Cats Have More ‘Opportunity’ to Get Bird Flu: What to Know

President-elect of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), Dr. Michael Bailey, told USA Today that cats, by nature, have more of an “opportunity” to contract a bird flu infection.

Cats of all varieties tend to explore and hunt smaller prey, such as birds and mice, which can carry bird flu.

“We don't know if the cats are more susceptible than anybody else,” he told USA Today in an article that published Friday. “It's just the fact they're exposed to higher viral burdens because of where they go.”

Newsweek has reached out to the AVMA on Saturday morning for additional comment.

Why It Matters

Bird flu, or Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), caused by viruses such as H5N1 and H5N8, spreads primarily through contact with infected birds, their droppings, or contaminated surfaces.

While human-to-pet transmission is rare, pets including cats and dogs can become infected if they come into close contact with infected birds or consume raw meat from infected poultry.

Pets are naturally curious, and this could put them at risk. It is important to minimize their exposure to wild birds and areas where infected birds might be present.

What To Know

According to the AVMA, food is the primary source of infection for cats, most often unpasteurized milk and raw or undercooked meat and poultry. Other potential sources of bird flu infection include raw colostrum and other unpasteurized dairy products (like cream), exposure to infected wild birds or poultry and exposure to people who work on affected farms and to their clothing or other objects.

Nearly 900 herds of cattle across 16 states have experienced bird flu infections, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported.

However, bird flu has infected various animals beyond wild birds, poultry and cows. Earlier this week, a Washington sanctuary reported that the disease had killed 20 big cats in its care, accounting for more than half of the sanctuary's animal population.

Domestic cats are also susceptible to bird flu, as evidenced by a house cat in Oregon that recently died after consuming raw, frozen cat food contaminated with the virus.

If the virus adapts to move swiftly between our furry friends, then it could be more easily spread from cats to humans too, according to a new paper in the journal Emerging Microbes & Infections.

According to the study, there was an outbreak of H5N1 in South Dakota in April 2024, which resulted in 10 cats dying after exhibiting neurological and respiratory symptoms.

“Necropsy and laboratory testing of two cats confirmed H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b infection. The viral genome sequences are closely related to recent SD cattle H5N1 sequences,” the researchers wrote in the paper. “The exact source of infection remains unclear; however, phylogenetic analysis of H5N1 sequences from two of the cats reveals a close genetic relationship to clade 2.3.4.4b strains previously detected in local cattle, suggesting a possible link.”

Cats have previously been infected by H5N1, but they only tended to have respiratory symptoms. This clade 2.3.4.4.b appears to also result in neurological impacts, which have also been observed in sea lions and foxes.

According to the paper, cats may become infected with H5N1 from birds or cattle, and serve as a reservoir to infect humans. The virus in the South Dakota cats was also found to have mutations unique to the cats, meaning that the virus is capable of adapting to new hosts.

Currently, no vaccine is available for animals in the U.S.

What People Are Saying

Dr. Jane Sykes, professor of Small Animal Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases at the University of California-Davis, told Newsweek in a Friday email statement: “Fatality rates have been in the order of 50 [percent] to 70 percent and the disease can progress rapidly, in some cases resembling rabies as well as many other illnesses. There are no antivirals or vaccines we can use and our ability to diagnose this before death is limited due to the lack of readily available diagnostic tests for veterinarians in small animal practice. Many of the trendy 'boutique' diets are not properly cooked and could harbor the virus, such as ‘freeze-dried' diets that are marketed as being health-promoting. Not feeding raw milk also means avoiding feeding any raw dairy products [such as raw milk cheeses] and raw eggs.”

Scott Gottlieb, a physician and former FDA commissioner, wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “Most believe it's unlikely H5N1 will develop into a pandemic, but in low probability scenario it does, U.S. will have only itself to blame. Agricultural officials did just about everything wrong over last year, hoping virus would burn out and it didn't.”

Professor Ed Hutchinson, virus expert at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, in previous comments to Newsweek: “When an influenza virus from a different animal adapts to spread effectively among humans, the result is a pandemic… The more encounters the virus has with humans, the more chances it has to adapt to growing in them, and if it can mix and match its genes with a human seasonal flu, that could accelerate this process.”

What's Next

As bird flu remains an ongoing concern, pet owners are reminded that prevention is the best strategy for protecting their furry companions from the disease.