“Home cats are literally extremely prone to avian influenza, and particularly H5N1,” mentioned Kristen Coleman, an infectious illness researcher on the College of Maryland. “However there was a current uptick in home cat infections, a drastic uptick.”
There have been sporadic reviews of contaminated canine, too.
Whereas hen flu infections of pets stay uncommon total, they are often extreme, particularly in cats. “It ends in very extreme sickness and oftentimes demise,” Dr. Coleman mentioned. “So it’s very severe, and it needs to be taken significantly.”
However a number of “cheap precautions” will help folks preserve their pets protected, she mentioned.
Right here’s what to know:
How are cats getting hen flu?
On dairy farms, cats have been contaminated after ingesting unpasteurized milk, often known as uncooked milk, which comprises very excessive ranges of the virus, from sick cows. Greater than 80 p.c of affected dairy farms had cats on their premises, and greater than half of these farms reported sick or lifeless cats, in line with federal knowledge launched on Thursday.
However even earlier than the current dairy outbreak, there have been reviews of contaminated cats, a few of which most likely caught the virus once they preyed upon contaminated birds. “As we get extra lifeless, wild birds on the panorama, if we get extra lifeless poultry on the panorama, these carnivores that will get into them and ingest them, even after they’re lifeless, are getting only a large dose of virus,” mentioned Dr. Justin Brown, a wildlife veterinarian at Penn State.
A couple of bigger outbreaks have additionally been linked to contaminated uncooked poultry. In 2023, for example, hen flu outbreaks hit two cat shelters in Seoul. Authorities investigators there subsequently discovered the virus in uncooked duck meat fed to the cats.
