Bird flu attacks cats after cows

Cats are contracting and succumbing to avian influenza (or bird flu), a situation that is raising concerns about the risk these feline furballs and their owners face from the ongoing outbreak of highly virulent H5N1 avian influenza.

Since 2021, this outbreak has sickened and killed wild birds and poultry in the United States. A wide range of mammals have also been exposed to H5N1, including farm animals like goats, dairy cattle and, most recently, four Idaho alpacas, according to Scientific alert.

Avian influenza viruses can undergo random modifications that improve their ability to reproduce in mammalian cells when they infect mammals. This suggests that avian flu could evolve and spread more easily in humans.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said May 24 that there is no indication the virus has yet undergone the kind of alterations needed to spread quickly from person to person. People who have had intimate contact with livestock or poultry make up the majority of those affected so far.

Outdoor cats can become infected after catching wild birds, says Meghan Davis, a veterinarian and environmental epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “Whether they eat them or not, that might be enough contact.”