One other Cat Euthanized After Consuming Uncooked Meals Tainted With Chicken Flu

The FDA issued a warning this week after well being officers found {that a} cat who turned ailing and needed to be euthanized was doubtless contaminated by the identical pressure of chicken flu that was found in uncooked cat meals eaten by the family pet. It’s the primary documented case of a cat being put down over hyperlinks to consuming cat meals contaminated with chicken flu since the spring, when it was occurring extra often within the U.S.

The FDA recognized and examined retail samples of RAWR Uncooked Cat Meals Rooster Eats in San Francisco, California, with a sell-by date of 09/18/26. Each examined constructive for Influenza A Virus, and H5N1 chicken flu was present in one of many samples, in response to a press launch from the FDA.

The USDA Nationwide Veterinary Providers Laboratories examined the deceased cat, confirming it had chicken flu, and used subsequent entire genome sequencing (WGS) to find out that the uncooked pet meals “originated from a typical supply of contamination.”

From the FDA information launch:

WGS outcomes additionally indicated that H5N1 from all three samples had been throughout the similar WGS cluster, indicating relatedness. The cluster entails a virus lineage that was detected from about November to December 2024 and is not circulating, supporting that the cat turned ailing from consuming Lot CCS 25 093 of the Rooster Eats product.

NVSL testing of the cat, Lot CCS 25 093, and Lot CCS 25 077 recognized the H5N1 as genotype B3.13. The B3.13 genotype virus has beforehand been present in different manufacturers of uncooked poultry-based pet meals that had been related to the sickness or loss of life of cats.

There have been 70 human circumstances of chicken flu within the U.S. since 2024, in response to the CDC’s web site, which hasn’t been up to date in over a month. The CDC additionally isn’t publicly monitoring animal circumstances anymore, in response to Johns Hopkins.

No human has been recognized to be contaminated with chicken flu from consuming meals, and a lot of the circumstances have been in farm employees interacting with chickens and cows. However the public has a lot much less visibility into what’s really occurring with chicken flu as of late, because of modifications by the Trump administration. The one human loss of life within the U.S. attributed to this present H5N1 outbreak was in Louisiana back in January, shortly earlier than Trump was sworn in.

The chicken flu made the leap to dairy cows in the U.S. in 2024, prompting issues a few mutated model of H5N1 doubtlessly spreading from human to human. However there haven’t been any documented circumstances of that taking place, and far much less consideration has been targeted on H5N1 in current months, because of of us like HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

In March of this yr, Kennedy gave an interview to Fox Nation the place he stated that farmers shouldn’t cull flocks of birds once they discover H5N1.

“We’ve in actual fact stated to [the U.S. Department of Agriculture] that they need to take into account possibly the potential of letting it run via the flock in order that we are able to determine the birds and protect the birds which are resistant to it,” Kennedy stated on the time.

A couple of week later, Kennedy reiterated his thought to Sean Hannity of Fox Information, insisting, “Most of our scientists are in opposition to the culling operation.” It’s not clear to what extent American poultry farmers have taken his recommendation. Once more, the CDC merely isn’t monitoring animal circumstances on farms anymore.