DEAR DR. FOX: I recently read about a class-action lawsuit brought against the company that makes Blue Buffalo dog food. The company agreed to pay out specific amounts to people who had purchased its products.

I believe the suit pertained to ingredients that were not listed on the label. I used to feed my dogs Blue Buffalo, but I never saved my purchase receipts (really, who does that?), so even if I'd wanted to receive a payout, I couldn't unless the larger pet stores with their "clubs" kept records of my purchases. Even if they did, I still have no wish to participate.

You might want to mention the particulars of the suit in your column in order to bring up the fact one never really knows what is in commercial pet food. -- R.S.B., North Beach, Maryland

DEAR R.S.B.: According to the website Top Class Actions (topclassactions.com), the Blue Buffalo pet food company agreed to pay $32 million in order to settle allegations that it falsely claimed its products were free of poultry byproducts, corn, wheat, soy and artificial preservatives. According to Top Class Actions:

"Pet food competitor Nestle Purina PetCare Co. along with plaintiffs in 13 separate class action lawsuits challenged the 'True Blue Promise' label after claiming that several investigations found those ingredients within Blue Buffalo products.

"The Blue Buffalo class action lawsuit alleged that plaintiffs paid a higher price for the 'natural' pet food because they were misled by false advertisements that Blue Buffalo was a quality choice compared to other products on the market.

"According to the Blue Buffalo class action lawsuit settlement, Class Members will receive $5 for every $50 they spent on various Blue Buffalo products over a seven-year claim period.

"Blue Buffalo stands by its labeling and denies it did anything wrong, however the pet food manufacturer has agreed to the terms of the settlement in order to avoid the cost of further litigation."

This is the largest class-action suit payout in the history of the pet food industry, but is the tip of the iceberg as more reports are published about mislabeling of ingredient amounts and types. This can pose serious health problems for animals with allergies and food intolerances. For pet food companies you can trust if you are not yet preparing your own pet food from known ingredients, visit truthaboutpetfood.com.

DEAR DR. FOX: Yesterday evening, our family cat, a domestic shorthair, started vomiting. The first episode occurred overnight, and then several more followed this morning after breakfast. I removed the food we usually keep out for her and left out a small quantity of water in case she was thirsty. I attempted to feed her some hard-boiled egg whites at dinnertime, and I don't know if she managed to eat any, but she did drink water and vomited shortly thereafter -- a total of three times over an hour-and-a-half timespan. The vomit is just liquid at this point. Her behavior seems OK; she is purring, and until this evening has been very interested in food.

Getting her to the vet is extremely stressful, so before I venture there, is there anything I can do at home? She is not listless or in other distress. Furthermore, our family dog returned home from the hospital the day before this vomiting began. He had an emergency splenectomy. Is there any chance he brought something home that may be causing this?

The cat is 14 years old, remains indoors and is in good health overall. -- M.M., Ashburn, Virginia

DEAR M.M.: There are many reasons why cats will occasionally vomit, often because of a fur ball in the stomach or eating too quickly -- they recover quickly and have their appetites back within a few hours and hold food down. But if vomiting persists or the cat does not eat for 24 hours, which can result in potentially serious dehydration and acute fatty liver disease and be a sign of other problems such as kidney failure in an older cat, veterinary attention should not be delayed.

Some veterinarians do house calls, which can be much less stressful for cats. In this instance with your cat, it could be simply transient, a stress-reaction to the dog coming home and smelling different and possibly behaving differently during recovery from surgery.

(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.net.)

DEAR READERS: The question has at long last been provisionally and promisingly answered concerning the illogical protocol of injecting the same amount of vaccine for a Great Dane as for a toy poodle.

Now veterinarian W. Jean Dodds, DVM, Ph.D., has published her pilot study evaluation of giving a half-dose of canine distemper and parvovirus to small dogs to see if they develop protective antibody levels in their serum. She found that they do, indeed, develop such protection.

This elegant study, published in Integrative Veterinary Care Journal and American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association Journal, should be an incentive for vaccine companies to address this issue, since vaccines are not without risk; veterinarians should push for a broader study to confirm these findings in a larger population.

DEAR DR. FOX: I hope you can shed some light on my beloved pet's problem. I have domestic shorthair cat littermates who are 12 years old. They have been in good health until recently. One had hyperthyroid disease, underwent radioiodine treatment and is doing well. My other cat seems to have a strange condition.

We began to notice that Feliz was circling to the right as he got tangled under our feet. He started distancing himself from our cuddling activities. His personality seemed to change from outgoing, friendly and curious to having a faraway look in his eyes at times.

His physical exam didn't reveal anything except for the circling and lack of activity and somewhat decreased appetite.

The vet suspected the worst: a brain tumor. I was counseled that an abdominal sonogram, chest X-ray and neurological studies may or may not shed light on his condition. We started with blood studies that were all normal.

We gave him prednisolone and an antibiotic injection. Two days later, he seemed to get remarkably better, eating, coming around and interacting more. Two weeks later, he received another antibiotic injection and a reduced amount of prednisolone.

He seemed to be doing well, and after approximately six weeks, we slowly tapered off his medication. He did not do well off prednisolone. He became very withdrawn and has hidden from us, although he did continue to eat. He was restarted on his medicine and there was almost an immediate improvement in his behavior. We did see a change in his agility, as he no longer climbed on his favorite windowsills regularly. The circling decreased on good days.

His abdominal sonogram, chest X-ray and most recent labs are all normal. Unfortunately, the neurological studies are just too expensive.

Is this scenario typical of anything? What can I do to help my beloved pet? Is there anything I can add to his medical regimen? -- L.T., Kensington, Maryland

DEAR L.T.: There are various reasons why your cat developed the neurological and behavioral changes that may indicate either a brain tumor or quite possibly an inflammatory condition, which the prednisolone helped subdue.

Finding out what the cause may be will involve more tests, costs and stress to your cat. Since the steroid medication does seem to help, I would advise you to continue to work closely with your veterinarian on maximizing its effectiveness while seeking to minimize the daily amount prescribed to help reduce side effects.

I would urge you to consider including probiotics in the cat's daily diet, along with anti-inflammatory fish oil like Nordic Naturals for Cats, and make sure that no glutens from corn in particular are in your cat's regular diet. Let me know if there is a high cereal content in your cat's diet, since this can be a cause of neurological disease in dogs, notably border terriers. Also, if your cat consumes a lot of tuna fish, this could cause neurological problems because of high levels of mercury contamination.

OBESITY: THE MODERN PLAGUE OF CATS AND DOGS

America's pets are obese, and there's no sign that the trend is slowing, according to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, which reports that 53 percent of dogs and 58 percent of cats are overweight. Pet insurer Nationwide reports that claims for obesity-linked conditions and diseases increased 10 percent in the past two years. Excess weight causes health problems such as arthritis, bladder issues, kidney and heart disease and diabetes. Food addiction can lead to overeating and the metabolic syndrome. Certain flavors and additives in pet foods and treats coupled with a high cereal or starch content that causes an insulin surge can mean animals always feel hungry. Such biologically inappropriate dietary ingredients may cause proliferation of dependent and demanding gut bacteria that thrive on starches and sugars and influence dietary preferences.

(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.net.)

DEAR DR. FOX: I read about the woman from Washington, D.C., whose dog had health problems costing her $10,000. This is about the lack of a response from the American Kennel Club. Some years ago, we reported our dog's breeders, concerned that they were not taking proper care of the dogs they were breeding. We had purchased a 3-year-old Belgian shepherd. When we picked her up, she was in a crate sitting on top of other crates in a garage. When she was taken out, she looked to be in poor shape, and she was -- skinny, poor coat, bad teeth and her vocal cords had been cut. We kept her and got her treated, and she was with us for nine years. She was a lovable and tremendous addition to our family.

Shortly after we got her, I reported her condition and the breeder to the AKC. The group wasn't interested and did nothing. It occurred to me that the AKC was less concerned about the dogs and more on its breeders and dog show. Our experiences with the breeder and the AKC were disappointing, and I was wondering if you have heard from others with similar experiences? -- C.H., Leesburg, Virginia

Dear C.H.: The American Kennel Club is simply a registry that issues pedigree papers, essentially without any policing of the sources the dogs come from -- notably puppy mills. It insists that it has no policing or advocacy intentions or authority, which I see as an abdication of responsibility and a great loss of opportunity.

By not having a dual registry with a special category of pure-breed dogs who have been progeny tested and screened for genetic abnormalities and heritable diseases, the "papers" are of little value, though many believe them to be like some Good Housekeeping seal of approval.

The popularization of dog shows for pure breeds, many with evident structural defects, has contributed to the genetic decline and suffering of many breeds of dogs, especially those of abnormal size and structure. The burdens that human selection has created and others find profit in continue to propagate, to the detriment of the animals.

DEAR DR. FOX: In a recent column, a reader mentioned their dog, who seemed to have allergies from November through April. We had the same problem with our Labrador retriever-pit bull.

We tried the same remedies -- putting her on a grain-, poultry-, peanut- and soy-free diet and giving her Benadryl. A couple of years ago in desperation, we tried putting a humidifier in the living room, where the dogs sleep and spend most of their time. Within a couple of days, the itching diminished greatly. Apparently, the dog's skin is quite sensitive to the drier air caused by the furnace running in winter (from November through April). We also put a humidity gauge in the room, and the dog seems most comfortable at around 45 percent air humidity. We monitor the level carefully to avoid getting mold in the house.

Since our dog chooses to spend most of her time in the house, we have to bathe her about once every four or five weeks, and we use a lanolin-based shampoo and conditioner for this. We keep her on the same diet year-round.

The extra humidity gave our dog relief and might work for others. -- C.D., Worden, Illinois

DEAR C.D.: It is enlightening to hear from readers who have found cures for their animal companions' maladies. It is encouraging that common sense can often supplant conventional veterinary medical science and treatment protocols. Your discovery underscores the importance of considering the animal's environment. I just wonder how many dogs like yours have been put on prednisone and special, costly and generally unpalatable special prescription diets and suffered the consequences.

(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.net.)