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Another U.S.-based cat food brand has recalled its products due to the possibility of contamination with bird flu.
On Saturday, Wild Coast LLC dba Wild Coast Raw announced a recall on its frozen Boneless Free Range Chicken Formula raw pet food for cats.
According to a notice shared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the recall is due to the possibility that the pet food was contaminated with bird flu, also known as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1.
The affected products came in 16-ounce or 24-ounce packaging and were sold at pet food retailers in Washington and Oregon. The frozen products came in a small round white plastic container with a green label on it.
Recalled cat food containers can be identified with the numbers of 22660, 22653, 22641, 22639, 22672 and 22664, and the Best By date of December 25. This recall also affects any “raw material sharing similar production dates and lot codes as 22660 and 22664.”
This recall was initiated after sampling by the Oregon Department of Agriculture revealed “the presence of the same strain of H5N1 in the affected cats and these products as well as sampling by the Washington State Department of Agriculture.”
Although no human infections have been identified, people handling this raw pet food “can become infected if the virus gets into a person’s eyes, nose, or mouth.” The FDA urges pet owners with the cat food to “watch for symptoms of bird flu, including eye redness or irritation (conjunctivitis), cough, sore throat, sneezing, runny/stuffy nose, and muscle/body aches.”
Wild Coast LLC dba Wild Coast Raw asks anyone who has the recalled product to discard it immediately. They also should not feed the food to any of their pets, and they can contact the store they bought the product from for a full refund.
The American Veterinary Medical Association had previously issued a warning about the bird flu outbreak affecting cats.
“Cats were already known to be susceptible to the H5N1 virus, with several feline cases linked to poultry or wild bird exposure before the outbreak in cattle began,” the organisation said in a statement on its website. “Cats appear to be particularly susceptible to severe illness, often resulting in death. Whether infected cats can infect other cats is currently unclear; however, that possibility cannot be dismissed.”
The virus has been tearing across the U.S. in recent months, resulting in the culling of millions of birds, sending egg prices skyrocketing, infecting dozens of humans, and killing one person in Louisiana. H5N1 does not have the ability to transmit from person to person, researchers say, and health officials have stressed that the risk to humans remains mild.
The latest recall comes after Portland-based pet food company Northwest Naturals issued a North American recall in December after a cat died from consuming a batch of their cat food, which was contaminated with bird flu. At the time, the company recalled its two-pound Feline Turkey Recipe raw frozen pet food.
According to the ODA’s press release, laboratory testing conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Oregon State University confirmed that the cat contracted H5N1 and died after consuming the raw frozen pet food. These tests also confirmed a genetic match between the virus found in the pet food and the virus that infected the cat.
