Bird flu is getting close to home. A veterinary hospital in Manhattan is reporting that two cats have tested positive for bird flu. The vet hospital says mammals are susceptible to it and more and more species are testing positive. The disease is deadly in cats, so the sooner they’re taken to a veterinarian the better. They say outdoor cats… cats that have raw diets of raw meat or unpasteurized milk and cats with exposure to exposed livestock run the risk of catching bird flu. Experts say if you find dead birds in your yard or if their cat has come in contact with one, you should wear proper protective equipment and double bag the bird’s body. The illness progresses rapidly in cats, so owners should get them checked out quickly. Keeping cats indoors will be helpful for minimizing their risk to infected birds, feeding commercial diets will help as well.
Signs of the bird flu include loss of loss of appetite, fever, lethargy, rapid progress to neurological symptoms like seizures, circling, incoordination and blindness, heavy eye and nasal discharge, and difficulty breathing.
