Should cat owners worry about avian flu?

In these congenitally paranoid times, there's a laundry list of sticky questions for pet owners to ponder, from "What's the best food to feed?" to "How often should I vaccinate?"

And now cat folks can add this line item to their list of angst-inducing queries:

Should I worry about avian flu?

Yes, and then again, no, says veterinarian James Richards, director of the Cornell Feline Health Center at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in Ithaca, N.Y.

First, a little background: Avian flu, specifically the H5N1 subtype, has been spreading from Asia to Europe to Africa, likely following the migration of wild birds. About 200 million domestic birds have died as the result of either natural infection or slaughter to stop the spread of the disease. The usually fatal virus also has infected humans, though most, if not all, of the cases involved individuals who had direct and close contact with infected birds.

Because cats eat birds — or at least most would like to if we would let them — there is a concern about felines contracting the avian flu and then, in turn, potentially transmitting it to humans. There have been documented cases of zoo cats such as tigers contracting the virus from eating infected chickens, and Germany reported a cat death from avian flu, presumably as a result of ingesting diseased carrion. Richards adds that laboratory tests have shown cats can contract the virus from eating the raw flesh of infected birds, and then can transmit it to other cats through respiratory secretions as well as feces or urine.

End Doomsday scenarios, begin common sense.

"First of all, avian flu is not even in this country yet," Richards reminds. "But if it does show up, and we see it in wild-bird populations, the thing people need to do — keep their cats indoors — is something we've been recommending for years, anyway."

In addition to restricting a cat's outdoor access, Richards recommends that cats not be fed raw meat, especially uncooked poultry.

To put things in perspective, Richards adds that cats that naturally contracted the virus from eating infected birds — as opposed to laboratory-induced cases — represent only a "handful" of incidents. And there is no proof that avian flu can be transmitted from cats to humans, or from cats to birds.

Arguably just as big a threat as the virus to American cats is the backlash it might engender. In Europe, Richards notes, "the knee-jerk reaction was for people to get rid of their cats, and they were turning them into shelters in droves."

This reflexive blame-the-kitty mentality is hardly a novelty. "We don't have a good history of handling cats properly" in health crises, he says. "Think about the Black Plague. People were running around killing cats when they should have just been letting them kill all the rats" that helped spread the devastating disease in the first place.

If and when the avian flu does come to U.S. shores, Richards says that the clinical signs in cats include fever and respiratory difficulties such as pneumonia. But because these are a "gazillion things" that could cause these symptoms, the best defense is a good offense: Cats should be seen twice a year for a wellness exam by a veterinarian so he or she can catch the early stages of disease, whatever its cause.