“While traditional companion animals such as dogs, cats and horses have a long history of such close contact with humans, giving thousands of years for us to develop natural immunity to commonly shared pathogens, it is the new situations that carry most risk,” he said, including “raw pet food of uncertain origin.”

It’s an area that epidemiologists, food safety experts and veterinarians are warily watching — a situation akin to the dangers posed by drinking raw milk.

“There’s at least one animal a day that we see on our service that’s eaten some bizarre raw food diet,” Sykes said. “It did not use to be like that at all.”

Raw pet food typically consists of uncooked meat, bones, fruits and vegetables. The diets are often marketed as “natural” or similar to what animals would eat in the wild.

Calls and inquiries to several raw pet food companies including Jeffrey’s Natural Pet Foods in San Francisco, BJ’s Raw Pet Food in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Instinct Raw Pet Food in St. Louis went unanswered.

A query to Emma Kumbier, veterinary outreach coordinator at Primal Pet Foods in Fairfield, California, also went cold after The Times asked about the kinds of processes or procedures taking place to ensure that pets are not inadvertently exposed to bird flu via infected poultry or cattle.

Jay Van Rein, spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture, said the state’s Meat, Poultry and Egg Safety Branch licenses and inspects businesses that produce raw meat — as well as those that import raw products for pet food manufacturing.

“Raw meat pet food legally sold in California comes from USDA- or CDFA-inspected facilities,” he said.

Inspections are focused on sanitation, proper product labeling, storage, control of inedible byproducts, pest control and record-keeping. He noted that “cooking meat has been shown to effectively kill bacteria of concern and also has now been shown to kill HPAI [bird flu], so if an owner wants to ensure their pet is not exposed to these pathogens, they should cook the meat.”

Janell Goodwin, a spokeswoman for the Food and Drug Administration, said “all animal food must be safe, wholesome and not misbranded.”

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