An Oregon-based pet food company has issued a voluntary recall across North America after the death of a house cat was linked to a batch of pet food that tested positive for bird flu.
The Portland company, Northwest Naturals, has confirmed that the same contaminated batch of raw frozen pet food that was sold in 12 states was also sold in British Columbia.
Testing performed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories and the Oregon Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory has verified that a Washington County house cat contracted H5N1 and died after eating the raw frozen pet food, the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) said in a Dec. 24 advisory.
“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.”
The test results prompted a voluntary recall by Northwest Naturals in both countries with the company urging consumers to double check their products. The batch in question is the two-pound Feline Turkey Recipe raw frozen pet food with best before dates between May 21, 2026, and June 23, 2026.
Northwest Naturals is advising all customers who have purchased the recalled product to immediately dispose of it.
The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) said no human cases of the avian flu have been linked to this incident and public health officials are continuing to monitor the family who owned the cat for flu-like symptoms.
The OHA is advising pet owners to keep pets away from wild waterfowl and to avoid raw pet foods.
“Raw meat may contain harmful pathogens, including Salmonella, Listeria, E. coli, and H5N1,” the advisory says. “These pathogens are destroyed when meat is thoroughly cooked.”
Pet owners should also avoid feeding their cats unpasteurized milk, the notice said.
Health Canada has not issued an official recall for the cat food in B.C. and has yet to respond to requests for comment.
