DEAR DR. FOX: Please assist me in informing folks about a horrible danger to animals in most backyards that few have probably ever considered.

One morning, with seemingly no explanation, our beautiful Belgian Malinois began losing chunks of fur and skin from her back, just behind her shoulders. I thoroughly examined and cleaned the area, but could not determine what caused the nasty wound.

In spite of my best efforts, two days later, she developed an awful infection. Our vet was also at a loss as to the cause of the wound, but identified it as a burn from an unknown source. Determined to find and eliminate the cause, I meticulously searched our home and yard.

It turns out our barbecue grill was the culprit! Hanging underneath the grill is a suspended container, similar in shape and size to a tuna can, to collect fat and juices from the food cooking above. I suspect our dog was lured by the wonderful scent, and while sniffing under the grill, spilled the can of hot juices onto her back.

I felt horrible. I’d never before considered that as a potential hazard. My husband immediately installed a wire mesh guard around the base of the grill to avoid future injuries.

Recovery was slow and painful, but with excellent veterinary care, our dog healed very well. Surprisingly, her fur grew back thick and soft.

Please warn your readers of this serious potential danger. -- L.C., Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

DEAR L.C.: Your warning to all barbecue owners and operators may help prevent such an accident. Both dogs and cats are also at risk from jumping up on a hot grill, lured by the smell of cooking meat.

The backyard barbecue, in my vegetarian-veterinarian opinion, should become a thing of the past. The cooking process creates carcinogens in the burning flesh, and cancers of the colon and prostate have been linked with high beef consumption. Undercooked and/or contaminated meat can also present a risk of Toxoplasmosis (which can cause birth defects, including blindness), Trichinosis, respiratory paralysis, salmonella, food poisoning, E. coli and other harmful bacteria, as well as inflammation-promoting fat.

Barbecues pollute the evening air with carbon micro-particles that can make asthmatics suffer and cause lung disease. They are at the end-point of consumer- and culture-driven appetites responsible for climate change.

Pass me the roasted organic corn, anti-cancer mushrooms and colored vegetables from a clean hibachi grill! With my late father’s elderberry flower wine or rough cider on a hot summer evening, that would be a feast!

While I harp on, let’s also get rid of the LED lights that attract insects, unplug the UV electric bug-zappers and use citronella candles if you have any biting, flying insects, and turn our “perfect” lawns into more natural, chemical-free habitats.

DEAR DR. FOX: Our dog Trixie shakes her head so hard when we are ready to go out for a walk that she makes a clapping sound. Why does she do this? It always makes us laugh, like she’s clapping her hands in delight. -- G.F., Toledo, Ohio

DEAR G.F.: In my opinion, this is indeed the canine equivalent of hand-clapping with excited anticipation. Some dogs laugh, most smile, and some pant with playful expectation or share other signals we understand and express ourselves. Dogs’ reactions to human hiccups and sneezing are often bizarre. Readers may have other aspects of canine communication they may wish to share that they have learned from their dogs.

FDA SAYS COMPANY’S FLEA, WORM PRODUCTS VIOLATE THE LAW

In November, the FDA warned North Carolina-based No More Fleas Please that the company’s Queen City Animals parasiticides had not been approved and were being sold in direct violation of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. The products, now pulled from the market, included oral de-wormers and flea treatments. (American Veterinarian, Nov. 6)

(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: If your dog or cat has been vaccinated, you may be able to avoid revaccination -- which is never without health risks -- by having blood tests done to check for protective antibodies. The Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (KSVDL) offers a core vaccine panel for both dogs and cats. Samples can be submitted by attending veterinarians using an online submission form.

The canine panel (canine distemper, canine adenovirus and canine parvovirus) and the feline panel (feline herpesvirus, feline calicivirus and feline panleukopenia) each cost $23. A micro rabies screen is also available for $34. (Your attending veterinarian will charge an additional amount for collecting and shipping the blood samples.)

See ksvdl.org/resources/core-vaccine-spotlight.html for details.

DEAR DR. FOX: Since our retirement, my husband and I have been serving as foster parents for cats who need forever homes. We joined a local network of cat rescuers and are against trapping, neutering and releasing them to live outdoors. My sister has been providing a foster home for dogs for some years now, as well.

Fostering is so much better for the animals than having to stay in cages in shelters waiting for adoption.

I just want to say this is our way of giving back all the love and enjoyment we have had in our earlier years with animal companions. We have given up vacations for this avocation, and it is so rewarding when we find a forever home for our next rescued cat. Perhaps other readers might want to do this in their communities, too. -- F.L.P., St. Louis, Missouri

DEAR F.L.P.: I applaud what you and your husband are doing, and your sister, and I do wish more people would follow your example of putting compassion into action!

It is surely far more rewarding for animal-loving retirees than taking another crowded ocean cruise (I call them floating toilets) or making a big “carbon footprint” flying abroad for another vacation.

Giving love and attention, including veterinary care as needed, to a fostered cat or dog takes commitment. Such dedication has many rewards, which my wife and I have come to enjoy. Our latest rescued cat recently found a forever home with a family with two children, an old dog and another cat -- whom they adopted after we rescued and fostered him a year ago. Now we have found another cat outdoors, whom we must rescue and rehabilitate. So life goes on.

The only downside, which all animal “foster parents” must accept, is that feeling of losing someone you’ve loved and developed a strong attachment to. But the upside is knowing that another life has been saved and improved.

DEAR DR. FOX: I read about your concerns about insects and wildlife being harmed by electromagnetic fields (EMFs). I went online to find out more information, thinking you were an alarmist. Now I, too, am very disturbed by the risks to our own health and to the animals who share our homes with all kinds of electrical devices.

How can we best protect them and ourselves? At least my home is not near power lines that have strong magnetic fields. -- H.M., West Palm Beach, Florida

DEAR H.M. I am not the only veterinarian to address this issue.

For decades, vets have worked with dairy farmers and power companies to deal with “stray voltage” that can affect cow health, welfare and productivity. Electro-pollution is a fact of life in urban and commercial centers, and may affect brain and endocrine function, as well as cellular activity.

The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as probable carcinogens in 2013. Veterinarian Dr. Katie Kangas has written a helpful article in Animal Wellness magazine (December 2018 issue) on the topic, in which she offers useful tips on reducing exposure in our homes. Readers are encouraged to seek it out.

GENE THERAPY REDUCES PAIN, INFLAMMATION IN DOGS WITH OSTEOARTHRITIS

An experimental gene therapy based on the interleukin-10 gene is showing promise in dogs with severe osteoarthritis, reducing pain and inflammation and restoring their ability to move, and it could reduce the need for joint replacements in humans, says University of Colorado-Boulder neuroscience professor Linda Watkins.

More dogs are being accepted into clinical trials, and the FDA recently approved the experimental therapy for human use. (KCNC-TV, Denver, Nov. 6)

(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.FOX: I am writing to you because of your article about animal behavior, and hope you will be able to help me and my dog Woodrow.

Woodrow is a large Lab mix, approximately 6 years old. He is a victim of the South Korean meat market. I got him two years ago from the SPCA. He gets along fine with my pit bull and four cats, but will nip at my human visitors and once bit a friend of mine. I don’t let him around my visitors now.

Woodrow is afraid of going out the front door. I’ve tried with a leash, without a leash, treats, pulling, toys, raw meat -- nothing will get him to go over that threshold. He does go out my back door with no problem.

I can’t take him to the vet, so I have a mobile vet come see him (and Woodrow bit him!). He gave him a sedative that had no effect. I’ve tried valerian root, and that seems to make him agitated.

Is there anything you can recommend? He is over 100 pounds, so I can’t easily move him. -- T.B., Howell, New Jersey

DEAR T.B.: I commend you for giving a loving, safe haven for this canine refugee from another country, where dogs are regarded as food and are treated with the same cruel indifference as is seen here, and in most other countries, with animal species that are marketed and slaughtered for human consumption.

Eating dogs (and cats) off the street actually causes far less harm environmentally than raising billions of pigs, poultry, cattle, goats and sheep for human consumption -- an industry now implicated, along with consumer demand, with possibly irreversible climate change and loss of wildlife habitat and wildlife.

Your poor dog most assuredly suffers from PTSD to some degree, and was probably not properly socialized earlier in life. I imagine he either survived by scavenging on the streets, or was in a crowded holding pen with other pups and dogs being fattened for slaughter. Since you have had Woodrow for two years and he still shows some behavioral problems, I would consult with a qualified veterinary animal behavior specialist, the paucity of which here in the U.S. is lamentable.

It is important to determine if he bites out of fear, or out of assertive defense of territory or social dominance. Either way, he should wear a comfortable muzzle in situations where he has shown aggressiveness before.

His phobia about going out your front door should be resolved by a behavioral therapist with one or more home visits. Have you tried taking him out the back door and coming in the front door with it set wide open?

If he fails to improve, I would explore high serotonin, l-theanine and tryptophan supplements, and some organic turkey and good quality fish oil (1 teaspoon daily). Also try a few drops of organic essential oil of lavender on a bandanna around his neck twice daily, plus 6 mg of melatonin at bedtime.

Keep me posted.

PET FOOD RECALLS

-- Natural Life Pet Products is voluntarily recalling Chicken and Potato dry dog food due to it containing elevated levels of vitamin D.

-- Nutrisca is voluntarily recalling one formula of its dry dog food due to it containing elevated levels of vitamin D.

-- Lidl USA is voluntarily recalling specific lots of Orlando brand Grain Free Chicken and Chickpea Superfood Recipe Dog Food because the products may contain elevated levels of vitamin D.

Dogs consuming elevated levels of vitamin D could exhibit symptoms such as vomiting, loss of appetite, increased thirst, increased urination, excessive drooling and weight loss.

(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.)