Beyond the danger to pets, HPAI infections in companion animals increase the potential for the virus to jump species and become a human health risk. Bird migrations and HPAI risk to pet catsBird migrations in winter and spring spread the virus among poultry and cattle. In Oregon, a cat caught the HPAI virus and subsequently died after eating raw frozen turkey pet food. “These cat infections have highlighted a gap in our testing procedures for the H5 virus,” she said. Since then, cases have occurred throughout the U.S. Until February, all of these HPAI infections in domestic cats had been west of the Appalachian Mountains.