A Man Was Awarded $808,000 After His Cat Died From Bird Flu in Pet Food
Tim Hanson fed his four-year-old Siamese mix Kira a Wild Coast Pet Foods raw chicken product in January 2025. He said he only bought it because the company had promised it was testing its products for bird flu. Shortly after eating it Kira began gasping for air. Hanson rushed her to the vet, racked up roughly $8,000 in bills, and on February 9 was forced to euthanize her.
"I just held her," he told The Oregonian. "I just told her I loved her so much."
When he asked Wild Coast Pet Foods to cover the vet bills he received no response. So he sued.
An Oregon jury just awarded him $808,000.
What Happened in Court
Hanson's attorney played a recorded deposition from Wild Coast founder Tyler Duncan in which Duncan denied direct responsibility for Kira's death in a way that didn't land well with the jury.
"I'm familiar that the food did get pets sick," Duncan said in the recording. "The owners then chose to euthanize a pet. Right? The food itself did not kill the animal."
Wild Coast's defense argued the company didn't act with malice and had relied on a third-party laboratory for bird flu testing. The jury wasn't persuaded. The $808,000 verdict came down in Hanson's favor.
Most of that money won't go to Hanson directly. Oregon law requires 70% of all punitive damages verdicts to go to a state crime victims fund, with the rest largely going to legal fees. Hanson said it was still worth every bit of it.
"I wanted some accountability. And I wanted to do whatever I could to help ensure that other cats don't get sick and other pet owners don't have to go through this," he said. "I feel justice has been served."
His attorney put it plainly: "This verdict sends a loud message to the pet food industry about the importance of accurate advertising."
On its website, Wild Coast's founder has since posted an apology acknowledging that pet owners "trust us to provide safe food for animals that are beloved members of their families" and expressing recognition of "the heartbreak that comes with losing a companion."
Why Bird Flu in Pet Food Is Such a Serious Problem
Bird flu — H5N1 specifically — is especially deadly for cats. The mortality rate in felines is close to 100%. There is no vaccine and no cure.
During the 2024-2025 outbreak that swept through dairy cows, poultry flocks, and even some humans, cats across multiple states died as well. At least 154 cats have fallen ill from the virus since 2024, according to the USDA. Over a dozen of those cases have been linked specifically to contaminated commercial raw pet food.
Wild Coast Raw has issued more than one recall for bird flu-contaminated products that resulted in cat deaths.
The Bottom Line
Raw pet food has grown significantly in popularity in recent years marketed as a more wholesome alternative to kibble — the idea being that skipping heat treatment preserves more nutrients. But that same lack of heat treatment means there's one fewer step killing bacteria and viruses before the food reaches a pet's bowl. The CDC specifically advised pet owners during the 2024-2025 outbreak to avoid raw meats and commercially produced raw pet foods.
Raw pet foods show up on FDA recall lists regularly even outside of bird flu outbreaks — listeria and salmonella contamination are common enough that the category has a disproportionate recall history compared to processed pet food.
Kira was four years old. She ate food her owner bought in good faith based on a company's assurances about its testing. She died three weeks later. A jury decided that was worth $808,000 in accountability — and based on the industry's track record with raw food safety, the message probably needed to be that loud.
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