Bird flu: Cats died in California after drinking recalled raw milk

California man whose two cats died after drinking raw milk recalled for risk of bird flu said he wanted to keep his beloved pets healthy, but his efforts tragically backfired.

“It’s horrible when you realize you’re the one who gave them the milk that killed them,” said Joseph Journell, 56, of San Bernardino.

Journell lost her 14-year-old tabby cat, Alexander, and Tuxsie, a 4-year-old tuxedo cat, in late November. A third cat, 4-year-old Big Boy, was hospitalized for a week before tests revealed the animal was infected with the virus. H5N1 bird flu virus.

The cats drank unpasteurized milk from recalled lots by Raw Farm of Fresno, including dairy products were shot off California store shelves in December after health officials discovered the virus in milk on sale, he said. The animals’ deaths were confirmed by state and county health officials. The cats were kept indoors, without access to potentially infected birds, and ate conventional, non-raw pet food, the owner said.

Journell said he himself has been drinking raw farm milk for several months because he heard it has “better immune and healing properties” than pasteurized milk. He thought it might help Alexander, who was losing weight.

“I was trying to make him healthier and make him live longer,” Journell said.

Instead, Alexander died on Thanksgiving Day. Tuxsie followed two days later.

Big Boy was hospitalized and treated with antiviral drugs, Journell said. The veterinary team collected urine samples from the cat, which was confirmed positive for H5N1, at laboratories run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Cornell University, records show.

Big Boy returned home blind and without use of his back legs, although he is recovering, Journell said. A fourth cat, Cleo, did not drink milk and remained healthy.

Journell has requested that Raw Farm owner Mark McAfee compensate him for the more than $12,000 he spent treating the cats, according to Ilana Korchia, a Seattle food safety attorney who represents him.

In an interview, McAfee disputed that the virus was capable of making animals sick within days of being bottled and sold, citing preliminary research.

But Richard Webby, a flu expert at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, said survival of the flu virus probably varies greatly among different batches of milk. Experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention previously confirmed that cats who drank raw milk from infected cows developed a neurological disease and died.

“I think the poor cats are the best indicator!” Webby wrote in an email.

In California, nearly a dozen cats have died since early December after consuming raw milk or raw animal food contaminated with bird flu, health authorities said.

These infections follow a massive outbreak of the avian flu virus in dairy cows, which affected more than 900 U.S. dairy herds in 16 states. About 80% of these herds are in California.

Federal and state health officials have warned people not to drink raw milk because of the potential risk of infection with bird flu and a host of other germs. Authorities also warned pet owners to avoid giving their pets unpasteurized milk and raw meat.

“Cats should not be fed products from affected farms if those products have not been thoroughly cooked or pasteurized to kill the virus,” the FDA warned last month.

After the cats became ill, Journell said he became ill himself and sought care at a Kaiser Permanente hospital in Fontana, California. He said he was not examined for bird flu, despite his known exposure to the virus, because medical staff did not do so. have tests to detect it.

A Kaiser spokesperson declined to comment specifically on Journell’s case, but said the hospital system follows CDC guidelines for testing for bird flu.

Journell recovered physically but said he still suffered from the “mental anguish” of losing his pets. Despite the ordeal, he said he still believes raw milk offers some health benefits.

However, he won’t be drinking it anytime soon.

“Not at the moment,” he said. “And not for the foreseeable future.”

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