I see you live in new zealand, that's probably why you're making this into paranoid and rash, you have no threats there (yet).
But here we are in the middle of it, all countries surrounding mine have been infected with the birdflu in birds and in cats, those are facts, not fiction and not paranoia. It's only a matter of time before it spreads to here, that's why we HAVE to think about precautions and also about what if's around here. To ignore it would be plain stupid. Best to be prepaired for what hysterical people are going to do with their cats and how we can protect ourselves at the animalshelters against getting infected ourselves (people have already died from it, that's also a fact, not paranoia).

But I guess it's a luxury not to have to worry about these things.
Good for you.