FILE - A cat walks among chickens in a market on March 1, 2007, in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia.(Photo by: Dimas Ardian / Getty Images)
The death of an Oregon house cat, who became ill after eating raw pet food contaminated with bird flu, recently prompted a nationwide recall.
The Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) on Thursday said samples of Northwest Naturals 2lb turkey recipe raw & frozen pet food tested positive for a H5N1 strain of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) virus.
Testing by multiple U.S. Department of Agriculture labs in Oregon confirmed a house cat in Washington County contracted H5N1 and died after eating the raw frozen pet food, according to a statement from the ODA.
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Tests confirmed a genetic match between the virus in the raw and frozen pet food and the infected cat, according to the ODA.
"We are confident that this cat contracted H5N1 by eating the Northwest Naturals raw and frozen pet food," said Ryan Scholz, ODA state veterinarian. "This cat was strictly an indoor cat; it was not exposed to the virus in its environment, and results from the genome sequencing confirmed that the virus recovered from the raw pet food and infected cat were exact matches to each other."
The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) and local public health officials are monitoring household members who had contact with the cat for flu symptoms, according to officials.
Northwest Naturals, a Portland, Oregon-based company, issued a voluntary recall for the food, which is packaged in 2-pound plastic bags with "Best if used by" dates of 05/21/26 B10 and 06/23/2026 B1.
The product was sold nationwide through distributors in AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, IL, MD, MI, MN, PA, RI and WA in the United States, and British Columbia in Canada, according to the ODA. Customers who purchased the recalled product should immediately discard the product and contact the place of purchase for a full refund.
Although Oregon has reported one confirmed human case of HPAI, no human cases have been linked to the incident, officials said.
Neighboring states such as Idaho, Nevada, and California reported HPAI cases in dairy cattle herds, contributing to over 700 confirmed cases in 16 states nationwide, according to the ODA.
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Bird flu: California declares emergency, warnings issued in Texas
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency due to H5N1, more commonly known as avian influenza or bird flu. The emergency follows an outbreak of the virus among dairy cows in Southern California farms, according to the news release on the governor’s website. After initially being reported in Texas and Kansas in March, bird flu has been confirmed in cattle across 16 U.S. states, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported. LiveNOW's Austin Westfall spoke about the avian flu with FOX 7 Austin reporter Tan Radford and Dr. Peter Chin-Hong from University of California San Francisco Health system.
As a precautionary measure, the department announced earlier this month it will test milk from every commercial dairy across the state.
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To avoid the spread of disease, experts strongly encourage people and their pets to:
- Avoid consuming raw or undercooked meat products
- Avoid consuming raw dairy
- Limit contact with sick or dead animals
- Wash hands after handling raw animal products or contact with sick or dead animals
- Report sick or dead birds to ODA at 503-986-4711
- Keep pets or poultry away from wild waterfowl
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Northwest Naturals did not immediately respond to FOX Business' request for comment.
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