The Animal Doctor

DEAR DR. FOX: I work for Choosing Therapy, an online mental health startup. I just came across your site, and loved your article on "Companion Animal Communications After Death." We have recently published an article entitled "Grieving the Loss of a Dog." Would you be able to mention this in your column?

Our articles are well researched, written by licensed therapists and reviewed by medical doctors. We are HONcode certified to ensure you are linking to high-quality content. -- Charwin Fernandez, Choosing Therapy, Brooklyn, New York. (Note: The HONcode is an ethical standard for trustworthy health information, certified by the HON Foundation, an international nonprofit.)

DEAR C.F.: I am glad to know you are making this contribution to help ease the suffering of people who are grieving the loss of an animal companion. Such people have been too-long ridiculed for experiencing profound grief -- often by those who have never had a close bond with an animal. When I was a little boy, grieving the loss of our beloved dog, Rover, I will never forget an aunt saying, "Don't be so sad. It was only a dog." Now I hear some companies are allowing employees time off work when they lose an animal companion; that is progress indeed!

We must also consider how many animals grieve the loss of their own human or nonhuman companions, and give them extra tender loving care, as J.G. from Florida shares in the letter below.

DEAR DR. FOX: Some of your readers keep trying to disparage the fact that animal lovers know is true: Cats and dogs are emotional beings.

When we lost one of our cats, Buttons, almost two years ago, our dog and our remaining cat, Shadow, searched for him in all his favorite places -- for weeks. Shadow is just now getting over his depression, although he still misses his best friend. He spends a lot of time in Buttons' favorite place, the screened patio.

Our dogs and cats have always been emotionally connected to us. Our pets feel pain just as much as we do. And they feel love. -- J.G., Boynton Beach, Florida

DEAR J.G.: Thank you for sharing your story. Read on for another from a fellow reader.

DEAR DR. FOX: After a dear friend died, I took in her 14-year-old dog, Emma, who bonded well with our two dogs. One day shortly after taking her in, I was driving Emma to visit some friends in a nearby city. She was lying next to one of our dogs in the back of my car for comfort.

When I arrived at our friends' house, Emma was hardly moving, but her eyes were open and she was aware. We all rushed her to an emergency vet, but she died before we got there. We were all in shock, and the vet said she probably died from a stroke. Do you think she could have died from grief? -- P.S., San Francisco

DEAR P.S.: This is so very sad, and what a shock it must have been for all of you. Animals can die from a broken heart. This has been documented in many species, including horses and captive elephants, when they lose a closely bonded partner/companion. And we are all familiar with the sudden death in humans when one spouse loses another.

Grief can kill. Veterinarian David Alderton addressed this topic in his excellent 2011 book, "Animal Grief: How Animals Mourn." Turning this existential phenomenon over, we can see how loving relationships can keep us and other animals alive and sustain us in body, mind and spirit.

(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: As a veterinarian and advocate of One Health, I cite scientific references in many of my writings because I am often told I am "going overboard" and "exaggerating" the seriousness of the issues that I address. Indeed, there are many people, including politicians and others with vested corporate interests, who would rather not know the facts and maintain business as usual. But in any democracy, this is not acceptable -- especially when the health of our children and of other species is put in jeopardy.

Relying on vaccines and pharmaceuticals to treat emerging zoonoses (diseases transmitted from animals to humans), and the mass extermination of the animal carriers of such diseases, is no solution. These treatments may be profitable for a few, but preventive measures must be put first. And the effects of climate change cannot be ignored.

Reducing our carbon footprints and energy use, especially for transportation and travel, are part and parcel of a One Health initiative. The telecommunication industry's expansion of corporate and personal internet services, which depend on proliferating, energy-consuming data storage and transmission centers, only exacerbates climate change.

An article by Laura H. Kahn and Richard Seifman, "It's Time to Get Serious About Preventing Pandemics," underscores the need for a more holistic approach by responsible international aid and health agencies. Kahn and Seifman state: "The good news is that the World Bank, with the World Health Organization, is about to launch a brand-new international multilateral financing mechanism called the 'Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response' Financial Intermediate Fund (FIF) to provide long-term funding to address pandemics. FIF is targeted to reach $12.5 billion within five years. ... Unfortunately, the preparedness and response parts of the mechanism are receiving the lion's share of the attention and funding compared to the prevention part. ... We must include veterinarians and other animal health professionals who receive extensive education and training in zoonotic diseases, and environmental health experts, to be part of the pandemic prevention solution. So far, their involvement has been minimal, which jeopardizes the effort's success."

I would add a note of concern with regard to the pandemic-potentiating consequences of the documented cellular, immunological and other adverse health effects of nonionizing radiation from 3G, 4G and 5G telecommunications towers and satellites. For more on this topic, see the following journal articles: "Appeals that matter or not on a moratorium on the deployment of the fifth generation, 5G, for microwave radiation," Lennart Hardell and Rainer Nyber, Molecular and Clinical Oncology, March 2020; "Effects of nonionizing electromagnetic fields on flora and fauna, Part 1: Rising ambient EMF levels in the environment" and "Part 2: How species interact with natural and man-made EMF," Reviews on Environmental Health, May 2021.

See also this article from the Environmental Health Trust: ehtrust.org/in-historic-decision-federal-court-finds-fcc-failed-to-explain-why-it-ignored-scientific-evidence-showing-harm-from-wireless-radiation.

SCIENCE, ETHICS, LEADERSHIP ALL NECESSARY

A recent New York Times piece by science writer Ari Schulman about Anthony Fauci underscores an essential flaw in the U.S. public health system. As Schulman writes, "A science that people will follow must lead."

Science without ethics is hazardous; ethics without science is vacuous. Science informs politics, and ethics guide when politicians are committed to serve the common good.

The science and bioethics of a One Health approach to pandemic prevention must be adopted by the U.S. Public Health Service. A One Health approach calls for informed public involvement linked with animal health (animals being the primary source of new and old pandemics) and environmental protection without political interference. Such an integrative approach to pandemic prevention, rather than the marketing of ever-more vaccines and pharmaceuticals, is long overdue.

DEAR DR. FOX: Thanks for your cogent columns. You are a much-needed voice urging humanity to adopt responsible and spiritual living.

Also, I wish to thank you for your pet care advice. My dog's vet is impressed with how well he is doing as he approaches 14 years of age. He is convinced it is the food I prepare for him, using your recipe. -- B.C., Nassau, Bahamas

DEAR B.C.: I do appreciate your kind words of support. These are indeed challenging times for person and planet.

Readers, please note: My dog food recipe, which many of you are using and reporting significant health benefits, is posted at drfoxonehealth.com/post/dog-food-recipe.

(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: I just read your column about animal suffering and the need for better animal protection laws -- and for their enforcement. It was refreshing to see my beliefs so succinctly expressed.

For years, I have been calling for all acts of animal abuse to be federal felonies. Local laws are not the answer when the entire country needs to have the same policies. We should also have a federal registry of animal abusers like we have for sexual predators. The public should have access to that information.

There are so many pets that live in despair. Animal care personnel or police should not have to get permission from abusers in order to take animals out of hellish situations.

Animals should not be used in labs, where many are kept in bare cages without any socialization and endure torture until being killed. Their lives are nothing but fear, pain and hopelessness. Their only escape is death. And farm animals should have the same protections as other animals.

A huge number of abandoned and homeless pets are trying to survive on the streets. The animal care groups that are meagerly funded by government are useless in addressing this problem; they have revolving doors, taking in strays and killing them to make room for a new batch. They don't take care of the medical needs of the animals, and probably kill more animals than they adopt out. The not-for-profit groups do as much as they can for the animals, but our tax dollars don't support them. They have to depend on donations in order to keep their doors open.

I believe there are many people who would join a movement dedicated to making the changes our society needs, but efforts today are scattered, and the funding isn't there. I just want to know: Where is our humanity? -- J.G., Boynton Beach, Florida

DEAR J.G.: It is evident from the United Nation's 2019 IPBES Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (ipbes.net/assessment-reports/eca) that we have yet to learn to share this planet with other intelligent life forms. Doing so would be for our own good, which is bound to that of the other beings who compose and sustain the planet's community, even if we do not respect and care for the least of them. Without the ethics of respect and care, we are less than human and have become the most dangerous species on Earth. Inhumanity has no bounds -- ecologically, spiritually or ethically.

The ethics of respect and care awaken compassion and empathy, broadening into bioethics and giving rise to the One Health movement, which is now recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (cdc.gov/onehealth). The One Health framework is being embraced by more and more physicians, veterinarians, farmers, foresters and others who wish to protect animals and natural resources.

War, slavery and genocide -- culturally accepted norms throughout all of human history -- have their equivalents in our treatment of animals: the "wars" against pests and predators; the extermination and extinction of many species and their habitats; the enslavement of beasts of burden; the torture of animals to test cosmetics, other consumer products and even military weapons. Domestic animals are still treated primarily as commodities with minimal government oversight, and welfare standards are not always effectively enforced.

It will take a massive cultural shift -- ethically and economically, if not also religiously -- for domesticated and captive wild animals (such as those on fur farms) not to be regarded as commodities, and wild animals as trophies. In my opinion, that shift is long overdue for the sake of our humanity and the rest of life on Earth!

PET REPTILE PUBLIC HEALTH WARNING

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, contact with pet bearded dragons is the likely cause of the salmonella Uganda infections that affected 44 people across 26 states last year. Of the 33 people with salmonellosis interviewed by public health officials, 21 reported contact with a bearded dragon before falling ill.

The CDC recommends washing your hands after handling a bearded dragon, keeping the reptiles out of the kitchen, not eating or drinking near them, keeping their supplies and habitats clean, and not kissing or snuggling them.

Terrapins (water turtles) are another frequent source of salmonella infections in humans. These and other reptiles should never be released back into the wild: Look at the invasive python issue in Florida. In my opinion, reptiles should never be purchased in the first place, even if bred in captivity rather than being legally imported -- a practice which the U.S. government should prohibit for humane and conservation reasons.

(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.)