Urgent recall for pet food contaminated with bird flu, issued after cat died

An emergency recall has been issued for pet food after a cat died from eating the product, which was later found to be contaminated with bird flu.

Northwest Naturals, based in Portland, Oregon, is voluntarily recalling bags of its ‘Turkey Recipe’ raw frozen pet food after it tested positive for the avian flu virus.

The product that tested positive was the company’s 98 percent bagged turkey, organs and bones, frozen raw food.

It was sold in the US through distributors in Washington, Arizona, Rhode Island, Georgia, Maryland and several other states.

The products were also distributed in British Columbia, Canada.

It’s unclear when the deceased cat ate the food, but lab tests showed there was a “genetic match between the virus in the raw and frozen food and the infected cat.”

Consuming raw or uncooked pet food contaminated with bird flu can cause illness in animals.

Dogs and cats infected with bird flu may show a combination of symptoms, including fever, lack of energy, loss of appetite, stomach problems and seizures.

To date, one death from the virus linked to the product has been reported in a domestic cat, but no human cases have been linked.

In humans, bird flu is spread by close contact with an infected bird (dead or alive), such as by handling infected birds, touching feces or litter, or killing/preparing infected poultry for cooking.

You cannot contract the virus from eating fully cooked poultry or eggs, but raw products can be dangerous.

The recalled product is packaged in 2-pound plastic bags marked with “best before used” dates: 05/26/26 and 06/23/2026.

The company is working with the Oregon Department of Agriculture on the recall, which has not been issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Laboratory tests from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Oregon State University confirmed that a cat died after consuming raw, frozen pet food.

Commenting on the case, ODA state veterinarian Dr. Ryan Scholz: “We believe this cat contracted H5N1 from eating Northwest Naturals raw and frozen pet food.

‘This cat was purely an indoor cat; it was not exposed to the virus in its environment, and the genome sequencing results confirmed that the virus recovered from the raw pet food and the infected cat were exact matches to each other.”

Consumers who purchased the recalled product are instructed to throw it away immediately and contact the place of purchase for a full refund.

An emergency recall has been issued for pet food after it tested positive for bird flu and a cat died as a result in Oregon (stock image)

A record number of people, cattle and birds have been infected with bird flu this year, in a wave experts are calling “astonishing.”

And last week, the US reported its first serious human case of H5N1 – with California declaring a state of emergency over the virus just hours later.

The CDC still says the virus poses a “low” threat to the public, adding there is no evidence it has begun to spread from person to person.

But infectious disease experts are concerned about the numbers. They warn of the scale of cases and any infection outside of birds increases the risk of the virus acquiring mutations, allowing it to spread between people.

Dr. Marc Johnson, a virologist at the University of Missouri, said of

Overall, the figures show that since the virus was discovered in the US in January 2022, more than 12,000 wild and domestic flocks have been infected.

After After the virus spread to cows this year, it was diagnosed in 866 herds in 16 states – the majority of them in California And Colorado.

And this year, 65 cases have now been discovered in people in nine states, the most cases reported in the U.S. in at least two decades.

Before the current outbreak, the last human case of bird flu was in 1997.