The Animal Doctor

DEAR READERS: Please see the following post from veterinarian Dr. Bob Goldstein via EarthAnimal.com:

"Recently, there have been reports in several European countries of dogs developing 'Werewolf Syndrome.' While not a recognized medical condition, it causes neurological symptoms such as aggression, excessive barking and agitation, howling, restlessness, excessive chewing and even more serious symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea and seizures. When grouped together, these symptoms align with the category of inflammation affecting the brain and nervous system.

"In the UK, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) is advising pet parents to immediately stop giving these (rawhide) products to their pets and to closely monitor them for any unusual behavior or neurological symptoms (see food.gov.uk/news-alerts/news/precautionary-advice-issued-to-pet-owners-on-dog-chews-linked-to-illness). More specifically, the FSA is urging consumers to stop purchasing Barkoo and Chrisco rawhide products, which are available online. Additionally, if a dog exhibits any concerning symptoms, the FSA strongly recommends seeking prompt veterinary care.

"The category of rawhide chews and treats has long been a topic of controversy due to the processes involved in their production. Rawhide chews are a byproduct of the leather industry, where a cow’s skin is split -- the upper layer is used for leather, while the lower layer is processed into dog chews. However, the methods used to store, process and preserve rawhide are widely debated, particularly concerning the use of chemicals such as formaldehyde and bleach, which have raised concerns about the impact of rawhide chews on a dog's health.

"The most popular advantage of rawhide chews is their long-lasting nature, which helps exercise a dog’s teeth and gums while also reducing boredom. However, the potential side effects, along with the risks of choking and intestinal blockages, require careful consideration."

DR. FOX HERE: Regarding the symptoms Goldstein mentions, I suspect possible cadmium poisoning. Many countries -- including China, by far the biggest producer of cattle hides -- use trivalent chromium salts, vegetable tannins, synthetic tanning agents, aluminum sulfate and various additives to tan hides. Rawhide dog chews are processed with chemicals like sodium sulfide, lime, chromium salts, bleach and hydrogen peroxide to preserve them and enhance their flavor, and traces may remain even after washing.

FRESH WATER DAILY FOR PETS

An often-neglected part of responsible companion animal care is the daily provision of fresh drinking water, ideally filtered and purified. I use a ZeroWater filter for my municipal tap water, which is sourced from the agriculture-polluted Mississippi River.

Water bowls should be cleaned out daily to remove the bacterial biofilm that develops within hours of animals drinking and putting bacteria and food particles from their mouths into the water. Many dogs and cats are taken to emergency veterinary clinics, at significant cost, because of diarrhea caused by bacterial infection. Providing purified water in clean bowls daily could help reduce this health crisis. For more details, go to: drfoxonehealth.com/post/pure-water-for-cats-and-dogs-and-all.

Regarding fluoridated water, I agree with R.F. Kennedy Jr. that adding fluoride to municipal drinking water needs close review (as I posted years ago: drfoxonehealth.com/post/fluoride-in-pet-food-a-serious-health-risk-for-both-dogs-and-cats). I part company with him regarding vaccinations, especially against measles, which should be mandatory for children going to school -- just as vaccinations for a related virus, distemper, should be mandatory for all puppies to create a community or “herd” immunity. Unvaccinated human and canine survivors of such infections can have permanent neurologic and other health problems.

But I join him again on the issue of "azo dyes" and other chemical coloring agents being added to foods, against which I railed in my book “Not Fit for a Dog: The Truth About Manufactured Cat & Dog Foods,” co-authored with two other veterinarians.

There are alternatives. In an online statement, food additive company Oterra says, "By leveraging natural pigments like turmeric, Hansen sweet potato, etc., brands can create visually appealing, stable, and regulatory-compliant products that meet pet owners’ growing expectations.” (For details, go to: oterra.com/application/pet-food.)

Another benefit to plant-based dyes: easier carpet cleaning when pets vomit! Synthetic chemical coloring agents, some of which are carcinogenic, often leave permanent stains.

(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: Colossal Biosciences Inc., a genetic engineering company aiming to "de-extinct" the woolly mammoth, the dodo and other animals, recently unveiled its so-called "woolly mice." These mice harbor a mix of mutations modeled on characteristics of woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius), as well as changes known to alter hair growth in mice. The company claims that the animal is a breakthrough in its quest to bring back woolly mammoths by genetically modifying Asian elephants, the mammoth’s closest living relative, while giving lip service to animal welfare concerns and implying this work could benefit biodiversity recovery.

In my opinion, this techno-triumphalism may be well-intended, but it is irrelevant to the real challenge of protecting and restoring the natural biodiversity remaining on this planet. The resurrection of extinct species is a waste of time and money.

I am writing this while a troop of wild turkeys are eating the grains I had put out for the squirrels and small birds. I am in awe of these large, colorful descendants of theropods: a group of meat-eating dinosaurs that includes Tyrannosaurus rex and Velociraptor.

We humans "share a common ape ancestor with chimpanzees," reports the Smithsonian's Human Origins website. "It lived between 8 (million) and 6 million years ago. ... All apes and monkeys share a more distant relative, which lived about 25 million years ago." Humans share around 99% of their genes with chimpanzees, making chimpanzees our closest living genetic relatives. Exploiting them in biomedical research must end.

Our mistreatment and continued exploitation of other animals -- our relations, all of them -- is spiritually and ethically untenable.

PLAYING GOD AND SEEING GOD IN ALL

Animals have always held me in awe and wonder. Ever since childhood, I have felt that animals were what I would now call theophanies -- appearances of God. At the time, I had no word to express what I felt in the presence of creatures great and small, as well as the various plants and trees that allowed me to climb them.

Ecologist Rene Dubos expressed similar ideas in his 1972 book, “A God Within.” But the mythology of modern civilization -- taken from Genesis 1:26-28, where God instructs humans to “have dominion” over creation -- has led to the domination, genocide and slavery of Indigenous peoples; the exploitation and annihilation of animals; and the desecration of nature under the pioneer spirit of “manifest destiny.” Now we have genetic engineering companies promising to resurrect extinct species -- as an act of contrition? -- while pigs are engineered to save human lives as organ donors.

Is it not time for us to stop trying to play God, and instead awaken and care for all our planetary relations?

Those who applauded President Trump’s address before Congress on March 4, where he invoked his “American Dream” based on the Project 2025 script, might change their perception after reading Thomas Berry’s 1988 book, “The Dream of the Earth.” Until we re-sanctify nature, we will never be secure. The natural world is a living community, not a resource to exploit, and animals were not created just for our use.

A REPORT FOR EDUCATORS

This insightful survey may be a valuable resource for educators and parents who want to help this young generation focus, get involved and have agency -- rather than dwell in anxiety and despair -- about climate change, environmental and animal protection. See "The Attitudes of Generation Z Towards Animals and the Environment" here: faunalytics.org/exploring-gen-zs-attitudes-towards-animals-and-the-environment.

For health care professionals and others seeking scientific documentation of our challenges and solutions, see my book “One Health: Veterinary, Ethical and Environmental Perspectives.” It was reviewed here: psychologytoday.com/us/blog/animal-emotions/202502/healing-our-connections-with-animals-nature-and-one-another.

(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: The rise of H5N1 avian influenza in cats highlights the need to include pets in disease surveillance, writes a group of veterinarians, epidemiologists and biosecurity specialists in an article on STATnews.com. The experts recommend coordinated federal, state and industry actions to improve surveillance and point-of-care testing, especially for pets of agricultural workers and others in high-exposure occupations, and pets with access to raw milk or meat.

“Data that reveal the prevalence of H5N1 in different populations of cats, coupled with interpolation of human H5N1 data, could help to unravel the ways in which cats may be part of the transmission chain of this promiscuous virus,” the experts write. (Full story: STATnews.com, March 4)

Cats allowed outdoors who consumed or contacted infected birds have died, and outdoor cats run the risk of bringing the H5N1 avian influenza virus into their homes and infecting humans. A cat in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, was euthanized after contracting avian flu, and other cats on the property are reportedly also sick. The euthanized cat had no known exposures to infected poultry or livestock, nor to raw meat or unpasteurized milk, but it was allowed to roam outdoors. (Full story: WPVI-TV, Philadelphia, Feb. 28)

It is time for all cat owners to keep their cats indoors and for municipalities to apply the same ordinances to cats and dogs alike: None should be allowed to roam free. Besides reducing the risk of disease transmission, this will help save our dwindling wild bird and small mammal populations. These are needed to help preserve and restore regional parks, woodlands, grasslands, wetlands and “rewilded” suburban communities.

DEAR DR. FOX: I feel completely helpless to affect what the world is allowing -- even condoning and endorsing -- in Palestine. But I am not powerless in asking you to please donate to Anas Arafat’s work in Gaza.

Anas is an amazing individual who has been providing free food, blankets and clothing to the people in Gaza since 2020 through individual donations. I know him. I trust him. I honor his dedication. Due to complications with diabetes, he has lost his vision in one eye, and yet he keeps on doing what he calls “my duty to the people in Gaza.”

You can read a message from Anas, and donate to support his work, here: muslimgiving.org/Ramadan25g4za. -- V.S., Camano Island, Washington

DEAR V.S.: I hope all who read your appeal will reach out and send donations. And readers who want to help animals in Gaza, including the hardworking donkeys and the starving dogs, can go to: eurogroupforanimals.org/news/solidarity-humans-and-animals-gaza. See also Sulala Animal Rescue, Gaza’s only animal welfare organization, which can be found on Facebook.

We may be on the cusp of World War III, with competing oligarchies and autocracies devoid of ethics and compassion. All U.S. federal agencies responsible for the protection of wildlife and wildlands, as well as public health and welfare, are being illegally dismantled by executive order. This is clearly taking us down the wrong path!

We would be wise to take what some Indigenous cultures call "the pollen path" to heal this ravaged Earth, and ourselves. The pollen path is a metaphor for a life guided by balance and harmony. It is a spiritual and ethical concept in both Navajo and Hopi traditions. The other path, according to the Hopi Message delivered to the United Nations in 1992, leads us to yet another world war as regional conflicts spread.

The Hopi Message centers me and makes me feel I am not alone because there are many others who feel as I do. Where there is suffering, let there be loving-kindness: compassion in action, as declared by Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism and Islam alike. When we pass through the portal of the ego-sphere into the eco-sphere, we realize we are all related.

(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.)