Respiratory ailments are quite common in cats, and shouldn’t be a right away trigger for alarm. Nonetheless there may be an rising illness coming- H5N1, higher generally known as Chicken Flu.
This began out in wild chicken populations, however in March of 2024 was detected in dairy cattle within the US. It was famous not lengthy after that cats on these dairy farms turned sick, and plenty of of them died. These cats had been ingesting uncooked, unpasteurized milk straight from the cows. It was sequenced and located to be the identical pressure that the cows had. Extra just lately, cats which have been fed uncooked diets have additionally been coming down with the Chicken Flu. The unhealthy information is, this isn’t your common higher respiratory tract an infection. These cats current with pneumonia, lack of urge for food, fever, and neurological indicators equivalent to tremors, seizures and blindness. Euthanasia is nearly at all times carried out for these cats. Cats which have outside entry are additionally in danger, as they might hunt wild birds which have H5N1.
Present veterinary suggestions are:
- Maintain cats indoors
- Don’t feed uncooked diets, particularly these containing poultry (hen and duck)
- Don’t feed uncooked dairy merchandise
- Maintain cats updated on rabies vaccination, as indicators can mimic rabies an infection
Communicate with your loved ones veterinarian when you’ve got any considerations about your cats, and H5N1.
– Jill Ok Kirk, DVM, MS, Chief Veterinary Officer, Ontario SPCA and Humane Society.Â
