DEAR READERS: Gene editing could benefit dogs belonging to breeds that are prone to diseases of hereditary/genetic origin, but that remains to be seen, and would be costly either way. Certainly, DNA testing for such diseases in dogs and other animals is now an available, affordable and ethical use of this branch of biotechnology, utilizing it for the responsible breeding of healthier animals.

Please see the items below for more about this rapidly advancing field.

-- From The Guardian, March 24: "Pets could be subjected to gene editing under a new U.K. government act, the RSPCA has warned. The animal charity has said that the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act applies to all vertebrate animals, not only farmed animals, and that it could lead to cats and dogs being gene-edited to include extreme features." (Link: theguardian.com/science/2023/mar/24/pets-could-be-gene-edited-under-new-english-law-says-rspca)

-- From Lifeasible, an American company marketing animals subjected to this genetic engineering: "Dogs are currently one of the most used laboratory animals in basic medical research and teaching and play an important role especially in experimental studies of physiology, pharmacology and pathophysiology. Through whole-genome sequencing analysis of dogs, a total of about 19,300 genes have been identified, of which about 18,000 are identical to known human genes, and their genomes are more similar to humans than other laboratory animals such as mice. Dogs are also very similar to humans in terms of genetic diseases, with more than 360 genetic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, deafness, blindness, and immune nervous system diseases, which are identical to humans and suitable as model animals for humans’ disease research." (Link: lifeasible.com/custom-solutions/animal/poultry-livestock-pets-and-laboratory-animal-gene-editing/dog-gene-editing)

-- Back in 2015, my colleague Antonio Regalado reported on the first gene-edited pet dogs. They were a pair of very muscular beagles created in China, named Tiangou and Hercules. (Link: technologyreview.com/2015/10/19/165740/first-gene-edited-dogs-reported-in-china)

-- From GMWatch.org: CRISPR gene editing unintentionally causes changes in gene regulation. (Link: gmwatch.org/en/106-news/latest-news/19635-crispr-gene-editing-unintentionally-causes-changes-in-gene-regulation)

-- From BMC Biotechnology: "Generation of genome-edited dogs by somatic cell nuclear transfer." (Link: bmcbiotechnol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12896-022-00749-3)

-- From Nature.com: "In a world first, the U.K. medicines regulator has approved a therapy that uses the CRISPR–Cas9 gene-editing tool as a treatment. The decision marks another high point for a biotechnology that has been lauded as revolutionary in the decade since its discovery. The therapy, called Casgevy, will treat the blood conditions sickle-cell disease and thalassaemia." (Note from Dr. Fox: An estimated price tag of $2 million per person is likely to limit who benefits from this treatment. Link: nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03590-6)

VETERINARY SOCIAL WORK IS EVOLVING

The combined VMD/Master of Social Work degree available at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as the Human-Animal-Environment Interactions in Social Work certificate program at the University of Denver, are two examples of the recent growth of veterinary social work options.

This specialty started with the Center for Veterinary Social Work at the University of Tennessee more than two decades ago. The University of Tennessee program now runs a suicide prevention program for veterinarians and veterinary students, is working to broaden its original focus on compassion fatigue by emphasizing “intentional well-being,” and wants to be “a space for all professionals with an interest in human and animal welfare to come together to collaborate,” according to Bethanie Poe, associate director of education. (Full story: American Animal Hospital Association, Nov. 27)

(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: There is a flesh-eating fungus in the soils of California, Arizona and other states in the region -- and likely to spread elsewhere, due to climate change -- called Coccidioides. It causes a paralyzing, and sometimes fatal, illness in people called Valley fever, which takes its name from the San Joaquin Valley in California.

This fungus thrives in warm soils, and grows billions of spores after a rainfall. The spores are later released into the air when the ground dries, stirred up by wind and by human activities -- especially the building of homes in desert areas with dubious water security.

Cats and dogs can get Valley fever when they inhale Coccidioides immitis fungal spores. They grow into spherules within the pet’s lungs, and if the animal’s immune system cannot wall them off, they eventually burst -- releasing hundreds of endospores that can spread throughout the lungs and other parts of your pet’s body, where the cycle will begin again. The condition will become increasingly severe, often ending in blindness and/or paralysis.

Treatment of Valley fever in pets takes time, just as it does with those people who have the misfortune of becoming infected. The treatment for both dogs and cats will typically include an antifungal medication such as fluconazole or itraconazole. Dogs may also be treated with ketoconazole, but this is not well tolerated by cats.

More than 90% of dogs treated for Valley fever will survive, according to the University of Arizona. Dogs with symptoms involving several parts of the body (particularly the brain), or those not responding well to antifungal medications, have a worse prognosis.

The best preventive measures are to avoid taking your dogs out on dry, windy days or letting them dig in the ground, especially in the Southwest region. Keep cats indoors, since they will dig in the ground if allowed out, hunting small prey and burying their feces.

DEAR DR. FOX: Friends of mine have a 6-year-old Bouvier des Flandres, and their vet suggests he be neutered since testicular cancer is common in this breed. What is your opinion? -- M.F., San Francisco

DEAR M.F.: I believe the veterinarian may or may not be right. If this dog has only one testicle, for example, the veterinarian is correct because the undescended one could become cancerous (such as with a Sertoli cell tumor) and should be surgically removed.

Bouviers are also predisposed to gastric carcinoma, a type of malignant stomach cancer. For details, see morrisanimalfoundation.org/article/dog-breeds-increased-cancer-risk. For documentation of other breed-specific incidences of various cancers, see “Breed-predispositions to cancer in pedigree dogs” by Jane Dobson, published in ISRN Veterinary Science, January 2013.

Male dogs of any large breed, in my opinion, should not be neutered because neutering, especially at an early age, can affect bone development. It may therefore play a role in bone cancer and the weakening of joint ligaments, especially around the hip joint and the knee cruciate ligaments.

VET RECOGNIZED FOR SERVING HOMELESS PEOPLE’S PETS

Veterinarian Dr. Kwane Stewart provides supplies and medical treatment to animals belonging to people experiencing homelessness in San Diego. Volunteers in other cities do the same, thanks to Project Street Vet, a nonprofit Stewart founded in 2020.

Stewart is one of 10 nominees for a 2023 CNN Heroes award, and will receive $10,000 for his work. If he receives the most votes, he’ll also win the grand prize of $100,000. (Full story: The San Diego Union-Tribune, Nov. 26)

(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 cousin feeds her dog the "BARF" diet -- Bones And Raw Foods, mainly beef, chicken and turkey -- and is encouraging us to do the same for our two dogs. What is your opinion? -- H.M., Trenton, New Jersey

DEAR H.M.: Some groups do champion this idea. On its website, the U.K.-based Raw Food Veterinary Society (RFVS) states that a "gold-standard diet" for pets would primarily consist of "raw meaty bones, meats, (including) organ meats, fruits and vegetables, minimally processed by mincing and freezing. The diet contains no added synthetic supplements, additives or preservatives.”

The RFVS contends that animals on properly formulated raw-food diets have a healthy gut microbiome, which protects them from harmful bacteria that may be in some mishandled raw meats. (For more details, and documentation of their animal health and safety assertions, see rfvs.info/rfvs-position-statement-2021.)

But in my opinion, this is quite a risk, since factory-farmed animal meats are a significant source of harmful, and often antibiotic-resistant, bacteria. Furthermore, a drastic reduction in human consumption of farmed animal produce is called for because of the documented contribution of animal agriculture to the climate and extinction crises.

It is a fact that in the U.S., pet foods, especially ultra-processed kibble products, are often recalled because of salmonella and other bacterial contaminants from farmed animals that could make pets ill. However, feeding dogs raw meat may increase the likelihood that humans could be exposed to antibiotic-resistant E. coli bacteria either through exposure to the dogs’ feces or handling the uncooked meat. (See “One health transmission of fluoroquinolone-resistant Escherichia coli and risk factors for their excretion by dogs living in urban and nearby rural settings” by Jordan E. Sealey et al, published in One Health, October 2023.)

Feeding raw meat to dogs also runs afoul of AVMA policy, which advises against feeding cats or dogs “any animal-source protein that has not first been subjected to a process to eliminate pathogens because of the risk of illness.”

I am all for feeding some raw foods to dogs, such as well-washed, grated or blended fruits and vegetables (ideally organically certified). These can be given along with some moist canned dog food of good quality, such as Castor and Pollux Organix (also available for cats) and a slow-cooked or air-dried dog food, such as those from The Honest Kitchen and Earth Animal’s Wisdom dog food. Look for products that are certified by the Global Animal Partnership as humanely produced and of high nutritional quality.

Fully formulated, nutritious vegan dog foods will soon be more available as we humans evolve to feed our dogs in good conscience and with fewer adverse impacts on the environment. I do not advise cat owners to make their cats vegan at this stage in the development of such diets because they are obligate carnivores. But our dogs are more like us: adaptable omnivores able to transition to vegan diets.

Some studies have shown that dogs enjoy better health on well-formulated vegan diets than dogs fed highly processed conventional kibble, which loses so many nutrients from overheating that various vitamins and synthetic substances must be added after processing. These corrective measures sometimes add too much of a given nutrient, resulting in adverse health effects and recalls.

Biotechnological and bioengineering tools are being developed with the aim of making healthier, more sustainable foods with lower carbon footprints that don’t require the deaths of animals. Lower-environmental-impact cultivated meat and fish products, with zero animal suffering and killing, may soon be included in cat foods, as well as dog and human food markets.

If you want to find a cat or dog food of the best quality, visit truthaboutpetfood.com/the-list and pay a small fee to support the research of Susan Thixton, Pet Food Consumer Advocate. All companies on Thixton's list provided verification of the following, where applicable: human-grade food ingredients, human-grade supplements, organic ingredients and meats sourced from humanely raised animals.

(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.)