The recent situation has raised more discussion about the role of mass culling in response to H5N1 influenza infection in domestic / captive birds. After H5N1 flu was identified on an ostrich farm in British Columbia, the CFIA ordered all 400 birds to be culled, but the owner is trying to find options to preserve
Blue Ridge Beef has (again) recalled a diet because of Salmonella contamination – this time a kitten diet. As is often the case, the issue was identified after a pet that was fed the diet got sick. This follows a recall of a puppy diet from the same company in December for Salmonella contamination was
Issues with raw diets and H5N1 influenza risk in cats (and dogs) have gotten a lot of attention in the last week or two. Like most emerging disease situations, it’s still fluid, and we’re learning more as time goes on, but we know enough at this point to at least make some basic assessments and
Hot on the heels of the recent death of a cat in Oregon due to H5N1 influenza infection linked to a raw diet (that some raw diet proponents are trying to deflect or downplay), we have confirmation of a very similar case in California. Los Angeles County Public Health has issued a notice to avoid
The Oregon Department of Health has issued a warning to pet owners about contaminated raw pet food after H5N1 avian influenza virus was detected in turkey-based raw (and frozen raw) pet food from Morasch Meats. Testing was performed after the death of an indoor cat from H5N1 flu in Washington County, Oregon. The virus
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has released more information about recent cases of H5 influenza in cats, including links to raw milk exposure and potentially to raw meat diets. This expands on the information I wrote about yesterday regarding H5 influenza cases in California cats linked to recalled raw milk,
There’s a reason we pasteurize milk: there’s always a risk of contamination of raw milk with infectious agents, and pasteurization is a cheap, easy and effective way to mitigate disease risks from drinking milk and other dairy products. There are no clear benefits to raw milk (despite what some may say) and the risks from
Warning: Long post. Lots to unpack here.
As H5N1 avian influenza continues to spillover into domestic animals and people, the question of when to test animals (especially cats) keeps coming up. Testing isn’t just a matter of swabbing a bunch of animals and sending the samples to the lab (which unfortunately is not uncommonly done,
As H5N1 avian influenza continues its unprecedented spread internationally among wild birds, domestic bird, different mammals and even people, concerns continue to increase. One of the things that increases risk with influenza viruses is the number of species a strain can infect. The more species the virus can infect, the more risk of exposure to
While rabies kills approximately 50,000 people a year globally, there’s no reason anyone should die from rabies in places where people have access to a well developed public health system. Rabies is almost invariably fatal, but is also almost entirely preventable with appropriate and timely response to an exposure. The weak link is getting people
