DEAR READERS: As you may be aware, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is in the same category as the one responsible for the epidemic of SARS (Sudden Onset Respiratory Syndrome) in the early 2000s. The two viruses are also sadly linked to animal cruelty.

The SARS epidemic infected more than 8,000 people in 26 countries and killed at least 774, the vast majority in China and Hong Kong. When the virus was linked to civets, Chinese authorities ordered the deaths of some 10,000 civets by drowning and electrocution. (The precursor virus was found to be present in wild Rhinolophus bats.) Civets and other small mammals sold as delicacies in “wet markets” provided a reservoir and amplifier for the virus, and the opportunity for adaptation to humans -- a similar fashion to how the COVID-19 virus got its foothold.

There are degrees of inhumanity and cruel treatment of animals for which we unwittingly pay the price. In Ethiopia, civets are held in small cages and have their anal glands routinely scraped out to “harvest” musk for the perfume industry; in Indonesia, these animals are caged and force-fed coffee beans that are then collected in their feces and sold as gourmet “fermented” beans called kopi luwak. Such practices reflect the depravity that surfaces where the lure of money meets a lack of empathy. This is exemplified especially by China’s bear-bile farms, where bears, constantly confined in cramped cages, have abdominal cannulas collecting their bile for sale as medicine. (One of the alleged “cures” from traditional Chinese medicine that the government recommends for treating severe, critical cases of COVID-19 is an injection of Tan Re Qing, which contains bear bile, National Geographic reported.)

While nation after nation goes through the socioeconomic turmoil of the COVID-19 pandemic disease -- originating from animals alive and dead being sold in a market in China for human consumption -- I appeal to all consumers and governments to consider the impossibility of preventing such pandemics and other animal product-borne epidemics and regional outbreaks. It is impossible because of the enormous scale of animal production -- billions of poultry and pigs worldwide that are the primary source of various strains of influenza virus and antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. This problem is so serious in poultry that their carcasses are washed in bleach; the U.K. refuses to accept America’s chlorine-treated chicken under current trade negotiations.

The U.S. government and meat scientists explored sterilizing such produce using radioactive isotopes, but this move was temporarily blocked by health and safety experts. Such radiation produces radiolytic-breakdown products, the safety of which to consumers has been questioned. Such concerns gained some affirmation with the death of cats in Australia after being fed imported canned cat food that was, under import regulations, subjected to irradiation. (For details, visit https://truthaboutpetfood.com/was-irradiated-pet-food-the-cause-of-cat-deaths-in-australia.)

Regardless, meat and poultry in the U.S. is being irradiated, and producers who use ionized radiation to kill pathogens in products now have expanded options, thanks to two rules published by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (For more, visit foodsafetynews.com/2012/12/fda-expands-irradiation-uses-for-meat-and-poultry.)

COMPANION ANIMALS TEST NEGATIVE FOR CORONAVIRUS SO FAR

Veterinary diagnostics firm Idexx has tested more than 3,500 samples from dogs, cats and horses for infection with the virus that causes COVID-19, and none of the tests have been positive. The findings support experts’ assertions that pets are unlikely to catch or transmit the disease. However, the virus could become attached to animals’ fur, and the CDC says people should avoid kissing pets and should wash their hands after touching them.

A German shepherd dog in Hong Kong whose owner tested positive for COVID-19 was put in quarantine, along with a mixed-breed dog from the same household. While neither dog has clinical signs of the disease, the German shepherd’s test was positive, and the other dog’s was negative. The AVMA, CDC and World Organization for Animal Health say there is no evidence that companion animals can transmit the virus that causes the disease, and authorities say there is no justification for abandoning pets.

(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: All of us involved in animal health, welfare and protection feel close to burned out with the rampant animal exploitation, cruelty and abuse reported week after week from around the world. My latest confrontation with our inhumanity is with China’s demanding folk-medicine market for ejiao.

Ejiao is a gelatin extracted from boiled donkey skins that is used as a blood tonic, libido enhancer, treatment for dizziness and insomnia, a lung “moisturizer” and for anti-aging. I just received a synopsis from the British Veterinary Association of the U.K. Donkey Sanctuary’s Under the Skin report, which documents the sale and theft of millions of donkeys -- especially in Africa -- involving illegal wildlife traffickers and drug dealers. The poor donkeys are transported long distances, with many injured, sick, pregnant and young animals crammed together for days on end without food or water, prior to being killed and skinned. Up to 20% are dead on arrival. In addition, handlers and processors are at risk from zoonotic diseases such as tetanus and anthrax.

Animal protection organizations have lobbied 18 countries, including Pakistan, Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda, to stop this cruel industry, and are pushing China to produce artificially cultured donkey-derived collagen. Kenya, with four donkey-only abattoirs, has yet to take action. Nigeria has lost up to 1 million donkeys per year to the trade, and has passed legislation banning the slaughter of donkeys for their skin. China’s market for ejiao calls for 4.8 million donkey skins annually.

Donkeys have served humanity as patient and gentle beasts of burden for millennia. Their mass slaughter to meet consumer demand for this dubious natural product is an international atrocity, and a disgrace in any culture. See thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk for more details.

DEAR DR. FOX: I give my dog prescription Royal Canin Veterinary Urinary So dog food. Is there a recipe that I can cook instead? -- J.M., Boston

DEAR J.M.: There are veterinary science-formulated diets for a variety of companion animal health problems available (for a fee) from Balance IT: secure.balanceit.com or by phone at 888-346-6362. I wish more veterinarians would use this company, which also provides some excellent nutritional supplements, and that they would make their own diets from whole-food ingredients -- or provide the recipes to their clients for in-home preparation.

This approach is preferable to many of the manufactured (and very profitable) prescription diets widely marketed today. I co-authored a book on this topic with Marion Smart and former Science Diet company veterinarian Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins entitled “Not Fit for a Dog: The Truth About Manufactured Dog and Cat Food.”

HUMAN CASES OF EASTERN EQINE ENCEPHALITIS INCREASING

More cases of Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) were reported in animals in 2019 than in the prior five years. And though the number of human EEE cases reported last year totaled only 36, that was five times the average, write viral disease experts Thomas Yuill and Donald Kaye:

“The public must remain aware that the risk for EEE virus infection is not zero, and people should take appropriate preventive measures to ‘fight the bite’ by protecting themselves and their family members and by vaccinating their horses,” they said. (Healio/Infectious Disease News, January 2020)

Longer, warmer and wetter months associated with climate change mean more such insect-borne diseases putting us, and our animals, at risk.

(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: I was glad to see the University of Minnesota’s Dr. Michael Osterholm on MNSBC’s “Morning Joe” (March 13) discuss something other than contaminated surfaces and hand-washing -- namely, aerosol infection, or the transmission of a virus in respiratory droplets when people talk, cough or sneeze. Floating microparticles of dust and viruses in the air, especially in poorly ventilated indoor environments, are problematic, along with lung-damaging particulate air pollution.

Dr. Osterholm has previously voiced concerns about live farm animal exhibits at state fairs, especially the “miracle of birth” swine barns, where families can go and see sows giving birth to piglets -- risking infection from swine flu and antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

I goofed up yesterday, greeting a friend while dog-walking with a reciprocal elbow-bump: That part was fine, but I pet her dog when he came running up to greet me. If I had had the virus, I could have at least contaminated her dog for a short while, who might have cross-infected her!

As I’ve said before, we are likely to keep experiencing pandemics in the future, requiring 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 and the killing of animals, wild and domesticated, for human consumption. For example, the hepatitis E virus was recently found in 40 percent of U.S. slaughterhouse pigs that were tested. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, zoonotic diseases are very common, both in the United States and around the world. Scientists estimate that more than 6 out of every 10 known infectious diseases in people can be spread from animals, and 3 out of every 4 new or emerging infectious diseases in people come from animals.

For more, see my article “What Coronavirus (COVID-19) Is Telling Us: A Holistic Veterinary and One Health View” on my website (drfoxonehealth.com).

DEAR DR. FOX: I often see, especially in the warmer months, a person riding a bicycle while their dog is on a leash or rope, having to run with the bike. Am I wrong, or is this outright cruelty to the dog? The pavement is normally hot, the biker is riding too fast and the poor dog can’t yell for them to stop or slow down. I wonder how the biker would enjoy being towed behind a bike, unable to tell the operator to stop. Your thoughts on this activity, please. -- W.R., West Palm Beach, Florida

DEAR W.R.: You raise a serious dog-welfare issue I have repeatedly discussed in my column; this activity is just as irresponsible as leaving a dog in a closed car in hot weather and walking a dog on hot pavement. These are especially dangerous for older dogs and those with brachycephalic (“pushed-in”) faces, such as pugs and bulldogs. They are especially susceptible to heat stroke and death from hyperthermia.

Exercise is not a panacea, but in degrees of intensity, can be highly beneficial. But overexercising any dog after the long, less-active winters is ill-advised, often leading to costly knee (cruciate ligament) damage, especially when the animal is overweight. I advise a spring wellness exam for dogs before they get more active, and especially when the owner is a runner or cyclist who takes the dog along, with all due safety precautions.

On a different note, a friend asked me about using a dog buggy, essentially a small pram, to take her dog out since she was not very active or stable on her feet. Her toy poodle was only a year old, and still not pee-pad trained.

She got upset when I said not to use the buggy as a substitute for walking her dog on a leash and allowing her to run around in a safe area. Dogs need to get out and sniff all around as much as they can, chase a ball or play with another dog. I told her about two women who used telemeter devices to record dogs’ heart rates when they are enjoying the outdoors and “shaking it off.” After shaking, and while sniffing, the dogs’ heart rates went down. This is part of their relaxation response.

I added that one study has shown small dogs who do not get much of a chance to run around -- an activity that helps maintain regular bowel function -- are more prone to develop inflammatory bowel disease, as well as obesity and all its complications.

On my advice, my friend is now sending her dog to a local small-dog playgroup as often as she can afford it. She attested to how more relaxed and happy her dog seemed.

(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.)