Mysterious Spread of Bird Flu in Cats in Poland, WHO Reports

[Warpy]

Cross posted from Science

Poland is the first country to report "high numbers" of cats infected with bird flu across a large area, the WHO said Monday, adding that the risk of human infection remained low.

​The World Health Organization said that since Polish health authorities informed it last month of unusual cat deaths across the country, 29 cats had tested positive for H5N1 bird flu.
-----------"The source of the exposure of cats to the virus is currently unknown and epizootic investigations are ongoing," WHO said in a statement.

​Some cats developed severe symptoms including difficulty in breathing, bloody diarrhoea and neurological signs, with rapid deterioration and death in some cases.

https://www.sciencealert.com/mysterious-spread-of-bird-flu-in-cats-in-poland-who-reports

The jump from birds to mammals is bad news and cats are companion mammals. This is in Poland but we know how fast this can spread. Keep the kitty inside, window seat for bird watching.

[wnylib]

1. This is significant news for cat lovers.

Several DUers look after ferals. This report is from Poland, so no news yet of any infections in the US, but it demonstrates that it is possible.

Also, for pets who are not ferals, it's important to keep them indoors. And keep them away from ferals.

A hopeful thought is that ferals who are well fed and cared for might be less likely to hunt birds.

[Warpy]

3. I had a healthy kitty who was fed well enough to be getting portly

and she still hunted birds. Now I know cats aren't the best predators when it comes to birds and most of the ones they kill are very young, very old, or just plain stupid, but watching that sweet, lovely kitty eating a songbird, beak feathers and all, was beyond gross.

I rewarded her with dewormer pills that curbed her appetite for everything for a couple of days.

It was shortly after that she became a 100% indoor cat. She didn't like it. I said tough titty, kitty. She adjusted.

[wnylib]

4. Yes, I had an indoor/outdoor cat once who

Last edited Tue Jul 18, 2023, 09:02 PM - Edit history (1)

was well fed but brought a bird indoors with him once. He plunked the bird's body down behind a chair. I called out for my husband to pick up the bird to throw it away. He was tall enough to reach over the chair and grab it. I was busy holding the cat back from eating it.

When my husband touched the bird, it fluttered and flew up to the ceiling! It was either wisely playing dead until then, or had been too traumatized to move.

So the bird flew around the living room with my husband and me chasing behind it and the cat running along with us. I closed the cat up in the bathroom and grabbed a broom while my husband grabbed a folded newspaper to try to guide the bird toward the kitchen door exit that I had propped open.

Eventually, the bird went out the door and flew away, leaving a few downy feathers behind, but no bird droppings, fortunately.

One other time, that same cat dropped a headless mole on our doorstep. I discovered it when I went out to pick up the newspaper and stepped on the mole in my bare feet.

After that ,Alex became an exclusively indoor cat.

So ,well fed cats will hunt, out of instinct, even if not hungry. I guess I'm just hoping that they will do it less often when not hungry.

[Warpy]

5. Worst thing I ever stepped on in bare feet was a warm, fresh hairball

I dug out a pair of old sandals to use as slippers after that one.

My lovely, sweet kitty was good enough at rodents to eat them in situ, at least the livers. I left them in situ for any local scavenger and they were gone the next day.

One day back in Boston, she brought me a full grown squirrel. I don't know if she killed it or just found it, but it was impressive. It was on the porch and I said good kitty, what an indomitable huntress, should have named you Diana. She strutted into the apartment and stuffed her face into her kibble bowl. I toed the squirrel of the porch, it was gone the next day, tail and all.

She was the cat who figured out how doorknobs worked, so there was no way to keep her in or out of any room.

She's been gone for 20 years and I still miss her.

Given the variety of their diet, it's a miracle cats haven't been more implicated in zoonotic spread of influenza.

[wnylib]

6. One thing that disturbs me about the presence of

bird flu in cats, besides my concern for cat welfare, is something that I read about at the early stages of the covid pandemic.

Covid was found in some wild big cats in Africa. They were being studied because of similarities in the immune systems of cats and humans. Later, a few domestic cats were found to have covid. But it was a milder infection for them than for humans. The official word was that domestic cats (pets and ferals) could not pass it on to humans. But there was also advice for people infected with covid to avoid continuous close contact with dogs and cats. There must have been some concern about people passing it on to them.

Every virus is different. Some pass easily between humans and animals and some don't. But when a virus passes from one class to another and the one that picks it up is, like humans, a mammal, that makes me nervous.

[niyad]

2. Thank you for this disturbing information.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

7. Fuck.

If it jumps to humans we will be fucked . Bird flu in humans could have as much as a 50% death rate. I hope it does not spread to any more cats or people.