A pet food company has voluntarily recalled a line of raw and frozen food after a cat died from bird flu in Oregon, in a case that officials link to contaminated feline food.
The company Northwest Naturals told consumers Tuesday to throw away their frozen raw pet food Feline Turkey Recipe, if its expiration date was between May 21, 2026 and June 23 of the same year.
The company’s website explained that the batch, which was sold throughout the United States, tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), more commonly known as bird flu.
Consumers can call 866-637-1872 for information about a refund.
The Oregon Department of Agriculture also issued a notice about the food recall, which came after testing by a department laboratory and a veterinary diagnostic laboratory at Oregon State University.
State Veterinarian Dr. Ryan Scholz said the department was certain the cat had contracted bird flu from the Northwest Naturals food.
“This cat lived strictly indoors, was not exposed to the virus in its environment, and the results of genome sequencing confirmed that the virus detected in the raw pet food and that of the infected cat were an exact match for each other,” Scholz explained.
State officials are monitoring members of the pet’s family for symptoms of bird flu, but as of Tuesday no human cases had been identified.
The state Department of Agriculture urged people and their pets to avoid eating raw meat products.
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported the first serious human case as part of the latest outbreak of bird flu, H5N1, in the United States, although dozens of other cases have been reported this year.
One person was hospitalized in Louisiana after potentially being exposed through backyard flocking, the agency said.
