Summary
Cases of bird flu in domestic cats are rising, with at least 126 U.S. infections since 2022—half in 2025—often linked to raw meat or milk.
The virus spreads quickly in cats and is frequently fatal. Three recent cases tied to raw poultry and unpasteurized milk led to two lawsuits and multiple pet food recalls.
Experts warn the virus could mutate and pose greater human risk.
Though no cat-to-human transmission has been confirmed, health officials urge caution with raw pet diets and stress the need for better surveillance.
This is unironically my greatest fear. I DGAF about a human pandemic, but I love animals and especially cats more than anything. Seeing a “cat cull” because of bird flu would devastate me beyond belief.
Imagine you get bird flu and you are dying, and your cat ends up in the shelter where no one adopts it so it gets euthanized.
You can and should care about both problems that impact people just as much as problems that impact animals and the environment.
Nah. I’ve seen how humans handle pandemics that threaten them and their loved ones directly, I was less than impressed. Us human beings are a disease, a pox inflicted upon this otherwise innocent world. Anything that wipes out humans is A-ok in my book. I’m not hypocritical about it either, I wouldn’t mind being patient 0.
Well, I am sorry that the world hurt you to the point where you feel that way.
You are not wrong to be frustrated with people, but there’s a ton of people out there working really hard to make the world a kinder and healthier place for everyone.
Please focus your apathy on those who are destroying the world and everything that lives in it:
Billionaires.
Oh that I will. I absolutely consider them the prime source of all our current world woes. And to be honest, I don’t really wish ill on anyone (except them). I’m just burned out from the past decade lol.
I know-- I am too.
I’m just trying to stay positive and help where I can.
Then you must also agree with the fact that ‘outdoor’ cats is also wrong and neglectful and cats should be leashed when outside with their owners.
I do. All my fluffballs are indoors-only.
People who truly have compassionate love for all animals don’t participate in needless atrocity against animals. The way you feel about cat culls is exactly the way I feel about chicken culls, and indeed about chicken ranching. You love your cat, I love the animals who were abused and tortured that you feed to your cat. Your cat won’t get bird flu if you feed it plant-based food with synthetic taurine, which all empiric testing so far shows to be a healthy, sustainable food for pet cats.
