The Animal Doctor

DEAR DR. FOX: My aunt, who lived in Woodlawn, Illinois, raised Rhodesian ridgebacks for years. She was hit head-on by a drunk driver in Oklahoma. At the time of the accident, her kennel girl was feeding the seven dogs. She said all seven went to the kennel gates and started howling in unison. -- M.L.R., St. Louis

DEAR M.L.R.: Many readers will appreciate your sharing the apparent reaction of your aunt's dogs to her sudden death hundreds of miles away. Skeptics may dismiss this as sheer coincidence and perhaps ask if this was the only time the dogs ever went to the kennel gates and howled together.

I have received many anecdotes that seem to present evidence of some extrasensory or psychic ability in animals. We must exercise some rigor in determining if indeed there is evidence supportive of my "empathosphere" theory, which I first presented in 1996 in my book "The Boundless Circle" and more recently gave several remarkable accounts in my book "Animals & Nature First."

Your account, pending confirmation that such group howling was a rare event and not triggered by some wailing siren or faraway dog, would indeed be what I call a classic example of animals' remote sensing and supports the concept of an empathosphere.

DEAR DR. FOX: I have a 3-year-old Jack Russell terrier who has a social problem regarding other dogs. We have tried personal training, but she still reverts to terrible behavior.

We live in a small community where residents walk their dogs. When my dog sees another dog approaching, she starts a loud guttural yelp that has people coming out of their homes to see if some wild animal is attacking. If I allow her to slowly approach the oncoming animal, she might just sniff, or she may snarl and bare her teeth. Otherwise she is a delightful pet, and gets along well with our Lhasa apso. She loves people.

What do you suggest we do? Would a shock collar work? I have tried having her sit and wait, but the yelp is awful. -- E.A.S., Fort Myers, Florida

DEAR E.A.S.: Sometimes it is best to accommodate an animal's spontaneous behavior because attempting to inhibit may cause complications, such as conditioned fear, anxiety, confusion and aggression.

Your dog's collar, and heaven forbid any choke chain collar you might be tempted to use, could possibly distort your dog's vocalizations. Putting her in a harness may be better.

Our late Indian pariah dog, Batman, used to scream bloody murder whenever we came home after leaving him in the house even for a short time. That was his way of greeting us and relieving his pent-up emotions in a most expressive and loud volley of cries and yelps. We half expected neighbors to call animal protection or the police because it sounded like he was being tortured!

Learning to love what and whom we live with regardless of certain behaviors and potential embarrassment is the kind of live-and-let-live attitude that seems ever more remote in these times.

TENDER LOVING CARE HELPS KEEP SHELTER CATS HEALTHY

Veterinarian Nadine Gourkow, Australia's Queensland University School of Veterinary Medicine and associates have published an elegant study demonstrating the benefits of stroking and talking softly to cats that go into shelters. Such gentling for 10 minutes per day over a 10-day period helped reduce cats' anxiety or frustration and elevated their production of infection-fighting immunoglobulin A. Non-gentled cats showed an increase of potentially harmful bacteria and viruses associated with upper respiratory infection, a common problem in cat shelters, while gentled cats did not.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox's website at DrFoxVet.com.)

DEAR READERS: Many readers of this column have swamped me with requests for my home-prepared cat and dog food recipes, mostly because they do not have Internet access to them posted on my website, DrFoxVet.com.

So here is the recipe for dogs -- the one for cats will be in next week's column -- and seasons greetings to all!

DR. MICHAEL FOX'S HOMEMADE DIET FOR DOGS

1 pound lean hamburger, ground lamb or mutton; one whole chicken; or half a small turkey (all raw)

2 cups uncooked whole-grain brown rice (or barley, quinoa, amaranth, rolled oats or pasta noodles) or 4 cups chopped organic potatoes

Pinch of salt

1 tablespoon vegetable oil (or flaxseed oil* or safflower oil)

1 tablespoon organic butter

1 tablespoon wheat germ

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon brewer's yeast

1 tablespoon calcium citrate, lactate or human-grade bone meal

*If you're using flaxseed oil, add it after the cooked food has cooled to room temperature.

Combine all the above ingredients. Add enough water to cover ingredients. Simmer, stir and add more water as needed until cooked. Debone the chicken parts, but do not feed your dog the cooked bones since they can splinter and cause internal injury. While the stew is still very hot, mix in a cup of raw, grated carrots, broccoli, cabbage, collard greens, sweet potatoes or yams. You can also add a cup of blueberries or chopped apple. The recipe should be thick enough to be molded into patties -- you can add oat bran, rice or buckwheat flour to help thicken it.

Then when it's cooled, add 2 tablespoons organic plain yogurt or kefir, 1 teaspoon spirulina, 1 teaspoon powdered ginger and 1 teaspoon powdered turmeric.

For a 30-pound dog, serve 1 cup of this recipe twice daily. Freeze the rest. You can even serve the patties frozen so your dog can gnaw on them in hot weather.

For dogs less than 30 pounds and for overweight and less-active dogs, use only 1 cup of uncooked rice in the recipe.

Transition your dog onto this new diet gradually. Mix increasing amounts of your dog's new food with decreasing amounts of the old food over a seven-day period to enable adaptation and avoid possible digestive upset.

For variation, you can use cottage cheese, well-cooked lentils, garbanzo beans, lima beans or a dozen organic eggs as meat alternatives. (Note: Some dogs are allergic or hypersensitive to some foods, especially soy, beef, eggs, wheat and dairy products.)

Give your dog a daily multivitamin and mutimineral supplement like Pfizer's Pet Tabs. You can also give your dog half of a human one-a-day supplement crushed up in the food.

Since obesity is so prevalent in companion animals today, weigh your dog at weekly intervals when putting him a new diet, and adjust the amount according to any undesirable weight changes.

NOTE: Different animals have slightly different nutritional needs according to age, temperament, amount of physical activity and health status. Large dogs require less food per pound of body weight, so adjust according to appetite and weight gain. And if your dog is deep-chested and prone to bloat, give him three to four smaller meals per day.

Keep teeth clean by getting dogs, especially toy breeds, used to a daily brushing. The best and safest natural tooth cleaner is a raw, scalded 3- to 4-inch piece of beef shank/soup/marrow bone, or thin strips of scalded raw beef heart or shank meat -- the tougher the better!

AN APOLOGY TO READERS

I apologize to readers of this column living in those parts of Florida served by the Palm Beach Post. The paper had sent letters from its readers to the wrong address. I just received almost a year's worth of letters from you all. I have contacted the paper and have been assured that it will send the letters to the right address in the future. And I'll work on getting your letters answered in the meantime!

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox's website at DrFoxVet.com.)

DEAR DR. FOX: Shortly after I adopted a stray female Pomeranian who had been running loose in the country, I read your recommendation for a bad breath problem. It worked very well.

In recent weeks, my Pomeranian took a bite of a philodendron plant. It had been five years since I last had a pet in the house, and I forgot about the plant. I rushed her to my vet, where she received an IV. I was sent home with an antibiotic that tore through her with amazing speed. This drug was considered the best. An examination of her stool found that bad bacteria had taken over in her intestines. She was changed to another antibiotic that the vet hoped would be better tolerated -- Endosorb tabs and an over-the-counter stomach medicine.

All in all, there were at least three to four trips to the vet, and the dog was declining very quickly, with vomiting and diarrhea. Then we had a weekend visit to the emergency clinic for fluids and a stomach-settling injection. I had used my vet for years, but this time there was a new crew, and I never saw the same one twice. In desperation, I called the spay/neuter clinic that had treated my dog previously and asked it for a recommendation. We went to the new vet, and he took her off all meds except Endosorb and added FortiFlora, a probiotic.

She has been on this regimen for about three weeks. I have about two weeks of the probiotics to go, but see no improvement in her stool. I had to add a teaspoon of baby food chicken to each serving to get her to eat it. Her general health has improved, and she's still perky, though she needs shorter walks.

My mother died from the Clostridium difficile (C-diff) bacteria. I have been reading about a new successful treatment of this with fecal implants. Do you think that would work for a dog who has lost all her good bacteria? -- J.M.M., Glen Allen, Virginia

DEAR J.M.M.: The philodendron plant can cause acute gut pain, swelling of the tongue and throat, kidney failure and, in cats, convulsions.

I sympathize with the difficulties that you and your poor dog went through as a consequence of the antibiotic medication that depopulated the beneficial and essential bacteria in her intestinal tract. I don't understand why such treatment was prescribed for what was presented as an emergency case of philodendron poisoning.

A bacterium called Clostridium perfringens can proliferate in dogs' intestines and cause havoc. Amoxocillin, metronidazole or tylosin are effective remedies, followed by probiotics to repopulate/recolonize the intestinal flora.

Yes, fecal transplants, delivered by a rectal enema of a suspension of fecal material from a healthy donor containing these beneficial bacteria, have been given to dogs in crisis like yours with spectacular results.

Recently, capsules containing stored frozen bacteria-rich fecal material from healthy donors have benefited human patients suffering from C-diff and related intestinal dysbiosis. This malady regrettably costs $3.2 billion annually and is associated with 14,000 deaths each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

PET FOOD RECALL

Natura Pet Products has initiated a limited, voluntary recall of certain EVO dry cat and dry ferret food lots produced in its Fremont, Nebraska, facility. Due to a formulation error, these products contain insufficient levels of vitamins and excess minerals. The problem was discovered during the investigation of an ingredient inventory discrepancy. No other Natura products are affected.

Consumers who purchased the product should discontinue feeding the product immediately and discard as normal household waste. For more information concerning lot numbers, consumers can reach Natura Consumer Relations at 1-855-206-8297 or visit evopet.com/evo-recall/. Lot numbers are also posted on my website, DrFoxVet.com.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox's website at DrFoxVet.com.)