S1: Welcome in San Diego , it's Jade Hindman. The bird flu has gone from birds to cattle. And. Well , now on to cats. Today we'll talk about how to keep your pets safe. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. Last week , San Diego County announced its first case of bird flu found in a house cat. That case is still under investigation. But since then , several other cats across the state have also contracted bird flu. So as this virus continues to spread and even jump species , what's the risk to public health and other pets ? Well , here to answer that is Doctor Zara Hedge. She's the chief medical officer with the San Diego Humane Society. Doctor hedge , welcome to midday edition.
S2: Thank you so much for having me.
S1: Well , we're glad to have you here. Um , you know , first , what do we know about the bird flu and how it's being transmitted to cats ? Yeah.
S2: You know , I think every day we're learning something new as this virus continues to mutate and change. Right now , what we know with regards to our our pets , in particular cats , is that we have seen several cats get this disease. Most commonly , it is from exposure to and consumption of raw or unpasteurized milk and raw pet food products. There are also some cats that were exposed that lived on farms , so exposure to cattle , which may have also been exposure to raw milk again. Mhm.
S1: Mhm. So as you mentioned raw food , raw milk , those have been the main culprits for cats getting the virus. Can you talk more about what pet owners need to do to ensure the food they're they're giving them is safe.
S2: The recommendations. Now , what I would recommend is to avoid feeding raw pet food and what raw pet food is , is it's it's food that's not been cooked to that temperature , where if you or I are cooking meat for our consumption , we would want to cook it up to the recommended temperature to kill any viruses or bacteria. There are a lot of different raw pet food products on the market. They can come as raw , frozen. They might be freeze dried or dehydrated , and they might also be treats or food toppers. So avoiding raw pet food , in particular poultry products , is going to be key to keeping your cats and your dog safe , as well as not giving them raw or unpasteurized milk products.
S1: Have any of those products ever been safe for the pets , though ? No.
S2: There are. You know , there are a lot of risks to feeding raw foods , not just bird flu. Certainly , we know there are a lot of different bacteria or viruses that they can become exposed to through eating raw diets. There's also a risk to human health because we would be the ones potentially handling that food. And so there's a risk both for people and animals , which is why , um , we don't recommend feeding raw diets to our pets. Mhm.
S1: I'm going to go off on a tangent here. But what about raw eggs or like easy over eggs. Should people be avoiding those.
S2: I would also recommend avoiding those certainly if you want to. You want to give your pets , um , eggs or chicken or other meats. You want to make sure that you cook it just as you would cook it for yourself to eat , because that's going to ensure that it's reached the right temperature to kill any bacteria viruses that might be present.
S1:
S2: We have not had any cases of bird flu in in dogs but in cats , things that we have seen are severe respiratory signs , including difficulty breathing and , um , sudden development of neurologic science. And so there these signs are fairly what we call nonspecific , meaning that there are a lot of other things that could cause them. So certainly if you see this in your cat , don't automatically think that it could be bird flu , but certainly contact your veterinarian and and take them in to be seen. And if your veterinarian feels like there is a risk , they will test them for bird flu. Mhm.
S1: Mhm.
S2: However , we've not seen any cases in dogs so far. Um , it really seems to be cats. Certainly. Um , other pets in the home. I don't know that we have a lot of information. Um , I know a lot of people have backyard poultry , backyard chickens. So they certainly they've they are at risk. And so you want to make sure that you're doing things to keep your your backyard chickens safe as well and keeping them away from migratory birds as much as possible. Okay.
S1: Okay. so not so much common in in dogs.
S2: Certainly not with this current outbreak. Um , dogs do have their own , uh , flu. I'm sure you've all people have heard with people with dogs have heard about canine influenza. That's a different strain. And there is a vaccine for that strain. This is something different. So yes , there is a risk. And certainly I would try to take steps to lower that risk , including not not feeding raw food. But that risk seems to be very low right now. And it really seems to be , um , something we're seeing more in cats. Mhm.
S1: Well , aside from cats , you know many people in our region have backyard chicken coops. I mean , how should they be keeping those birds safe , you think ? Yeah.
S2: So if you've got backyard , uh , chickens or other poultry , you want to make sure as much as you can to keep them in , um , in an area that you can provide covering and that there they're kind of enclosed as much as you can because you want to prevent direct contact between them and migratory birds , which can carry this virus. You also want to try to avoid having pools of water , where it might invite migratory birds to come and spend time in your yard. Um , and certainly if you're bringing new chickens into your flock , you want to keep them isolated for 4 to 6 weeks to make sure that they are not going to have anything that could infect your current flock of chickens.
S1: Well , also , there are a lot of people who care for livestock.
S2: So certainly cattle , um , are at risk. Um , if you are , let's say maybe you work with other species during the day and you have your own pets at home. Um , you want to make sure that you're changing shoes , potentially clothes , before you're going into your house. Um , especially if you're working on a farm with livestock. Um , we do know that several different species of mammals can be affected , but at this time , it really seems like the big players are cattle and cats as well as poultry.
S1: I want to switch gears a little bit and talk about concerns for public health , because that seems to be the elephant in the room as well.
S2: Um , and we've not seen any cases of , of people contracting it , or at least nothing's come out yet to show that people have gotten this from , let's say their their pet cat that had it. We do know some of the human cases had exposure to farms. Um , and so there there's that risk potentially. But at this point the public health risk for this is low. However , I think it's important that people stay informed and watch this closely as things seem to be changing almost daily or weekly.
S1:
S2: And so some of those precautions have been keeping certain species isolated , especially for wildlife , and making sure our staff have the right personal protective equipment , um , face coverings , masks , gloves , gowns when they're working with suspect species. We've recently also implemented some more changes with regards to cats that come in with neurologic signs or severe respiratory signs. Mostly to keep our staff safe and to protect the cats here , we place those animals in isolation while we're working with them , and we make sure our staff have the right Protective equipment so that they can stay safe as well.
S1: You mentioned neurological symptoms.
S2: They might be circling or having trouble walking. It could really look like anything. But those have been some of the things that , um , we've seen in cats that have avian influenza a little bit tricky because there are a lot of things that can cause those types of symptoms , including rabies virus. And so that's why it's really important as well , that we make sure all of our pets are up to date on their vaccines , but those are kind of some of the things that we've seen , uh , in cats with bird flu.
S1:
S2: Um , because the risk , you know , while we're seeing a lot of these cases , the risks still remains quite low. But certainly if you're if , let's say your cat has had exposure to raw pet foods , uh , unpasteurized milk farms , different things like that , their risk could go up. And so reach out to your veterinarian , um , reach out to your local public health agency if you're concerned as well. If you've got backyard poultry , um , and then get more information and go from there.
S1: All right.
S2: We've we've seen this disease affect cats before. It was a different strain of avian influenza back in 2016. And it kind of died out. And so certainly that's it's quite possible this has been kind of going on now for several years. And so it's hard to know what will end up happening with this as the virus continues to mutate and , um , jump into different species. So hopefully this will die out and it will become less of a concern. But certainly it's something that people should be aware of and stay informed of as things are changing.
S1: All right. I've been speaking with doctors are ahead chief medical officer with the San Diego Humane Society. You can find more information on how to manage bird flu with your pets at SD. humane.org/bird flu. Doctor. Hej , thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
