DEAR READERS: The following is a post from pet food safety advocate Susan Thixton of truthaboutpetfood.com regarding Martha Stewart's new line of pet foods.

Thixton writes: "The press release states, 'Stewart is leveraging her passion for home cooking and healthy nutrition, as well as her passion for pets, to create Martha Stewart Pet Food. "My pets mean the world to me, which is why I insist on feeding them delicious whole ingredients like real chicken, fish, cage-free eggs, and nutrient-dense grains and vegetables," Stewart said.'

"But Martha Stewart's new pet food line is not made with all whole-food ingredients (that she 'insists' on feeding her own pets). Instead, her pet foods are highly processed, made with feed-grade ingredients. And her 'new' pet foods are not new formulas ... they are disappointingly similar to many other brands of pet foods (but strikingly more expensive).

"The Martha Stewart pet food line consists of three dog foods and two cat foods, only dry/kibble pet food options. All five pet foods include feed-grade processed ingredients such as meat meals, pea protein, dried egg product and multiple dried vegetables. When these processed ingredients are processed again in the pet food, they become an ultra-processed pet food."

I concur fully with what Thixton has written. For more details, go to truthaboutpetfood.com/martha-stewarts-disappointing-new-pet-food.

DOG BREED HEALTH INFORMATION RESOURCE

Nationwide insurance company has developed a digital platform called The Pet Health Zone, which is designed to provide pet owners with breed-related health information based on more than 40 years' worth of claims data. At launch, the platform was drawing on data from more than 12 million Nationwide claims. It can help pet owners watch for signs of illness and make informed decisions in collaboration with their veterinary care team, says Dr. Jules Benson, chief veterinary officer at Nationwide. (Full story: AVMA News, Sept. 4)

ADOPTED SHELTER DOGS DO WELL WITH TIME, UNDERSTANDING

Researchers reported in PLOS ONE that most people who had adopted a dog from a shelter were highly satisfied with their decision. While some returned dogs to shelters, the ones who kept their dogs said the new pets had adjusted "extremely or moderately well" to their new environment. Many respondents reported seeing increased aggression toward strangers, excitability, training difficulties and touch sensitivity in their new dog after the first week, but separation-related and attention-seeking behaviors declined over time. No respondents reported "poor" or "terrible" behavior. (Full story: HealthDay News, Aug. 28)

DEAR DR. FOX: While I was packing up my apartment, I found my copy of your book "The Healing Touch for Dogs." It could not have come at a better time.

My dog Georgie is a rescue pug, approximately 12 years old. He has been diagnosed with degenerative myelopathy and is now in the middle stages. I love him, and I am devastated. Seeing his decline is overwhelming some days.

Georgie walks with the help of Biko Bands, and his attitude is so wonderful that you would never know he has this horrific disease. I give him a massage down the sides of his spine, plus on his hind legs, and I give him reiki treatments. He is on vitamins and herbs to slow the disease's progression.

He does not like swimming (it actually makes him vomit), and we don't have access to acupuncture. Please advise if you know of anything else I can do to help him and keep him with me longer. -- A.K., Queens, New York

DEAR A.K.: So sorry to hear about Georgie's spinal problem. You will find detailed information here: sevneurology.com/blog/4-things-about-pug-myelopathy.

You may be close to a veterinary neurology specialist who can determine if this condition is constrictive or degenerative myelopathy. Surgery can be very expensive, and recovery takes time; alternatively, many dogs with degenerative spinal conditions enjoy some quality of life when they learn to use a K-9 cart. A sling under Georgie's belly that you hold up while walking would also make activity easier.

Pugs, along with other flat-faced breeds like the English and French bulldogs, have suffered from poor breeding practices and lack of progeny testing to keep track of health issues later in life. This has caused much suffering for these popular breeds, and unanticipated costs and concerns for their owners.

REMEMBERING A CARING VETERINARIAN

Veterinarian Mike Cranfield, the retired director of animal health, research and conservation at the Maryland Zoo, died after possibly contracting West Nile virus, according to zoo officials. As executive director of the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project -- now called Gorilla Doctors -- Cranfield implemented One Health programs to benefit gorillas in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, along with the people living and working near their habitats. (Full story: WJZ-TV Baltimore, Aug. 31)

(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: This is a sensitive topic that all animal lovers must consider, since our animal companions do not live forever.

In the old days, we would bury our pets on our properties and let them return to the earth, fertilizing our trees and other plants. Such disposals are now prohibited in most communities for sanitary and public health reasons. More pet owners are now choosing to have their animals cremated (paying less for group cremation with other peoples' animals), with fewer opting for burial at pet cemeteries. Several years ago, I recall being shocked to see nondegradable pet coffins for sale at a pet-product expo!

Now, another option is becoming available: It has a lower carbon footprint than cremation, and is environmentally enriching, rather than polluting and contributing to climate change. It's called NOR: natural organic reduction.

According to agreenerfuneral.org, NOR is "the contained, accelerated conversion of human remains to soil. This process uses large tanks, containers or similar vessels to hold human remains together with straw, wood chips, and/or other natural materials for a period of time of about four to six weeks." NOR is now legal in six states: Washington, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, California and New York.

So far, neither the International Association of Pet Cemeteries and Crematories nor the American Veterinary Medical Association is advocating NOR for companion animals, although it is accepted for the mass disposal of farmed animals. But an increase has been reported in pet owners' demand for aquamation, a process also known as alkaline hydrolysis. (See "A veterinarian's role in pet after-death care" by Coco Lederhouse, JAVMA, April 23.)

Educational materials related to end-of-life decision-making, pet loss, grief, euthanasia, companion animal aftercare and disposition of remains are available on the AVMA's website: avma.org/HumaneEndings.

In my experience, in-home euthanasia after palliative care (as needed) is the least traumatic option for all involved. Providing family members, including other animal companions, the opportunity to view the body of the deceased may help facilitate the acceptance of death and alleviate the grieving process.

GOOD NEWS FOR FACTORY-FARMED ANIMALS

Animal welfare law provisions that dictate minimum enclosure standards went into effect in Massachusetts in late August, following multiple legal actions delaying its start. Other provisions of the law that are already in place include constraints on the sale of veal and requirements related to egg-laying hens. (Full story: The Sun Chronicle; Attleboro, Massachusetts; Aug. 24)

(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: On occasion, I am struck by what is happening to some animal species we take for granted -- or even view with revulsion. One such animal is the crow.

Crows are members of the Corvidae family, which includes rooks, ravens, jackdaws, jays, magpies and choughs. They are omnivores and scavengers, and often consume carrion, the dead remains of animals (as do vultures, of which there are many species worldwide). As consumers of carrion, crows are winged, flagship icons of recycling, doing more good for this planet than we humans.

Crows are highly intelligent and empathic, with complex social lives. They can use tools, solve puzzles and learn by observing each other. Like their raven cousins, they have been seen playing with wolves.

In some cultures, such as the Anishinaabe, crows and their relatives are revered. But in others, they are feared and reviled. Some regard crows as harbingers of ill fortune or death, or simply as pests to shoot and poison. Beyond the time-honored use of scarecrows, there are many other devices that are now available for humanely deterring crows from raiding crops (see birdsnews.com/how-to-protect-crops-from-crows).

A group of crows is called a murder. There are several explanations for the origin of this term, most based on old folk tales and superstitions. This arguably derogatory term probably refers to the racket they make when collectively mobbing an owl, hawk or other predator: a unified response to danger.

Crows and other carrion-consuming birds provide a public health service by quickly consuming carcasses that could soon rot with proliferating putrefying bacteria -- some of which, like the microbe that causes anthrax, are harmful to humans and other animals. They also help control parasitic diseases that are transmissible to humans and other animals, as well as flies that could also spread disease.

These birds have probably evolved resistance to certain harmful bacteria and their toxins. But crows are not immune to West Nile virus, which decimated the crow population some years ago in Washington, D.C.

In the 1980s, the population of California condors -- a group of vultures whose wingspans can measure nearly 10 feet -- was reduced to only 22 individuals because of poisoning. The condors had fed on remnants of animals that had been field-dressed by hunters (i.e., their internal organs were removed), and the remaining carrion contained bullet fragments made from toxic lead. Thousands of tons of lead shot are left by hunters around the world, poisoning raptors, corvids and other scavengers. The use of lead shot should be prohibited.

Vultures were poisoned in the millions in India after eating the carcasses of cows that had been treated with an anti-inflammatory called diclofenac. The drug may have caused the decline of 95% of vultures of the Gyps genus in Southern Asia before it was banned. In 2013, two veterinary drugs containing diclofenac were approved for use in Spain, alarming the scientific and conservationist communities. Few people know how veterinary drugs used on farmed animals can harm wildlife and the ecosystem at large.

Livestock keepers in some countries will put poison on their animals that have been killed by predators, hoping to kill the predators when they return to feed on the carcass. These retaliations contribute to the demise of vultures and other carrion eaters.

Crows and magpies are now "outsmarting us," according to Netherlands biologist Auke-Florian Hiemstra, by removing rows of sharp metal pins from rooftops and ledges -- installed to repel birds -- and incorporating them into their nests. "We're trying to get rid of birds, (but) the birds are collecting our metal spikes and actually making more birds in these nests," said Hiemstra. "I think it's just a brilliant comeback." (Full story: New York Times, July 13)

We humans have nothing to crow about, considering our responsibility for the climate and extinction crises. We need to learn something from the crows, as well as from ravens and vultures, about cooperative, communal living and recycling/sanitation. In this regard, we should all eat crow!

WEST NILE VIRUS ALERT

Spread by mosquitoes, the West Nile virus is the leading cause of arbovirus disease -- any viral disease spread by insects -- in the continental U.S., according to a recent CDC report. In 2021, 2,911 cases of West Nile virus were reported in the U.S., leading to 2,099 hospitalizations and 227 deaths. That was the most elevated rate of the disease since 2012. (Full story: CNN.com, Aug. 24)

My advice: Use safe insect repellants.

(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.)