I mean I’m not an expert, but generally “raw” anything is not something you want to consume.
Hell, cats don’t eat raw meat in the wild - they eat fresh meat. Fresh meat has far less pathogens than raw. Still not as good as cooked, but better. Fresh meat means it had an active immune system prior to ingestion.
Edit: … Yes I know it’s a virus. This does not change my statement. I said pathogens.
Freshly killed birds carry bird flu. Cats can catch it this way and the current strain, H5N1 is 67% fatal to cats. It’s a horrific death too. Cats should be kept inside where they belong.
This is likely airborne, huh? Any idea what the incubation period is for cats? I’m seeing mixed information, but read that symptoms seem to progress very quickly. My cats are indoor only, but we usually have some fosters around, and I’m worried that we may need to put that on pause.
This study suggests that this strain is capable of spreading via airborne water droplets. Right now there have been, to my knowledge, no cases of human to human infection confirmed, but that same study also suggests that it appears to be possible. As for cat to cat or human to cat transmission, nobody seems to know yet.
The influenza virus is capable of rapid mutation, though. That’s why we need a different vaccine for it every year. Plus, the more infections there are in a given population, be it people, cattle, or poultry, the more chances there are that the virus could mutate into a form that can spread more easily to other species. Right now, there is a massive outbreak in dairy and poultry farms in parts of the USA which means the virus is getting lots of chances to do that.
Thanks! In terms of fostering, my primary concern is cat to cat, although I probably should worry about cat to human also. My resident cats are otherwise healthy and I keep them up to date on their vaccinations, but at least so far, it doesn’t sound like that’s good enough.
The researchers next housed uninfected ferrets in cages next to infected ones to test whether the virus could spread through the air via respiratory droplets. They performed four separate experiments using ferrets infected with varying doses of the virus. Between 1 in 6 and 1 in 3 infected ferrets transmitted the virus to uninfected neighbors. Five of the six ferrets who became infected in this way died.
In my case, they would effectively be housed in separate cages (rooms of my home) for an initial quarantine period, but I would be going back and forth between those rooms without changing my clothes.
I mean I’m not an expert, but generally “raw” anything is not something you want to consume.
Hell, cats don’t eat raw meat in the wild - they eat fresh meat. Fresh meat has far less pathogens than raw. Still not as good as cooked, but better. Fresh meat means it had an active immune system prior to ingestion.
Edit: … Yes I know it’s a virus. This does not change my statement. I said pathogens.
Freshly killed birds carry bird flu. Cats can catch it this way and the current strain, H5N1 is 67% fatal to cats. It’s a horrific death too. Cats should be kept inside where they belong.
This is likely airborne, huh? Any idea what the incubation period is for cats? I’m seeing mixed information, but read that symptoms seem to progress very quickly. My cats are indoor only, but we usually have some fosters around, and I’m worried that we may need to put that on pause.
Full disclosure: I am not an expert.
This study suggests that this strain is capable of spreading via airborne water droplets. Right now there have been, to my knowledge, no cases of human to human infection confirmed, but that same study also suggests that it appears to be possible. As for cat to cat or human to cat transmission, nobody seems to know yet.
The influenza virus is capable of rapid mutation, though. That’s why we need a different vaccine for it every year. Plus, the more infections there are in a given population, be it people, cattle, or poultry, the more chances there are that the virus could mutate into a form that can spread more easily to other species. Right now, there is a massive outbreak in dairy and poultry farms in parts of the USA which means the virus is getting lots of chances to do that.
Thanks! In terms of fostering, my primary concern is cat to cat, although I probably should worry about cat to human also. My resident cats are otherwise healthy and I keep them up to date on their vaccinations, but at least so far, it doesn’t sound like that’s good enough.
In my case, they would effectively be housed in separate cages (rooms of my home) for an initial quarantine period, but I would be going back and forth between those rooms without changing my clothes.
Not how that works at all. Virus =/= as bacteria.
I’m pretty sure the viral count in meat isn’t going to increase after death. That only applies to bacteria.