A California man says his two cats died and a third was hospitalized after he fed them raw milk recalled for bird flu risk.

Joseph Journell of San Bernadino lost two of his beloved cats, a 14-year-old tabby, Alexander, and Tuxsie, a 4-year-old tuxedo cat, after they drank raw milk from a lot recalled for H5N1 bird flu contamination, a news release from Associated Press shows.

Raw milk comes directly from cows, sheep or goats. Some health and food safety experts say drinking raw milk doesn’t come without health risks. Lately, those concerns have been elevated as a deadly strain of bird flu is infecting dairy farms around the country.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has begun collecting and testing samples of aged, raw cow’s milk cheese for the presence of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5N1), better known as bird flu, Food Safety News reported.

A California man lost two of his cats and nearly a third after feeding them raw milk contaminated with H5N1 bird flu. The milk, from a Fresno-based company, was recalled after health officials identified the virus. The cats, kept indoors and on conventional diets, showed no other exposure to infected sources.

Scientists and volunteers with the Olympic Cougar Project said they have the opportunity now to study bird flu in wild animals – to hopefully prevent it from spreading to people.

In a concerning development from California, multiple cat fatalities have been attributed to the consumption of raw milk contaminated with the H5N1 bird flu virus. Joseph Journal, a local resident, suffered the loss of two beloved cats—a 14-year-old tabby and a 4-year-old tuxedo—after they ingested the dairy product,