“Companion animals, and especially cats, are 100% a public health risk in terms of the risk of zoonotic transmission to people,” said virologist Angela Rasmussen, who studies disease progression in emerging viruses at the University of Saskatchewan’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization.

A recent CDC MMWR report shows three new asymptomatic human cases of bird flu, suggesting the virus may be silently spreading as recent research shows the bird flu virus may be just a few mutations away from human-to-human transmission.

Given the number of cats in the U.S. and the close contact with people, there is definitely a need to understand the potential risk,” said Dr. Diego Diel