Raw poultry is the food most clearly tied to fatal H5N1 in cats, and a domestic freezer does not make it safe. Cook every piece of poultry a cat eats to a core temperature of 74°C (165°F), or drop raw poultry from the bowl while outbreaks are active. The risk is higher than most owners assume, and the recalls show why.
Cats are an unusual host for a bird virus
Influenza A H5N1 of the 2.3.4.4b lineage has infected domestic cats in Europe, Asia and North America since 2023, and the pattern repeats: cats develop systemic disease, not a simple respiratory cold. Feline airways carry both avian-type and human-type sialic acid receptors, so the virus enters through the nose and throat and can then reach the brain. Reported feline cases often progress to encephalitis within 24 to 72 hours of the first neurologic sign, and mortality in confirmed cases is high.
The exposure routes that keep appearing in case reports are raw poultry pet food, raw milk from infected dairy herds, and hunting infected wild birds. A cat that never leaves a flat can still be exposed through the bowl.
What the 2025–2026 recalls actually prove
Between 2025 and 2026 the FDA posted repeated recalls of raw poultry pet food after H5N1 was detected in product samples, and several states restricted sales or quarantined affected catteries. The point is not that a brand is bad: lot testing cannot clear a production line, a negative result on Monday's batch says nothing about Friday's, because the virus arrives with the birds, not with the recipe.
Match recall notices to the lot code printed on the bag, not to the brand name on the shelf. If a bag matches a recalled lot, double-bag it, put it in the outside bin, and wash the freezer shelf with hot soapy water before restocking. A recalled lot sitting in a −18°C freezer is still infectious months later.
The signs, and the 24-hour window
Early signs are dull and easy to miss: a temperature of 39.5–40.5°C (103–105°F), refusal of food, hiding, and conjunctivitis with watery or thick discharge. Neurologic signs follow — tremors, head pressing, circling, blindness, seizures. A cat with fever plus red eyes plus a raw poultry history needs same-day veterinary assessment; waiting 24 hours to see whether it improves is how the neurologic stage gets missed.
Freezing, freeze-drying and pressure treatment
A −18°C freezer preserves influenza virus; it does not inactivate it. Meat held frozen for weeks has yielded infectious virus in laboratory work, and the same logic applies to freeze-dried raw: removing water concentrates the tissue, it does not sterilize it. High-pressure processing at 600 MPa kills many bacteria, but published inactivation data for influenza in pet food is thin, so it is not a guarantee to build a diet on.
Raw milk belongs in the same category. Keep it out of the bowl and off the shelf where cat food is stored, and wash hands for 20 seconds after any contact with raw product, including the empty tray.
Hitting 74°C at home
Poultry is done at 74°C. Use an instant-read thermometer in the thickest part of the meat, away from bone, and check two pieces per batch, because shallow pans and microwaves heat unevenly. Poaching in simmering water gives more margin than frying: water at 100°C holds the surface above target while the centre catches up.
Heat changes the recipe, not only the temperature. Muscle meat alone is not a complete diet, and cooking destroys part of the taurine a raw recipe assumes is intact. A home-cooked diet needs a formulated completer, or added taurine at 250–500 mg per day for a typical adult cat, plus calcium if the recipe has no bone. Read taurine in cat food before swapping proteins, and check carb content if you move to commercial cooked food, where gently cooked pouches run from about 5% to 25% carbohydrate on a dry-matter basis.
Raw-to-cooked swap table
| Raw item | Cooked replacement | Practical limit |
|---|---|---|
| Raw chicken necks or wings | Boneless thigh cooked to 74°C, calcium from a completer | 2–3 pieces a week, never a bone-in daily meal |
| Raw turkey mince | 93% lean cooked turkey, 74°C | 30–40 g per 4.5 kg cat per day |
| Raw chicken liver, 5% of recipe | Cooked liver, same 5% | Cap at 5% of calories for vitamin A |
| Raw egg | Scrambled egg, no salt, cooked through | 1 egg a week |
| Raw milk | Pasteurized lactose-free milk, or none | 0 mL raw at any age |
| Freeze-dried raw treats | Cooked chicken or a cooked commercial treat | 10% of daily calories or less |
Harm reduction if the household will not stop
If raw feeding continues, remove the highest-risk items first: no poultry, no raw milk, no game meat, no product of unknown origin. Give raw food its own shelf and its own board, wash surfaces at 60°C with detergent and then 10% bleach for 10 minutes, and never use the same cloth for the bowl and the kitchen counter. Keep the cat indoors and away from wild-bird carcasses, and stop raw feeding entirely for the 2 weeks after a local outbreak is reported.
Age and health change the maths. A 14-year-old cat with chronic kidney disease has less reserve than a 2-year-old, and a kitten eating three times its body weight in food takes a bigger dose per kilogram. Put the cat's age in context with the cat age calculator before deciding how aggressively to change the diet.
Red flags that mean the vet today
- Fever above 39.5°C together with red, watery or sticky eyes
- Tremors, head pressing, circling, or a cat that seems blind
- Breathing through the mouth, or a respiratory rate above 40 per minute at rest
- Refusal of food for more than 24 hours, or vomiting after every meal
- Any of the above in a cat that ate raw poultry in the past 7 days
Tell the clinic about the raw diet when you call. It changes their isolation protocol, and in several countries feline H5N1 is a reportable finding.
Four steps this week
- Clear the freezer of raw poultry and raw milk, and check every bag against current recall lot codes.
- Buy an instant-read thermometer and cook one batch of poultry to 74°C, testing two pieces.
- Pick one cooked or commercial replacement and run a 7-day transition at 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%.
- Weigh the cat weekly for a month; a drop of more than 2% body weight in a week is a vet call.
Frequently asked
Does freezing raw pet food kill H5N1?
No. A −18°C freezer preserves influenza virus rather than inactivating it, and meat held frozen for weeks has still yielded infectious virus in laboratory work. Only thorough heating to a 74°C core temperature, or a validated commercial kill step, removes the risk. Freeze-dried raw products are also still raw.
My cat ate raw poultry from a recalled lot. What now?
Stop feeding that product and watch for fever, red or watery eyes, lethargy and appetite loss over the next 7 days, which is the usual incubation window in reported feline cases. Call your vet at the first sign rather than waiting, mention the raw poultry exposure, and report the product and lot code to the manufacturer and your national food safety agency.
Can I just cook the raw recipe I already use?
Cooking the meat is the easy part; balancing it is not. Heat destroys part of the taurine and changes water and fat content, so a raw recipe cooked as-is is usually short on taurine and sometimes on calcium. Use a formulated completer or add 250–500 mg taurine daily and have the recipe checked by a veterinary nutritionist.