PET owners have been issued an urgent warning to keep dogs leashed and cats indoors after a deadly disease outbreak.

       European health chiefs have warned our beloved pets could be at risk of catching bird flu as the continent battles record cases.

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       Dog and cat owners have been issued an urgent warning after a bird flu outbreak Credit: GETTY

       The warning was issued by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) after 24 cats tested positive for the virus in Poland, with nine dying.

       However, the source of the contamination has not yet been determined.

       Since late 2021, bird flu has killed millions of birds across Europe and beyond.

       This has now sparked fears the disease could be evolving to spread among certain mammals.

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       The EFSA is calling for increased surveillance of bird flu in wild and domesticated mammals.

       A spokesman said: “It is recommended to avoid exposure of domestic cats and dogs, and in general carnivore pets, to dead or diseased animals.

       “Possible measures are keeping dogs on a leash, and confining cats indoors in areas where extensive circulation of HPAI [highly pathogenic avian influenza] viruses in wild birds has been confirmed.”

       No cat-to-cat or cat-to-human bird flu transmission has yet been confirmed in the cases, the officials added.

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       But the organisation also urged dog and cat owners to avoid feeding raw poultry meat to their pets in areas where the virus has been reported.

       Elsewhere in Europe, five dogs and a cat have been infected in Italy in recent weeks.

       There have been 188 cases of bird flu detected in the UK since October 2022, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

       But scientists have also raised the alarm about bird flu deaths among wild mammals, like foxes, which can catch the virus by hunting sickened birds or scavenging the dead.

       Last year, 67 countries in five continents reported highly pathogenic H5N1 outbreaks, with more than 131 million domestic poultry lost due to death or culling in affected areas.

       In Poland, the deaths of around 70 domestic cats since June 23 are being investigated, according to local media reports.

       Reports have linked the outbreak to raw poultry meat contaminated with the virus.

       However, the UKHSA said the level of risk to human health remains “very low to the general population”.