H5N1 and Raw Pet Food - Oregon Nails Down a Link in a Deceased Housecat
LA County finds more cases, while the big cat deaths in Washington sanctuary remain tragic, confusing, and unresolved
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. Here are 2 press accounts of the events:
According to Seattle KING5 news posted on December 23rd:
SHELTON, Wash. — …The Washington State Department of Health has confirmed that the avian flu has been detected at a wildlife advocacy center in Mason County and said, “The situation is being investigated by WSDA and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to determine the likely source of infection to the felines.”
“We've lost 20 cats due to this virus, or symptoms of this bird flu virus,” said Mark Mathews, the director of the Wild Felid Advocacy Center….
At the end of November, the sanctuary had 37 cats, now down to 17.
Mathews said the first cat got sick around Thanksgiving and the state confirmed cases of the avian flu in some of their cats in early December.
Mathews said of the remaining cats, there is one in critical condition, four are recovering, and 12 have not had any symptoms….
The center is hoping for financial support from the community due to the costs of medical care for the cats and having to throw away thousands of pounds of meat as a safeguard….
The Washington State Veterinarian told KING 5 that in most cases, cats are infected through infected carcasses or meat products….
“What we're seeing right now is there's no evidence of mammal-to-mammal transmission, and there's no evidence of mammal-to-human or human-to-human transmission,” said Dr. Itle.
In a separate news posting, Seattle’s Fox13 Television posted: Timeline: Bird flu outbreak kills big cats at shelter south of Seattle
On December 2, the Wild Felid Advocacy Center of Washington temporarily closed to the public to protect the cats in its care, stating that some of the animals were experiencing an unknown illness.
On December 6, the shelter announced that animal health officials had confirmed the presence of bird flu in some of the cats.
After receiving confirmation, the shelter announced that the facility was under quarantine and would remain closed until the quarantine was lifted.
"We are working hard with federal and state animal health officials, as well as county public health officials, to ensure that our staff, volunteers, and all animals are monitored closely," the shelter announced on Facebook. "As an animal sanctuary, we are equipped to manage viruses effectively by enforcing strict biosecurity measures, quarantining affected animals, and disinfecting properly to protect our other animals and the public."
At the time, the shelter explained that bird flu is a viral infection carried by wild birds and spread through bird-to-bird contact.
On December 20, the Wild Felid Advocacy Center of Washington made an urgent announcement, saying that more than half of the animals in the sanctuary had been affected by the bird flu outbreak and that 20 animals had died as a result.
"We are heartbroken to share that animal health officials have confirmed the presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) among over half of our wild felids as of December 2024." Wild Felid Advocacy Center of Washington via Facebook
In this post, the shelter explained that, in addition to bird-to-bird contact, bird flu can also be contracted by carnivorous mammals that eat infected birds or other products.
"We have suffered significant losses among our beloved residents. It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of the following wild cats:
1 Amur/Bengal tiger: Tabbi
4 cougars: Hooligan, Holly, Harley, Hannah Wyoming
1 African caracal: Crackle
2 Canadian lynx: Chickie and P’uch’ub
1 Geoffroy cat: Mouse
1 Bengal cat: Pebbles
1 Eurasian lynx: Thumper
4 bobcats: Digger, Willie-Bob, Ruffian, Tank
5 African servals: Nile, Percival, Nefertiti, Blondie, Shasta"
Expert private veterinarians are overseeing treatment and prevention strategies, while strict biosecurity measures and comprehensive disinfection protocols are being implemented.
From these narratives we can glean that one or more cats first became ill in late November, did not respond to treatment, and that the state confirmed case(s) of H5N1 influenza and quarantined the center in early December, as announced by the center on December 6th via Facebook.
I made the effort to document the 2 narratives regarding the outbreak because we lack any record from state or federal officials regarding a major reportable H5N1 outbreak in a publicly accessible big cat sanctuary! Once officials confirmed an H5N1 diagnosis on December 6th, I really struggle to understand why:
the case was not publicly announced by a governmental entity with genotyping results reported ASAP;
follow-up cases were not tracked, diagnosed, and reported; and
epidemiological workups, including food source testing was not immediately instituted to aid in analysis
Apparently, cats continued to succumb for the next 14 days, until the center announced on December 20th the passing of a total of 20 big cats as part of an urgent announcement and appeal for funding. We don’t know how many of these 20 cats were necropsied and submitted for official confirmatory testing.
There are huge epidemiological questions remaining unanswered regarding this outbreak, including the course and spread of the infection within the sanctuary, meat sources and H5N1 viral status of those sources, and importantly, genotype(s) of isolates over the course of the outbreak, including any pertinent SNP’s over time. Serological sampling of any surviving animals would also be of great interest, if possible.
The press releases describe destruction of existing meat supplies, but do not mention any assay work in progress. I hope that people controlling testing decisions have not avoided it to minimize supplier concerns. Zoos and sanctuaries are on a steep learning curve for safe feeding of carnivores in today’s H5N1 environment. Lessons from failures will be important guideposts for avoiding future losses when we really have little understanding yet of where risks may lie. The big cats have to eat meat; the task is to find safe ways to source it for them, taking as few future risks as possible.
Oregon and Washington provide contrasting examples of investigating possible raw meat-induced fatal H5N1 outbreaks in feline species. In one case we have a positive product with matching sequenced viral isolates to provide evidence for dangerous product recalls as well as vital new information for future risk assessments. In the big cat case, we have perhaps a few feline isolates (not yet posted), no known information on the food source shared to date, and little documented epidemiological data on a major outbreak in an enclosed big cat population possibly fed a common food source. While it can be argued that this is a private sanctuary with no requirements to share information, H5N1 is a reportable condition in all species under the federal order since the dairy outbreak. From a moral and humane standpoint collecting and sharing information and conducting investigations is critical for the welfare of all big cats currently in captivity in the U.S.
Finally, a brief return to H5N1 viral particles in meat and poultry products… viral contamination in any retail meat is likely quite rare. However, we can no longer state that poultry or red meat is always “negative” for H5N1. The positive turkey product should be traced back and publicly explained. Was the product FSIS passed and originating from Iowa or Pennsylvania, as claimed by the manufacturer? If so, how did it come to be contaminated with H5N1 2.3.4.4b B3.13 virus? What was the viral level? How long was the product frozen?
Then FSIS needs to shine light on the progress of its “H5N1 residue program”. We know one positive sample was reported earlier. What is the current situation? Is the program targeted towards cull dairy cows in California only? If so, we might expect “worst case” higher positivity rates now versus a national rate and later on when the epidemic subsides.
Finally, let’s be honest about H5N1 in cattle - this likely begins as a transient oronasal and respiratory, then systemic infection! USDA keeps pretending that all the action is in the udder; if that were the case, we would not find virus systemically as has been done repeatedly in research and necropsy work. This virus can make its way into meat tissue, and it can most likely be found in beef animals infected under the right conditions. We should stop being afraid to look for both virus by PCR and antibodies by ELISA in our highly exposed beef herds to assess the risk of any such occurrences.
All the science of mammalian H5N1 will get more straight-forward once we lower the political and information blockades slowing our talented research communities from discovering new insights.
John