DEAR READERS: The American Veterinary Medical Association is actively monitoring developments related to animals and COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

On Feb. 27, a dog in Hong Kong tested “weak positive” for coronavirus (the owner tested positive). The precise meaning of “weak positive” remains unclear, and evaluation is ongoing. The dog has since received a second positive result, which has been sent to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), which is working with Hong Kong health officials on this case. Hong Kong authorities have said the dog shows no clinical signs of illness, but remains quarantined. They contend that cats and dogs cannot pass the virus to humans, but they can test positive for low levels of the pathogen if they catch it from their owners.

At this time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization say there is no evidence that companion animals can spread COVID-19. However, as with any disease, it’s always a good idea to wash your hands after being around animals.

According to the CDC, people who are sick with COVID-19 should limit contact with pets and other animals just as they would limit contact with other people. When possible, a healthy member of the household should take over caring for any animals. If an ill individual must be around pets or other animals while sick, he or she should wear an appropriate facemask and wash hands thoroughly before and after.

A Facebook post implying that a cattle vaccine can prevent infection with the novel coronavirus spreading among humans has been widely shared, but that vaccine prevents diarrhea in calves caused by bovine coronavirus -- an entirely different pathogen from the one that causes COVID-19. Under no circumstances should people ever use any animal vaccine on themselves.

For more details about this emerging disease, see the relevant article on my website (drfoxonehealth.com). Essentially, this emerging disease and others will continue to be threats, calling for ever-more vaccines and medications, so long as preventive medicine remains human-centered and reactive rather than proactive. Governments must address wildlife poaching, trafficking, habitat encroachment, our ever-increasing human numbers and the killing of animals, wild and domesticated, for food.

DEAR DR. FOX: A recent column of yours about race horses really spoke to me. I am on the board of directors of the Equamore Foundation, a horse rescue sanctuary in Ashland, Oregon. We have lived the terrible story of thoroughbred horses thrown in the trash, and we fight against it every day.

Currently, we have 59 rescued equines on our property; the number fluctuates as we lose horses to illness and injury and, sadly, as more animals are identified who need our help. We only take in horses that have no other options. Once they enter our barn, they only leave to cross the rainbow bridge. Many of these horses come from the racing industry, and we have seen the abuse of these magnificent animals -- including starvation, cruelty and abandonment -- up close.

We have been a rescue facility since 1991. Our horses live as horses should: They have a beautiful, cozy barn; daily turnout in the pasture with their herds; good food; vet and farrier care; and the love of the humans who tend to their needs. I would invite you to peruse our website (equamore.org) to read some of the inspiring stories of rehabilitation and redemption of our residents.

To highlight the problems with horse racing, we hold an annual event on the first Saturday in May, coinciding with the Kentucky Derby. We do our best to teach our supporters about the cruelty built into the horse racing industry. And it is an industry -- a business -- where each year’s batch of colts is called a “crop,” like corn or soybeans. I’m sure that this desensitization makes it easier for trainers to shove a less-than-successful and terrified horse into a trailer for the trip to Canada or Mexico for slaughter.

Thank you for all that you do for animals, and the awareness that you bring to the world to make us better stewards of our furry friends. -- Nancy Shulenberger, Ashland, Oregon

DEAR N.S.: I commend you on your active involvement in helping these magnificent, long-abused animals, who are treated by so many as mere commodities. I hope some readers will be moved to support your good work.

I have also written an article, which has been accepted for publication in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, in which I set out the scientific and medical reasons that thoroughbred horses should not be raced competitively until they are 3 1/2 to 4 years of age. Before that age, their skeletal and joint structures are too immature to take the physical stress, making them prone to injury and all too often having to be killed on the racetrack. Such a sad reflection of human ignorance, indifference and greed.

(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 DrFoxOneHealth.com.)

DEAR DR. FOX: My old cat is suffering from hyperesthesia syndrome. Are there any home remedies that I can try for him? -- M.K., St. Louis

DEAR M.K.: Hyperesthesia syndrome is as yet a condition of unknown cause, and is not uncommon in cats. It is associated with agitation and anxiety, with the skin rippling and the cat becoming hypersensitive to touch during an episode.

In all cases, I would advise the veterinarian to check first for hyperactive thyroid, which can bring on somewhat similar symptoms -- especially when the cat pulls on its fur and engages in self-mutilation.

Wrapping the cat in a towel while comforting and cradling it can help during an episode. Some people have found that giving the cat dried catnip herb can also have a calming effect. An approximate dose of 1/4 teaspoon of dried catnip in the morning and early evening may help, although some cats don't respond to catnip.

At bedtime, I would also give 1 to 3 mg of melatonin. If you have difficulty pilling your cat, crush the tablet in a little canned sardine.

Your veterinarian may wish to prescribe Prozac, which can help alleviate anxiety, or low-dose gabapentin. Also discuss a nutraceutical supplement to increase brain serotonin, such as tryptophan or L-theanine.

I would also strongly advise feeding your cat a good-quality canned, frozen or freeze-dried cat food that's free of corn and other cereals and of additives, especially coloring agents and preservatives. Or try my home-prepared cat food recipe, found on my website (DrFoxOneHealth.com), which has helped improve the health of countless cats over the years.

CHINA’S WILDLIFE MEAT TRADE BAN LIKELY UNENFORCEABLE

China is reportedly banning the trade and consumption of wildlife, on the speculation that the new coronavirus probably came from bats, then spread to an intermediary species, then to people at a meat market featuring many animals, wild and domestic. China’s wildlife-farming industry is estimated at $74 billion, and the wild-meat industry value is $7.1 billion. Wildlife policy researcher Zhao-Min Zhou, in considering the scope of these industries’ profitability and political influence, says that government enforcement of any such ban is “untenable.” (Business Insider, Feb. 25)

(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 DrFoxOneHealth.com.)

DEAR READERS: Our fear-based attitude toward viruses and bacteria is based on our lack of appreciation for how micro-organisms function and help sustain our world. Parts of them are in our DNA and vital cellular content, and without them in our guts, we would die in a few days. They also can play an environmentally beneficial role in optimizing ecological biodiversity and reducing dysbiosis.

When epidemics and pandemics break out, there is always some ecological component and carrier agent, coupled with a lack of immunity in humans and/or other species who succumb to infection. Those species and individuals who do not succumb, and may show no symptoms, can still transmit infection to others. Of those who perish, some are killed by the primary infective agent, while others die from a secondary, often bacterial infection or -- in the case of wild animals -- become easy prey for a predator.

The disease caused by this new coronavirus has been named “coronavirus disease 2019,” abbreviated “COVID-19.” It is in the same “family” of viruses as the one that causes SARS, both having their origins in bats.

Live-caught bats for sale for human consumption in one of China’s open animal markets are the most likely source. However, other species may be involved, such as the highly trafficked pangolins, whose meat and scales are prized in Chinese folk medicine, along with the various parts of other wild animals, from rhino horns to tiger bones.

Bats, a sentinel species of ecosystem health and guardian of tropical forests, are the main carriers of these kinds of viruses, including Ebola, to which they are immune. So are most of the indigenous species who have co-evolved and co-inhabited their domains for generations of selection and survival. When people and their farmed animals encroach on these domains of the wild, they succumb to these so-called zoonotic diseases: The classic example of such human encroachment is sleeping sickness in Africa, which has affected millions of people and their livestock ever since humans began invading the domain of disease-resistant wildlife. But there has been no global spread because a fly is needed to transmit the disease, and tsetse flies do not engage in international travel or trade. With COVID-19, there is no such intermediary host-vector; it can be passed directly from human to human.

There will always be new diseases like COVID-19 emerging, and potential pandemics, so long as wildlife poaching, international animal trade and illegal trafficking continue, along with ever-increasing human population growth and habitat encroachment. All countries should be severely sanctioned economically for engaging in wildlife trafficking and for having open markets selling wild-caught animals.

Pandemics of swine and avian influenzas generally originate from open Asian markets and slaughtering in rural and poor communities, where centralized processing and cold storage facilities are not available. COVID-19 may be more highly transmissible than most influenza viruses, with its rates of morbidity and mortality yet to be determined. Individuals and communities alike can become immunocompromised in many ways. These include exposure to microparticle air pollution; telecommunication radiation; endemic nutritional deficiencies; environmental contaminants in water and seafood (such as mercury, fluorides and aluminum); and agricultural chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Richer countries like the U.S., where pork and poultry are dietary staples, pay the environmental and public health costs of these zoonotic diseases, with antibiotic-resistant strains of E. coli, salmonella and other bacteria becoming an escalating problem. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s report “Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States, 2019,” more than 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections occur in the U.S. each year, and more than 35,000 people die as a result.

The number of live pigs, goats, cows and sheep transported worldwide in 2017 was 30% higher than in 2007, according to the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization. International trade in these animals, dead and alive, should be curtailed as a public health service and for national security.

As for concerns about our companion animals, the American Veterinary Medical Association sent the following to vets last month: “Multiple international health organizations have indicated that pets and other domestic animals are not considered at risk for contracting COVID-19 or transmitting the virus that causes the disease.” But I would caution that the virus could mutate in the future, with a new form potentially being passed on to domestic animals.

If we fail to address issues of animal trade and trafficking and habitat encroachment, rich and poor alike will be subject to the indiscriminate justice of natural law until we all abide in greater harmony with other species and with each other. Alternatively, as the natural controls of biodiversity deteriorate, plagues and pestilences of biblical proportions will be the legacy of our collective failure in planetary stewardship, which surviving generations will inherit.

(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 DrFoxOneHealth.com.)