DEAR DR. FOX: My dog is a 16-pound rescue, probably 8 years old, with a heart murmur. His vet says he needs a Bordatella booster and Lyme disease shots, along with vaccines called DAPP and 4L.

He does not run free. Does he really need all these? -- M.R., High Point, North Carolina

DEAR M.R.: I answer your question with a loud “no!” Your dog should not need any of these shots.

My first question is, when was your dog last vaccinated? Annual “boosters” without doing blood titers are not needed, with the exception of a rabies vaccine that’s only good for one year. (Three-year-duration rabies shots are available, and preferable.)

The Bordatella vaccine is only of short duration, and is usually only given a few days before a dog is boarded. If a grooming facility insists on all of this, then hire a groomer to come to your home instead.

This combination of vaccines all given at the same time amounts to a “carpet-bombing” of your dog’s immune system, with a high probability of long-term adverse consequences. Try to find a holistic veterinary practitioner in your area who is more informed and less driven to put profits before patient well-being. Visit the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association’s website: ahvma.org.

DEAR DR. FOX: My dog has a terrible smell, even after one day of bathing him. He smells musty. I am wondering if it’s his breed or what he eats.

He is 8 years old, and he is a Peekapoo (half Pekinese, half poodle). He eats Caesar and Pedigree brands of food. -- C.N.K., Highlands, New Jersey

P.S. I am 13 years old.

DEAR C.N.K.: I am encouraged to receive letters from young readers of my column, such as you. This gives me hope that concern and caring for animals is passing on from one generation to the next. I fear younger generations are becoming lost in cyberspace, entertainment and social media, and becoming more and more disconnected from nature and the living world around them.

You are demonstrating one of the primary skills of a veterinarian: your nose! The smell of an animal can tell you a lot about his or her health. Healthy dogs smell like fresh hay, and their paw pads like popcorn. Older dogs do become smellier when their kidneys and livers are not doing a good job ridding the body of harmful wastes. Home-prepared diets (such as my basic dog food recipe, posted on my website) can help, coupled with supplements -- especially digestive enzymes, which a daily teaspoon of unsweetened canned pineapple in his food will provide.

Frequent bathing to get rid of any unpleasant odor can actually make things worse by upsetting the healthy balance of bacteria and other microorganisms living on your dog’s skin. So stop the baths for a while. A few drops of wild salmon fish oil in each meal, twice a day being best, should help his skin and overall health.

Considering your dog’s breed and age, do you brush his teeth every evening? Are his teeth and gums healthy? Check my article on dental care posted on my website. This is so very important for dogs -- and cats, too -- and is a widespread health issue with serious ramifications including kidney, heart and liver disease. This could be why your dog smells so musty, because smelly saliva from a diseased mouth will get on your dog’s coat and legs in the course of self-grooming and licking. A full wellness exam by a veterinarian may be called for, if your dog has not seen an animal doctor over the past year.

Do let me know how you solve this problem for your little canine companion.

DOGS IDENTIFY CHILDREN WITH EARLY-STAGE MALARIA

Two trained dogs identified children with subclinical malaria from the smell of their socks with about 70 percent sensitivity and 90 percent specificity, according to researchers reporting at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene’s annual meeting.

If future studies validate the findings, bio-detection dogs could be deployed to prevent asymptomatic carriers from bringing malaria parasites into malaria-free areas. (The Guardian, London, Oct. 29)

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 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. DOX: I have always loved cats, and in my earlier years, I often had two at a time. I currently live in a small condo, and the complex’s rules mandate only one pet per family.

I have one cat, Ginger, who is the joy of my life. I don’t doubt that it would be better for her if I had a friend for her, but I can’t violate the rules. I live a busy life and am away all day, occasionally weeks at a time (a friend takes care of her when I’m on vacation).

I know of people in my complex who have more than one cat, but they must confine them inside so the condo board doesn’t find out. Given that my condo is small, I prefer to leave my porch door open (I’m on the third floor) so Ginger can go outside, stretch out in the sun and watch the butterflies and birds flit by. If I had two cats, the board would know and I’d get in trouble.

Also, I have read that a home should have a separate litter box for each cat. My bathroom is not large enough to accommodate two. I did a good thing by adopting Ginger from our local animal shelter, but I do feel bad that she is alone so much.

What is someone who wants to be a responsible cat owner to do? -- D.L., West Palm Beach, Florida

DEAR D.L.: The last thing that I want to do is to make people feel guilty when I offer advice about caring for their animal companions, and I understand the situation you are in.

I would urge you to get a petition going to change the condo regulations to permit two cats, or a cat and a dog. Phrase this petition as the advice of yours truly, whom you can say is an internationally known veterinarian with a doctoral degree in animal behavior and who advocates, wherever possible, for one cat to live with another compatible cat for emotional and physical health reasons. With such companionship, or that of an easygoing dog, cats are less likely to yowl, spray and disturb neighbors due to separation anxiety and loneliness.

In the interim, you can help enrich your cat’s environment with a birdfeeder in view from one of the windows or balcony, a cat condo and/or TV programs specifically for cats, which some cats seem to enjoy. Leaving a radio or TV talk show on while you are gone can also be calming, if the at-home animal is used to hearing human conversations. Setting up an aquarium with a couple of easy-to-maintain goldfish, with a secure cover to keep the cat out and the fish in, will entertain many cats. (Just like cats and other sociable animals, studies have shown that goldfish are healthier when not kept alone.)

You can also purchase small food containers in which to hide a few pieces of freeze-dried meat or kibble for the cat to “hunt” for around your home while you are away. Boredom-induced eating and high-carbohydrate diets, coupled with inactivity (which another cat-playmate would rectify), account for many cats and dogs becoming obese.

Two cats can share the same litter box with no problems, provided it is cleaned out about four times a day.

DEAR DR. FOX: When I visit my son’s apartment, I often see his cat’s litter box full of feces. He says he just dumps all of the contents out once a week and puts in fresh litter. I say he should scoop out the poop and clumped-up pee every day, add a little more litter as needed, then maybe empty it all out and put in fresh litter once every week or so.

What is your opinion? -- K.L., St. Louis, Missouri

DEAR K.L.: You are correct and your son is quite wrong.

No cat should have to enter an excrement-filled litter box to evacuate. For one cat, the litter box should be cleaned out twice daily, using a scoop that allows unsoiled litter to fall back into the box. The entire contents should be replaced every seven to 10 days, and the box washed out and dried before putting in fresh litter.

Once cats develop an aversion to the litter box because it is filthy, there can be serious health and behavioral problems, as documented in the article on this topic on my website (drfoxvet.net).

DEAR DR. FOX: We have two cats that we rescued. One stays indoors most of the time, and the other absolutely loves to be outdoors. He is quite the hunter and loves to bring us his “trophies” -- among them, snakes, voles, field mice and birds.

Is there any way to discourage his innate desire, other than keeping him indoors? That would be truly miserable for him. -- R.E., Lagrangeville, New York

DEAR R.E.: Once a cat gets a taste of the outdoors and is an avid hunter, it does border on the inhumane to deprive the cat such instinctual activity. But in my opinion, it must be done.

Can you set up an outdoor enclosure the cats can access from a flap in a door or window? At least set up some shelves and cat condos so the cats have some indoor environmental complexity and can see outdoors, and engage them in interactive games in the mornings and evenings, when they are most active.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 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: Several readers have commented about the demise of insects in their communities. As a veterinarian and a former Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society in the U.K., I have always considered the health and welfare of all species paramount, whether warm-blooded or cold. The loss of insect life is due in part to electromagnetic fields from power lines, cellphone towers and wireless services. These fields impact birds, bees, wildlife and our overall environment.

Combined with habitat loss and pesticides, the demise of insects and insectivores is the new norm of the Anthropocene epoch (our current era of significant human impact on the natural world). The consequences are becoming highly detrimental to agricultural productivity, the economy and public health, with the emergence of resistant species and strains of insect pests and carriers of disease, and the extinction of insect predators that previously controlled their numbers and helped maintain biodiversity.

The U.S. Department of the Interior addressed the impact of cell towers on migratory birds in a 2014 letter, saying: “The electromagnetic radiation standards used by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) continue to be based on thermal heating, a criterion now nearly 30 years out of date and inapplicable today.”

For more information and documentation, visit ehtrust.org and search for “Bees, Butterflies and Wildlife.”

DEAR DR. FOX: I’m getting a little dog soon and am concerned about vaccinations. The puppy is only going to be about 10 pounds when fully grown, and can’t handle the same shots as a dog that will get to 80 pounds.

Are the dosages of shots figured per the size/weight of the puppy? Do all vets factor in size and weight, or do I need to ask when I shop for a vet? What else should I consider when looking for a veterinarian? -- A.G., Tulsa, Oklahoma

DEAR A.G.: Many people, veterinarians included, are concerned about the high volume of injectable standard vaccinations for dogs, which manufacturers provide with no consideration for dogs’ sizes or body weights.

To inject a toy-breed puppy with the same volume of vaccine as given to a Great Dane is absurd. Also, giving vaccines by injection is not the ideal way of delivering immune protection. That’s because most infective agents (in other words, those not transmitted by biting insects, by a rabid animal or by a cat with feline immunodeficiency virus) do not penetrate the skin. Rather, they enter via the nasal or oral mucous membranes, or are ingested or inhaled.

Hopefully, safer and more effective vaccines will be developed by the pet industry -- an industry some see as being driven more by profits than by compassion, especially when it comes to addressing adverse reactions to vaccines and preventing their occurrence.

While ever-more vaccines are being marketed for humans and other species, I fear over-reliance on vaccinations has become a substitute for basic preventive health care measures and public education. My website (drfoxvet.net) provides a synopsis of basic vaccination protocols for dogs beginning in puppy-hood, and a review of the risks and benefits of vaccines.

GLYPHOSATE HERBICIDE IN PET FOODS

Eighteen major brands of cat and dog foods were randomly selected for a recent study, all of them being mixtures of vegetable and meat ingredients, with one being certified GMO-free. Analyses found that all of the products contained glyphosate, the main ingredient of Roundup, at concentrations ranging from approximately 80 to 2,000 micrograms of glyphosate per kilogram. (Jiang Zhao and associates, “Detection of glyphosate residues in companion animal feeds,” Environmental Pollution, 2018)

These levels are not considered harmful, but my concern is the potential harm to beneficial gut bacteria, which are essential for maintaining overall long-term health. The adverse consequences of disrupting this microbiome community, called dysbiosis, are many, and include inflammatory bowel conditions and allergies.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 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.)