Experts have warned against feeding raw pet foods to the felines after a pet cat in Oregon reportedly died after consuming the frozen pet food contaminated by bird flu.
The warnings came after the cat food maker Northwest Naturals recalled one batch of its 2lb Feline Turkey Recipe raw frozen pet food after it was tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus.
The feline death is the first such incident since 2022. Up until now, there were reports of pets being infected with bird flu but there were hardly any reports of death, NBC reported.
“By late 2024, there had been over 25 cases reported,” said Dr. Jane Sykes, a professor of small animal internal medicine at the University of California-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. “They were mostly cats on dairy farms in states such as Texas and Colorado. There have also been some indoor cats with no known exposure. They may have been fed raw diets or unpasteurized milk.”
Sykes said the cat’s death is the first documented one in which a pet died by simply eating raw pet food and not coming into contact with any poultry or dairy cows dying from the virus—which are most notorious for causing bird flu contamination.
Experts are now strongly advising against feeding the pets raw foods as the incident opened eyes about them too having potential contamination risks.
However, in the U.S. instances of people feeding commercial raw food to cats or dogs are relatively low—only 2%, NBC reported, citing a 2024 American Pet Products survey.
Stephen Cole, an assistant professor of microbiology and director of the clinical infectious disease laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine noted that processed pet food products have a lesser chance of contamination as compared to the raw ones.
Experts countered the common belief among pet parents that feeding raw foods to their felines is safe as they are freeze-dried, stating that the said process might double the chance of the food harboring several harmful viruses.
“Freezing is just a good way to preserve viruses,” said Dr. J. Scott Weese, a professor at the Ontario Veterinary College and director of the Center for Public Health and Zoonoses at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. “So you can’t say stick it in the freezer and that will get rid of the virus.”
The Food and Drug Administration is currently investigating cases of cats infected with bird flu in several Western states.
With at least ten recalls since 2018 because of contamination, the US FDA has determined that raw pet foods are more likely to contain illnesses. Potential listeria and salmonella contamination, which can result in deadly infections in pets and severe diseases in people, prompted recent recalls by Viva Raw LLC and Answers Pet Food, reported USA Today.
