7mo ago

More L.A. cats appear to be infected with H5N1 bird flu

www.latimes.com

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/23318290

Los Angeles County health officials are investigating a case of three cats presumed to have H5N1 bird flu
County officials confirmed the disease in two other cats who drank recalled raw milk and died
December 18, 2024
UPDATED: Confirmed H5 Bird Flu Detected in Los Angeles County Cats That Consumed Recalled Raw Milk - Public Health Investigating Additional Possible Cases in Cats http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/phcommon/public/media/mediapubhpdetail.cfm?prid=4908:

13 comments

So, no only are there dumbasses drinking raw milk, and getting infected, they’re giving it to their pets, too. Monsters.
- More opportunities for the damn thing to mutate and become more dangerous
L.A. has a terrible feral cat problem and people fucking feed them all the time. In the first apartment complex where I lived in the Hollywood Hills, not only did several people just leave cat food out in multiple bowls for the feral cats, other animals would come out of the hills and eat them too. I had to wait to go to my apartment more than once because a skunk was eating out of a cat food bowl on the walkway before I got to it.
- Feral cats are awfull. Here in aus in some states any non registered cat gets euthanised. Sounds cruel till u realise feral cats (and dickheads who let their cats out at night) kill millions of endangered birds and possums and are the primary cause of many spiecies decline.
  33 mammal species have been driven to extinction and cats are responsible for many (thats just mammals). They are a pest and one of the worste things we have done to the environment (well at least here in australia).
  Here is a picture of a Quoll we might lose them all forever if cats keep going at their current rate.
  Fuck cats.
- RIP, P22. I’ll never forget leaving kibble out for you.
H5N1 is absolutely horrible in cats. If you have raw milk in the house, even if you plan to boil it yourself, please treat it like concentrated poison and make sure there’s no way for a pet to get to it.
Symptoms of H5N1 infection in cats include labored breathing, bloody diarrhea and neurological abnormalities — loss of motor control, seizures, depressed mental state, stiff body movements, blindness, circling, copious eye and nose discharge and coma — with rapid deterioration and death in some cases.
- ...in some cases.
  In some cases? Way to sugar coat things, L.A. Times.
  Coleman reports that the fatality rate for the current strain of H5N1 in cats has been around 67%
  Which tracks with this case. 3 cats infected in the house, and 2/3rds are dead. Keep your cats inside where they belong. They can catch H5N1 from birds they kill too.
- even if you plan to boil it yourself
  There's people who buy raw milk and pasteurize it at home? What's the point?
  
  Not all cows are owned by big-time farmers selling to storefronts. In that case, someone still has to pasteurize the milk. If the cow is yours or your neighbor’s, that “someone” is you.
Wtf? First, isn't milk bad for cats? Also, I don't get the raw milk shit (unless you're a farmer and it's literally coming from your cows and you haven't gotten around to boiling it yet). Hell, I don't get why people are so obsessed with drinking animal milk at all. What's wrong with people?
- raw milk issues aside, milk isn't necessarily bad for cats but it has to be watered down, they don't do well with it "straight'.
So we aren’t supposed to eat them now?

13 comments