Is your cat or dog at risk?

CLEVELAND — We've heard a lot about the impact of bird flu on egg prices and poultry farms, but birds are everywhere, including in your backyard.

Even though it typically doesn’t cross species, bird flu is especially dangerous for one type of house pet. 

“The one that we're concerned about right now is H5N1, specifically the highly pathogenic strain of that,” said Dr. Vanessa Mocanu, doctor of veterinary medicine.

She said the current strain is particularly contagious.

“There's not usually a crossover, but H5N1 seems to be really good at getting into mammal population as well,” Mocanu said.

And cat owners may need to be cautious.

“They seem to be predisposed to, one, getting bird flu and, two, having severe disease associated with that. So we know that bird flu can jump to other mammals, but sometimes it doesn't cause really severe symptoms. But cats seem to be really severely affected, and in a lot of cases, can even die from it,” she said.

A greater concern would be for outdoor cats, in particular cats that live near bodies of water as the bird flu had been affecting waterfowl. But that’s not the only way cats can get it.

“One of the biggest sources for cats is actually raw food,” she said. She suggests cooking raw food particularly chicken or turkey.

“It's sad because people think they're doing the right thing in terms of feeding them these, quite often, expensive raw diets and they could be a source of disease,” Mocanu said.

But she said she’s less worried about dogs.

“They’re able to get it but we’re not seeing the same kind of severe illness that we are in cats.”

Mocanu said cat lovers should be cautious until bird migration ends or until the bird flu season dies down.

“In the last couple years, we’ve seen a rise in flu rates that usually dies down in mid-summer, but we may not see that this year. Every year is different.”