H5N1 bird flu reached Australian wild birds in June 2026. Since then the detection count has climbed steadily, the coverage has got louder, and plenty of owners are walking their dogs past beaches and wetlands wondering what it means for them.

Here is the short version. The risk to dogs is low. It is not zero, and one behaviour accounts for almost all of it: eating or mouthing a dead bird. Cats sit in a different category, and we will get to why.

What follows is what the evidence actually supports, where the real gaps are, and what to do if your dog gets to a bird before you do.

Can dogs get bird flu?

Yes, but it is uncommon, and infection in dogs is almost always linked to eating an infected bird rather than being near one.

The clearest case on record is a dog in Thailand in 2004 that ate a duck carcass during an H5N1 outbreak and died of the infection. Experimental work published shortly afterwards showed dogs can be infected and can shed virus, generally with milder illness than cats. A 2024 case in Italy involved a dog with upper respiratory signs after H5N1 exposure.

A 2025 review of influenza A in companion animals concluded that while both cats and dogs can be infected, there are no sustained transmission chains in either species, and companion animals currently pose a limited risk of onward spread.

So: a real but narrow risk, concentrated around ingestion. A dog sniffing the air near a beach is not the scenario anyone is worried about.

Are cats more at risk than dogs?

Yes, meaningfully so. This is the part most coverage flattens.

Cats are more susceptible to H5N1 than dogs, tend to develop more severe illness, and have a much higher fatality rate once infected. A 2025 review in the Journal of Food Protection found felines are particularly susceptible, often showing severe disease and high mortality, with outbreaks across Europe, Asia and North America linked to contaminated raw pet food and unpasteurised milk.

Cats also have two exposure routes dogs mostly do not. They hunt birds, and they are more commonly fed raw poultry. If you have a cat that goes outside, containment matters more than anything else on this page.

Is there bird flu in Australia right now?

Yes. As of 7 August 2026, Australia had 175 confirmed or presumed positive detections of H5 bird flu, all in wild birds, according to Australian Chief Veterinary Officer Dr Beth Cookson. There were no detections in poultry or the agricultural production system.

A few details worth holding onto:

• Detections span five jurisdictions: South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, New South Wales and Queensland.
• Most cases so far are seabirds, particularly greater crested terns and silver gulls, with mass mortality events on the South Australian coast.
• The first Australian land bird detection, a magpie in Victoria, was confirmed on 6 August 2026.
• Official assessments of the risk to human health remain low.
• There have been no confirmed H5N1 infections in Australian dogs or cats.

Two things to note about that number. It is moving quickly, so treat any figure you read, including this one, as a snapshot rather than a current total. And the concentration in coastal and wetland birds is why the practical advice for owners is geographic rather than national.

Federal guidance is currently focused on people and birds. It tells the public not to touch sick or dead birds and to report them to the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline on 1800 675 888. Pet-specific advice sits mostly with state RSPCAs and individual clinics, which is part of why the picture feels patchy right now.

My dog ate a dead bird. What should I do?

Work through this in order.

1. Get the bird away, without handling it directly.
Use a bag or a stick. Do not touch it with bare hands, and keep your dog away from the spot.

2. Report it.
Call the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline on 1800 675 888 and note the location. Multiple sick or dead birds in one place is the pattern authorities most want to hear about.

3. Call your vet and tell them what happened before you arrive.
This matters. Your vet may want to manage the visit differently, and giving them the exposure history up front lets them make that call.

4. Wash your own hands and anything the bird touched.
Lead, gloves, shoes, the towel you used. Influenza viruses are fragile outside a host, and ordinary soap and detergent handle them.

5. Watch your dog for around 10 days.
Note anything that shifts: appetite, energy, breathing, eyes, coordination. Write it down rather than trusting your memory of what Tuesday looked like. Elita Blueprint is one place to keep it, dated and sitting alongside the rest of their history, so your vet gets the record rather than your recollection.

6. Keep an eye on your own health too.
If you had direct contact with the bird and develop flu-like symptoms or conjunctivitis, mention the exposure to your GP.

One dead bird in the garden, in a state with no detections, is a very different situation to a bird on a South Australian beach during a mass mortality event. Context changes the urgency, not the steps.

What are the symptoms of bird flu in a dog or cat?

The signs reported across both species include:

• Fever
• Lethargy and low energy
• Reduced appetite
• Red or inflamed eyes, sometimes with discharge
• Coughing, sneezing, nasal discharge or laboured breathing
• Neurological signs: tremors, seizures, stumbling or disorientation

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The signs at the top of that list are non-specific. Fever, low energy and a poor appetite describe a dog having an off week for all sorts of ordinary reasons. What makes them worth acting on here is the combination with a known exposure, or a change that comes on fast in an animal who was fine yesterday.

The neurological signs are not in that category. Tremors, seizures, stumbling or disorientation warrant a same-day call to your vet, whatever the cause.

Raw pet food and raw milk, the risk you can actually control

If you want one lever with real evidence behind it, this is it.

Raw pet food and unpasteurised milk have been directly linked to H5N1 infections and deaths in cats overseas, with product recalls following. The virus survives cold storage, so freezing and refrigeration are not protective. Recalls have involved raw poultry-based products in particular.

Australia has no detections in poultry or the agricultural system at this point, which puts locally produced raw food in a different position to the US supply chain. But if you feed raw, it is worth knowing where the protein comes from, and worth a conversation with your vet about whether the balance still makes sense for your animal. For cats especially, raw poultry is the highest-evidence exposure route we know of.

Sensible precautions, without rearranging your life

• Keep dogs on lead near beaches, wetlands, estuaries and anywhere birds gather in numbers, especially in affected regions.
• Train and reinforce a reliable leave it cue. This is the single most useful thing you can do, and it pays off well beyond bird flu.
• Contain cats indoors or in a secure outdoor run. Good practice year-round, more so now.
• Bring food and water bowls inside so wild birds cannot access them.
• Do not handle sick or dead birds. Report them instead.
• If you keep backyard chickens, keep their feed and water covered and separated from wild birds.

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You do not need to stop walking your dog. You need to stop your dog eating things off the sand.

Can I catch bird flu from my dog?

There is no documented case of a dog or cat passing H5N1 to a person anywhere in the world. The theoretical concern is real enough that researchers are watching it closely, because an infected pet sits at close quarters with people, but it has not happened on the record.

The sensible reading: treat a pet with a known exposure and clinical signs as you would any sick animal. Wash your hands, avoid face contact, and tell your vet about the exposure so they can take their own precautions.

What we do not know yet

Being straight about the gaps is more useful than false certainty.

We do not have good data on how often dogs are infected without showing signs, because nobody is testing healthy dogs at scale. We do not know how this virus will behave through an Australian summer, or how far it will move inland. A seal pup that washed up at Warrnambool in Victoria was being investigated in early August, a reminder that mammal spillover is being watched here, not just overseas.

What has not changed: no sustained pet-to-pet or pet-to-human transmission has been documented anywhere, and every official assessment currently puts the risk to companion animals as low.

Where Elita fits

Almost every piece of advice above comes back to one thing: being able to tell a real change from an off day. That is hard to do from memory, and it is why watch for lethargy is such weak guidance in practice. Lethargy compared to what?

Elita Blueprint exists for that. It brings your dog's clinical history, biological data and your own observations into one picture, so you have a baseline to measure against and a record of what you noticed and when. In a situation like this one, that record is what makes your vet's job easier.

Build your dog's free Blueprint and start from a clear picture of what normal looks like.

More good years together. Even in a strange winter.

We will keep this page current

This is our pet-owner tracker for H5N1 in Australia, and we maintain it. We will update it when the national detection count moves materially, if detections reach poultry or the agricultural system, if any Australian companion animal is confirmed infected, if mammal detections are confirmed, or if national pet-specific guidance is issued.

Last updated 9 August 2026. National count stood at 175 confirmed or presumed positive detections as of 7 August 2026, all in wild birds. No detections in Australian pets.

Frequently asked questions

Can dogs get bird flu?
Yes, but rarely, and almost always after eating an infected bird. Dogs are less susceptible than cats and usually show milder illness. There have been no confirmed cases in Australian dogs.

Can cats get bird flu?
Yes, and cats are considerably more susceptible than dogs. Infected cats often develop severe disease with high mortality. Hunting birds and eating raw poultry are the main routes.

My dog ate a dead bird. Should I panic?
No, but do act. Remove the bird without touching it, report it on 1800 675 888, ring your vet and tell them what happened before you arrive, wash your hands and your dog's gear, and watch your dog for about 10 days.

Can my dog catch bird flu just from sniffing a dead bird?
Very unlikely. Documented infections in dogs follow eating infected birds, not proximity to them. Ingestion is the risk that matters.

Are there bird flu cases in Australian pets?
No. As of 9 August 2026 all Australian detections have been in wild birds. There have been no confirmed infections in dogs or cats here.

What are the symptoms of bird flu in dogs?
Fever, lethargy, reduced appetite, red or discharging eyes, coughing or laboured breathing, and in severe cases neurological signs such as tremors, seizures or stumbling. The milder signs are non-specific, so exposure history is what makes them meaningful. Neurological signs warrant a same-day call to your vet regardless.

Is it safe to walk my dog on the beach?
Yes, on lead. The advice is to stop dogs reaching sick or dead birds, not to stop going outside. Take extra care in regions with active detections and near seabird colonies.

Should I stop feeding my pet raw food?
Raw pet food and unpasteurised milk are the exposure route with the strongest evidence behind them, and cold storage does not inactivate the virus. Australia has no detections in poultry or the agricultural system at this stage. If you feed raw, know your protein source and talk it through with your vet.

Can I catch bird flu from my dog or cat?
There is no documented case of a pet passing H5N1 to a person. Standard hygiene around a sick animal is still sensible, and tell your vet about any bird exposure.

Is there a bird flu vaccine for dogs or cats?
No. There is no registered H5N1 vaccine for dogs or cats in Australia. Avoiding exposure is the whole strategy.

What should I do if I find a dead bird?
Do not touch it. Note the location and call the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline on 1800 675 888. Multiple sick or dead birds in one place is especially worth reporting.

Sources

Australian government: DAFF H5 bird flu updates, DAFF bird flu campaign, Wildlife Health Australia incident page, Agriculture Victoria, NSW DPIRD

Pet-owner guidance: RSPCA South Australia, US CDC, bird flu in pets and other animals

Studies: Songserm 2006, Emerging Infectious Diseases 10.3201/eid1211.060542, Maas 2007, Emerging Infectious Diseases avian influenza susceptibility and receptors in dogs, Ly 2023, Virulence 10.1080/21505594.2023.2289780, Moreno 2024, Microorganisms 10.3390/microorganisms12040689, Dhakal 2025, Journal of Food Protection 10.1016/j.jfp.2025.100628, Lee 2025, Journal of Veterinary Science 10.4142/jvs.25153