​Pet food recalled after Washington County cat dies of bird flu | – Times of India

Portland-based pet food company Northwest Naturals recalled their pet food on Tuesday after a Washington County cat died of bird flu. Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) said that the company is recalling its Northwest Naturals 2lb Feline Turkey Recipe raw and frozen food as the tests confirmed a contamination with the H5N1 strain of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI).
In a Facebook post, WSDA said, “Morasch Meats is recalling its Northwest Naturals 2lb Feline Turkey Recipe raw and frozen pet food after tests confirmed contamination with the H5N1 strain of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), which led to the death of an indoor cat in Washington County, Oregon. Genome sequencing revealed an exact match between the virus in the pet food and the infected cat, prompting the recall of products with “Best if used by” dates of 05/21/26 B10 and 06/23/26 B1 distributed nationwide.”
The pet food was sold nationwide through distributors in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Mississippi, Minnesota, Rhode Island, and Washington, as well as British Columbia in Canada, according to the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA). The company urged pet owner to check their pet food supplies and dispose of the product.
“We are confident that this cat contracted H5N1 by eating the Northwest Naturals raw and frozen pet food. This cat was strictly an indoor cat; it was not exposed to the virus in its environment, and results from the genome sequencing confirmed that the virus recovered from the raw pet food and infected cat were exact matches to each other,” Dr. Ryan Scholz, an Oregon Department of Agriculture state veterinarian said in a release.
No human cases linked to this incident have been reported to date, the ODA said.
WSDA has recommended people follow some guidelines to avoid the spread of the disease.