Are pets in Australia at risk of avian flu?
3 min read
What's the deal with bird flu?
The global avian flu outbreak has been pretty uneventful in Australia over the last couple of years, with only a small handful of commercial farms impacted, and the virus contained quickly in all cases.
Beyond not being able to buy eggs at the supermarket, up until recently the worst thing you could accuse this pandemic of being is maybe a bit boring (not unlike the last one).
Cut to 2025 and suddenly we're being flooded with reports on social media of pets in the US falling ill after eating raw pet food contaminated with bird flu. Sadly there are reports that several cats have died, and numerous brands are doing large recalls.
If you raw feed your pets, you might be wondering whether the avian flu outbreak in Australia poses a risk to them. We've done the research so you don't have to, and we'll update with any new developments as they comes to hand.
Key takeaways:
- The strain of avian flu impacting pets in the US and globally is H5. Australia is currently the only continent in the world with ZERO cases of any subtype of H5 avian flu.
- The current avian flu outbreak in Australia is H7, which is not a major threat to humans or other mammals.
- H5 does pose a significant health risk, particularly to cats, if they consume the raw meat of an infected animal. But again, there are ZERO cases of H5 currently in Australia, in any animal.
...and exhale
So while the current outbreak of the H7 strains of avian flu in Australia is the reason you haven't been able to buy eggs for months, it's not related in any way to the scary reports coming out of the US that multiple pets have died from eating raw pet food contaminated with the H5 strain of so called “bird flu.”
This outbreak of H5 has been active globally for several years, but the recent uptick in transmission to other mammals is why it's suddenly in your feed.
What do you need to do?
Currently, if you live in Australia, you don't need to do anything differently due to avian flu. Australia has incredibly high standards for the slaughter and handling of meat, so it's very safe to raw feed your pets here.
Historically, avian flu in Australia has been contained to commercial farms. The current global H5 outbreak is being spread largely by wild birds, which is why it is difficult to contain.
The Australian government has been preparing for H5 to arrive here, allocating $100m in 2024 to prevent or proactively manage the impact of an H5 outbreak.
If you want to be really proactive, you can cook your pets' food, which will protect them from transmission of H5, should it arrive on Aussie shores and infect the pet food supply chain.
We only use Aussie meat in all of our products, which we source ourselves and freeze-dry to order. We source everything from abbotoirs in the human supply chain (not pet knackaries) meaning our blends are human grade*
We are monitoring this situation closely and will update with any key developments concerning Australia, and we're low-key making a plan for if H5 does come to Australia.
But hopefully that won't happen!
* This isn't a technical term in any regulations, but that's what it means in principle.
