very good points to keep in mind but also if you have a cat you should as a matter of policy be allowing 0 of these 3 things to happen anyway, bird flu or not, this is just normal responsible cat ownership - ThreadSky

nameshiv.bsky.social • 61 days ago

very good points to keep in mind but also if you have a cat you should as a matter of policy be allowing 0 of these 3 things to happen anyway, bird flu or not, this is just normal responsible cat ownership

Reposted from Louisa

PSA for cat owners in the US: cats have been contracting H5N1 (bird flu). They are very susceptible to it and the fatality rate for cats is 67%. To avoid it:

-keep your cats indoors. They can catch it from infected birds and mice.

-do not feed them raw dairy

-do not feed them raw meat

Comments

christykarras.bsky.social•61 days ago

Bonus: keeps the cats from bringing you other nasty diseases...and dead animals.

laura086.bsky.social•61 days ago

We really need to make sure mice can't get in the house now tho. 😳

cageyratfish.bsky.social•61 days ago

Agree

kate-skiba.bsky.social•61 days ago

I’m trying to figure out what’s workable for our community cats. They don’t have the temperament to become pets and come inside but I don’t think I can just stop feeding them. That would be cruel.

duchessmalfi.bsky.social•61 days ago

Keep a close eye on the colony. If lots of them start getting sick please notify your county/state health department, state agriculture department, and state DNR, along with any reputable local humane societies. Someone somewhere is tracking the disease and needs to know.

jeffna.bsky.social•61 days ago

The “but I put a bell on them!” non-defence is not well thought out and particularly annoying.

Bravo, do you wear red and green outfits to advertise that you’re a danger to the wider community as well?

nubnu.bsky.social•61 days ago

I’m so worried for my feral cats 😿

gordos52.bsky.social•61 days ago

For those who have the space, a catio is a great way to give the cat outdoor time without risking the birds. Not sure if a roof is enough to protect the cat from bird flu, but it protects the birds and lets the cats ack-ack-ack at them to their hearts' content.

mikeginmd.bsky.social•61 days ago

A cat owner in another thread commented she couldn’t wait for this bird flu to subside so she could go back to feeding her cat raw food. Sigh

masinger.bsky.social•61 days ago

if this had been happening about 10 years ago I would be really worried because there were a ton of mice in my apartment building at that time and my then-cat was a brilliant mouser despite being an indoor-only beast...and he ate what he killed.

wingofbenu.bsky.social•61 days ago

yeah as a cat owner whose cats are all inside cats who eat not raw foods im like "oh no, I can continue being a cat owner with zero risk"

crosseyednoli.bsky.social•61 days ago

Vet nurse here: you are correct.

marnanightingale.bsky.social•61 days ago

I am just checking: freeze dried is no longer "raw" for these purposes, or should I be changing my treats as well?

kjzack6.bsky.social•61 days ago

Bird flu can survive indefinitely while frozen. DH works on federal response to this outbreak. They can use heat to kill it.

marnanightingale.bsky.social•61 days ago

Well shit. Guess the Costco liver is going in a 350 oven for awhile... thanks, I will check the required temp/duration.

ladycowparsley.bsky.social•61 days ago

Print all of that out or download it, and anything else that is important on a fed website. It could disappear in a few weeks.

marnanightingale.bsky.social•61 days ago

Good point! I mean Health Canada probably has a version but that one is excellent so.

noncompliant.bsky.social•61 days ago

I think the most up to date stuff is actually from Food Inspection, which..I guess makes sense?

https://inspection.canada.ca/en/animal-health/terrestrial-animals/diseases/reportable/avian-influenza/animals-susceptible-h5n1-hpai#a124

kjzack6.bsky.social•61 days ago

Citation

marnanightingale.bsky.social•61 days ago

Bless you!

marnanightingale.bsky.social•61 days ago

Looks like the 350 oven will work. I mean, they don't love it for being raw, they love it for being liver.

catfort.fightins.online•61 days ago

Freezing and freeze-drying are different processes though, I wonder now about freeze-drying too

marnanightingale.bsky.social•61 days ago

Once I get this phone above 13% I think I'll be doing a deep dive.

kjzack6.bsky.social•61 days ago

If you don’t heat the item to a certain temperature or use specific chemicals, you can’t kill bird-flu. This applies to food as well as chicken coops, etc. I don’t know what commercial freeze-drying entails, but if it is sold as raw it hasn’t been heated and the chemicals are poison.

crosseyednoli.bsky.social•61 days ago

Freeze-drying doesn’t always kill viruses (or bacteria!) so I’d avoid them until we know more.

codasammy.bsky.social•61 days ago

I don't have a cat but am curious - why no raw food? I know a few people who feed raw and my uninformed understanding was that it was better. Clearly I'm wrong!

crosseyednoli.bsky.social•61 days ago

It’s not better, and many cases worse. If the food isn’t handled just right, it can harbor all sorts of parasites and bacteria. If it isn’t formulated just right, it could be lacking in necessary nutrients. There is no evidenced-based research showing that a raw diet is nutritionally superior.

amyhoy.bsky.social•61 days ago

for sure. but so many people suck.

whatulysses.bsky.social•61 days ago

Very curious what safety measures the feral rescuers and TNR folks in my community will be practically able to follow, tbh, especially since that's where the bulk of pet cats in NYC seem to come from.

marnanightingale.bsky.social•61 days ago

We'll definitely be trying even harder to "sweeten" any feral/stray that doesn't absolutely try to kill us, so we can place them, that's for damn' sure.
And I'm getting a rabies vax and gonna glove and mask.

marnanightingale.bsky.social•61 days ago

In before someone says "the cats will shred your gloves":

marnanightingale.bsky.social•61 days ago

Oh Jesus we are gonna need to up out quarantine proceedures, which are currently set to "blood borne". It's not TNR season here so I hadn't thought it all the way through.

marnanightingale.bsky.social•61 days ago

(We don't TNR in winter here unless we're on friendlies only. Below-zero is not advised for a minimum of two weeks and a month is better.

redteamwrangler.bsky.social•61 days ago

Unfortunately some commercial pet foods are sold as "raw" meat, a batch in Michigan has already been recalled after a contaminated batch killed a pet.

https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/michigan/2024/12/26/northwest-naturals-recall-bird-flu-cat-food-death-michigan/77229221007/

chairmanlay.bsky.social•61 days ago

Inb4 the cat owners who let their cats go out flood you with responses

nameshiv.bsky.social•61 days ago

I mean its their cat not mine if they hate it having a better chance to live longer then thats for them and the animal welfare ppl to sort out between themselves

thusspokestella.bsky.social•61 days ago

I represent the "I don't want a cat shit surprise when I'm planting my garden" lobby.

mikegdagri.bsky.social•61 days ago

Cats are by and large allergic to cows 🐄 milk. So it shouldn't be fed to them

yaminosenshi.bsky.social•60 days ago

Multiple times a year I watch things that would eat my cat literally stoll down the street, not to mention vehicle traffic. No, Zuko and Eevee can stay where it's safe and warm and food come from a can.

missalyssaread.bsky.social•61 days ago

The raw food thing is NOT gonna go well either. Here in Portland we just had a cat die because of it in packaged raw food, it was an indoor only cat too.

Not a safe time to feed raw diet, which sucks for the cats who thrive on it.

coconnor8.bsky.social•61 days ago

We have 9 cats (I know)

6 indoor-only

2 who go out are elderly and make it to the porch when it’s sunny

1 has a job at the elementary school and if we kept him inside the townspeople would bring pitchforks and torches to our house to spring him

beccasblog.bsky.social•61 days ago

100 percent. It’s not fair to the bird population for cats to be outside. I do occasionally take my cats on walks in a harness to let them climb short trees and pretend to be ferocious.

nameshiv.bsky.social•61 days ago

literally these 3 things and vaccinating your cat are the 4 most basic things that every vet will tell you on every visit in some form or fashion

hyperlexic.bsky.social•61 days ago

ah but have you considered the mystical energy of Raw

tkgwrites.bsky.social•61 days ago

Told my neighbor they might want to keep their cat inside for a bit because of bird flu.
Their response: it's over exaggerated, besides, we don't have it here.....
🤦‍♀️

nameshiv.bsky.social•61 days ago

just smile and say "yet"

nameshiv.bsky.social•61 days ago

tl;dr: this bird flu thing is bad and it moving to cats is obv scary but there is no reason at all to panic for your cat as long as you just do what you should anyway have been doing all along.

hirschi.bsky.social•61 days ago

Tell that to my asshole neighbours who have a new one every year bc the old one got run over by a car.

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