Los Angeles County residents are being cautioned against feeding their pets Monarch Raw Pet Food, following a troubling alert that the H5 bird flu virus has been detected in product samples, as announced by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. In addition to Monarch products, concerns also extend to other raw meat or dairy offerings after several house cats showed symptoms ranging from appetite loss to neurological and respiratory distress directly linked to the affected pet food. One cat has tested positive for the virus with four others presumed infected, as reported by NBC Los Angeles.
As per the authorities, consumers who have purchased these products either from the local farmers markets—whose locations can be found online—or from other vendors, should halt the use of these raw products for their pets immediately, and watch for any signs of illness if these foods were consumed by their pets. NBC Los Angeles indicated that in addition to pet infections, there's a "confirmed H5 bird flu in four house cats from a separate household who consumed recalled raw milk, became sick and died, which is part of an ongoing investigation."
The department's statement urges all to "avoid consumption of all raw milk and raw meat products and not feed these to their pets" as per the County of Los Angeles. Public Health has made available contact information for those seeking advice or clinical resources at the Public Health InfoLine at 833-540-0473, which is open daily, as well as through their online portals catering to both animal and human cases of H5 bird flu.
