Cat picture alert! Bird flu story ...

Now that the H5N1 bird flu virus has been confirmed in the death of a house cat in Germany and pet owners have been ordered to keep their cats inside, the newspapers in the land of Goethe, Schiller, Bach and Beethoven have been "going crazy over contagious kitties," as one of them puts it.

In a story headlined "Curfew for Kitty," the English-langauge website of Der Spiegel (which in English means "the Mirror") today reports:

Germany's most read daily, the populist Bild Zeitung [or "Picture Daily" in English], has an article examining where the cat came from. "This is Where the Death-Cat Perished" reads the headline of a story that gives a painstakingly detailed account of the life and death of the unlucky tomcat. ... The newspaper also has an interview with leading veterinarian headlined: "Can We Still Cuddle Our Pets?" But never shy to dabble in a bit of fear-mongering, the paper frames the article with a gigantic photo of a housecat snacking on a little blue and yellow bird. After suggesting Germany's 7.5 million cat owners had "great worries," Bild does go about trying to answer some of the questions posed by its readers. Besides addressing whether fluffy can be given Tamiflu antibiotics, someone also asks: "Is it dangerous to clean the cat box?"

Bild's answer to that question, unfortunately, is not recorded in Der Spiegel's English-language story. And I don't know enough German to do a keyword search for "cat box" in the original.

Der Spiegel has its own cat picture, by the way, courtesy of the Deutsche Presse Agentur (German Press Agency). It shows a tabby cat "nibbling on a titmouse," and it ran today in several German papers.

Bird flu is a very real public health threat, and the appearance of a case in a house animal has understandable impact in Germany. Maybe that's why Der Spiegel was tempted to have a little fun with it.

Even the more staid center-left Berliner Zeitung ("Berlin Daily") had advice for pet owners. Take your cat to the vet, for example, if it has the sniffles. And Der Speigel, if you'll pardon the expression, pounced on it:

Less useful is the advice about the dangers of getting hit by bird droppings: "The droppings should be removed and clothes and hands properly washed." Not that anyone would just leave it on, but better safe than sorry, right?

Good advice.

Stories like this are natural when the news is worrisome. And it gave Der Spiegel an excuse to run a darling cat picture.