A California man whose two cats died after drinking raw milk recalled for bird flu risk says he intended to keep his beloved pets healthy, but his efforts backfired tragically.
“It’s horrible when you realize you’re the one who actually gave them the milk that killed them,” said Joseph Journell, 56, of San Bernardino.
Journell lost her 14-year-old tabby, Alexander, and Tuxsie, a 4-year-old tuxedo cat, in late November. A third cat, 4-year-old Big Boy, was hospitalized for a week before tests showed the animal was infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus.
The cats drank unpasteurized milk from batches recalled by Raw Farm in Fresno, whose dairy products were pulled from California store shelves in December after health officials found the virus in milk for sale, he said. The animals’ deaths were confirmed by state and county health officials. The cats were kept indoors with no access to potentially infected birds and ate conventional, not raw, pet food, the owner said.
Journell said he himself had been drinking Raw Farm milk for months because he heard it had “better immunity and healing properties” than pasteurized milk. He thought it might help Alexander, who had lost weight.
“I was trying to make him healthier and make him live longer,” Journell said.
Instead, Alexander died on Thanksgiving Day. Tuxsie followed two days later.
Big Boy was hospitalized and treated with antiviral medication, Journell said. The veterinary team collected urine samples from the cat, which were confirmed positive for H5N1 in laboratories run by the USDA and Cornell University, records show.
Big Boy returned home blind and without the use of his back legs, although he is recovering, Journell said. A fourth cat, Cleo, did not drink the milk and remained healthy.
Journell has demanded that Raw Farm owner Mark McAfee reimburse him for the more than $12,000 he spent treating the cats, according to Seattle food safety attorney Ilana Korchia, who is representing him.
In an interview, McAfee disputed that the virus was capable of sickening the animals days after it was bottled and sold, citing preliminary research.
But Richard Webby, a flu expert at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, said survival of influenza virus probably varies widely in different amounts of milk. Experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention previously confirmed that cats who drank raw milk from infected cows developed neurological disease and died.
“I think the poor cats are the best indicator!” Webby wrote in an email.
Nearly a dozen cats in California have died since early December after consuming raw milk or raw pet food contaminated with bird flu, health officials have said.
The infections follow a massive outbreak of the bird flu virus in dairy cows, which has affected more than 900 US dairy herds in 16 states. About 80% of these herds are in California.
Federal and state health officials have warned people against drinking raw milk because of the potential for infection with bird flu and a host of other bacteria. Officials have also warned pet owners to avoid feeding unpasteurized milk and raw meat to their animals.
“Cats should not be fed products from affected farms if those products have not been thoroughly cooked or pasteurized to kill the virus,” the FDA warned last month.
After the cats got sick, Journell said he got sick himself and sought care at a Kaiser Permanente hospital in Fontana, California. He said he was not checked for bird flu, despite his known exposure to the virus, because the medical staff did not. have tests available to detect it.
A Kaiser spokesman declined to comment specifically on Journell’s case, but said the hospital system follows CDC guidelines for screening for avian flu.
Journell has recovered physically, but said he still suffers the “mental anguish” of losing his pets. Despite the ordeal, he said he still believes raw milk offers some health benefits.
Nevertheless, he won’t drink it just yet.
“Not right now,” he said. “And not in the foreseeable future.”
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