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The cases have spurred new pet food safety rules and poultry surveillance efforts.
Jan. 23, 2025, 10:00 a.m. ET
Federal officials who spent the last year grappling with a surge of bird flu infections in cows and people are now confronting a spate of new cases in cats, some of which have died after eating contaminated, uncooked pet food.
Since early December, more than two dozen cases have been confirmed in domestic cats in the United States. Officials have linked some of the cases to virus-laden raw milk, which is known to pose a serious risk to cats. But other cats fell ill after eating commercially available raw pet food — the first known cases in the country linked to pet food.
The cases have already prompted one pet food manufacturer to recall some of its products. And last week, federal officials announced new pet food safety rules and poultry surveillance efforts.
Bird flu “is an emerging contaminant in animal food,” Dr. Steve Grube, a chief medical officer at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said at a briefing last week.
Still, experts and officials said that there was no need for pet owners to panic. There is no evidence that infected cats have passed the virus on to people, and the cases have been linked specifically to unpasteurized milk and uncooked meat or poultry products.
Most commercial pet foods are cooked or heat-treated. “The heat of processing should be enough to inactivate the virus,” said Phyllis Entis, a food safety microbiologist who worked for Canada’s food safety agency.
