H5N1 feline tragedies took no respite for Christmas on the West Coast. The gold star of the week goes to State Veterinarian Dr. Ryan Scholz and his dedicated team in Oregon for rapidly testing samples from both a deceased cat and an associated raw food source to establish a “smoking gun” link between the cat’s consumption of H5N1 tainted raw turkey and its rapid demise: Oregon Department of Agriculture Raw Pet Food Recall. The Oregon Department of Agriculture and Department of Health took proper notification and monitoring safeguards in protecting human and animal health related to this incident. The manufacturer took the proper step in recalling contaminated product; however, in my opinion, marketing raw meat for pets is an extremely hazardous business proposition to ever consider.

Back in California, the LA county Public Health Department released the following on December 24th after the Oregon finding: Public Health Warns Against Feeding Pets Raw Food Following H5 Bird Flu Virus Detection. California officials continue to investigate the deaths of several cats from at least 2 households without known exposure to raw milk and current undocumented exposure to raw food sources.

The Oregon case feline and meat sample viruses have already been deposited to GISAID, with the H gene falling squarely in the B3.13 clade-GISAID USA H5N1 H Segment:

On its website, Northwest Naturals makes the following statement regarding sourcing for turkey in its pet products: It’s quite interesting that a B3.13 positive turkey product should reportedly originate from either Iowa or Pennsylvania, where B3.13 dairy infections have not been reported recently (Iowa) or ever (PA). This is a frozen product, so it is possible that this turkey was produced in Iowa back in the time frame when HPAI H5N1 b2.3.4.4B3.13 genotype was circulating in Iowa dairy herds and turkey flocks late last summer, then frozen for later distribution. I assume someone has been or will be tracing back this product through the supply chain to uncover the source herd or area of the infected product.

Over-reliance on FSIS inspection for freedom from H5N1 is the other cautionary point. We must remember that the USDA meat inspection process is organoleptic, not molecular! Influenza replicates and becomes systemic for a short period prior to appearance of fever and clinical signs. When infection risk is extremely high such as it is in California currently, it’s not possible to guarantee that every lot passing FSIS inspection will be AI free, for either poultry or cattle. Recall that FSIS recently found H5 by PCR in a beef diaphragm in a carcass initially passed for slaughter in California. In these unfortunate situations, felines may become sentinels for viral residues in raw meat, if pet food manufacturers, retailers, and owners are ignorant enough to allow feeding of raw products without mitigation of some sort.

News from the big cat sanctuary die-off in Washington remains very confusing to me, in that no one seems to be “in charge” from a regulatory standpoint. There are no reports of human illness, so public health and CDC have not been involved. Sanctuaries seem to fall in the never-land of “not farms, not wildlife, and not zoos”. State laws vary on jurisdiction; I have no idea what the particulars may be in Washington state.