.
They can also contract the virus from being in contact with other sick cats, said Amber Karwacki, a veterinarian at Heart + Paw. It's also possible for dogs to get and spread the virus, as a 2007 study showed, but no bird flu cases have been reported in dogs in this outbreak.
"I think it's more the contact that cats have, especially in farming communities where we have a lot of farm cats," Karwacki said. "So they're the ones that are running around or eating the mice. They're eating, potentially, wild birds and they hunt birds more than dogs would."
Most reported cases showed neurologic symptoms like wobbly gait, circling, tremors, seizures and blindness, Glantz said. Other symptoms can include severe depression or lethargy, copious discharge from the eyes and nose, difficulty breathing, sneezing or coughing.
If your cat shows signs of bird flu, you should call your vet immediately to have them examined. You should also keep the cat away from anyone in your house that is immunocompromised. There may be some extra precautions in place when you take your cat to the vet if bird flu is suspected, Karwacki said.
"Don't be surprised if when you walk through the door, we take your cat, put it immediately into isolation, as we're wearing gowns and gloves to make sure nothing gets spread if it truly is (bird flu)," Karwacki said. "Then we'll run some testing to see what it is."
Pet owners should also monitor their family and other furry friends that may have been exposed to their infected cat, Glantz said. Any human bird flu illness should be reported to local public health officials.
Transmission of bird flu from a cat to a human is "less likely" but is possible, Karwacki said.
"If you take the precautions — wash your hands, if you're immunocompromised stay away from any cat that's acting sick — you should be OK," she added
The virus sheds in saliva, feces and other bodily fluids, like nasal secretions, Glantz said. It's possible that a human could spread the virus between pets if a sick cat sneezes mucus on your leg and then another cat were to lick your pants. Conversely, viruses could also be transmitted from person to person via an animal, like if a person sneezed onto a cat and then another person happened to touch the snot on their fur. Viruses can generally pass between people and animals, but the risk is relatively minor.
"Many strains of influenza, as well as some other respiratory viruses, including COVID-19, can be spread from humans to dogs and cats," Glantz said. "Typically, illness is unlikely to develop. I personally saw only a few cats with clinical illness from COVID-19, and all had preexisting complicating factors, such as chronic lung disease, cancer and immunosuppressive therapy."
People should isolate from their pets when they are sick, he added.
"At this stage, it's most important to avoid unnecessary exposure to the active virus," Glantz said.
That means domesticated cats should stay indoors to avoid coming in contact with infected birds and also should not be fed raw meat or milk.
Karwacki said a "handful" of cat owners that she sees feed their felines raw diets, and that it's been growing in popularity, although it is at a "minimal" level compared with dog owners. Some feed their cats commercial raw foods, which may be freeze-dried to theoretically kill germs, but much is unknown about their safety.
"I would generally recommend feeding diets that have known safety standards," Glantz said. "For example, freeze-dried raw foods may be safer, but are not considered safe for human consumption."
Others simply feed their cats raw meat, which comes with its own set of concerns.
"Basically you're buying the meat from the butcher, no cooking to it," Karwacki said. "So you have to be very careful anyway because you can get E. coli and salmonella issues. So you have to be super careful where your meat's coming from, how it's being handled, how you're storing it, how long you're taking to feed it, things like that."
While raw diets are a "hot button issue" at the moment, Glantz said the "overwhelming consensus" from veterinarians is to avoid raw foods of any kind.
"Since there is absolutely no evidence of benefit to feeding raw diets, I recommend avoiding it for safer options," Glantz said.
Any pet owners who are overwhelmed with stress over their cats getting sick with bird flu should call their vets to help assuage their fears.
"If anyone's worried, definitely contact your veterinarian because we'll know the best things to do and what to look for," Karwacki said.
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