DENVER (KDVR) — State health officials have a warning for pet owners after several cats were found with bird flu in northeast Colorado.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment recently announced six cats were diagnosed with avian influenza. Four cats were from Larimer County and one each from Morgan and Adams counties.
“We have seen avian influenza, this H5N1 virus, in Colorado since 2022. It has been present in birds,” said Dr. Rachel Herlihy, state epidemiologist. “But what changed in 2024, starting in April here in Colorado, is that we saw this virus start to infect dairy cattle. We also had affected poultry operations here in the state in July. It’s really been since about May that we started to see a very small number of cases occurring in domestic cats.”
Colorado wildlife officials to relocate Copper Creek wolf pack
According to officials , one of the six cats was directly associated with a known infected commercial dairy facility, two were indoor-outdoor cats that hunted mice and/or small birds as prey and two were indoor-only.