An Oregon-based pet food company, Northwest Naturals, has issued a voluntary recall of its cat food after finding out it’s been contaminated with bird flu (H5N1).
Following the death of a cat who had eaten the food, the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) is working to alert pet owners of the potential health risks to their animals.
“We are confident that this cat contracted H5N1 by eating the Northwest Naturals raw and frozen pet food,” said ODA State Veterinarian Dr. Ryan Scholz. “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.”
Details of the recall
The Northwest Naturals’ 2lb Feline Turkey Recipe raw and frozen cat food in plastic bags is the contaminated cat food in question. Cat owners are encouraged to check their homes for potentially recalled items. The contaminated packages have “best if used by” dates of 5/21/26 B10 and 6/23/2026 B1.
While Northwest Naturals is based in Portland, Oregon, the products were distributed across the U.S. and in Canada, including: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Washington, as well as British Columbia, Canada.
Any pet owners who have the contaminated product in their homes are encouraged to throw it away immediately. They are also eligible for a refund at their place of purchase.
Despite one cat’s death, there have been no human cases of bird flu linked to this recall. The ODA says that the risk of humans contracting bird flu as a result of this incident, or in general, remains low.
Experts also encourage consumers to avoid eating raw food or feeding it to their pets, as there is a much higher likelihood of several infections.