DEAR DR. FOX: I read your article on the necessity of keeping cats indoors to prevent the spread of pernicious feline diseases. However, I have a question about your position on barn cats.

Four years ago, because of a rat problem, we adopted a barn cat through a local animal shelter that has a special placement program for these types of felines. He is outdoors most of the day, and sleeps in a well-appointed cat condo in our garage at night. He is in excellent health, beloved by all our family members and dogs. He is very social and has never run away.

He also has done a stellar job as a rat exterminator. Keeping him indoors 24/7 would be counterintuitive to his purpose. Your thoughts? -- L.L.P., North Palm Beach, Florida

DEAR L.L.P.: Many cats are simply not good “ratters,” unable to kill the larger adults (who continue to breed) and essentially failing to eliminate the problem. Rats can spread diseases, along with the fleas they carry, which in turn can infect cats, which in turn can transmit disease to humans they contact. The transmission of plague in this manner has a long history.

At this time, the highly infectious H5N1 avian influenza virus is circling the planet. Studies are finding both cats and rodents being infected, as well as other species, including humans. This is a potential risk for your outdoor cat and your family.

Rather than relying on cats to hunt rodents, all stored food materials should be rat-proofed and storage sheds effectively sealed, with quick-kill rat traps set inside as a precaution. Never use poison rat bait, which causes a horrible death and can poison any animal who might consume it -- especially owls, foxes and free-roaming cats.

I would have your veterinarian check your “working” cat for internal and external parasites. You should seriously consider making him an indoor cat, since he gets on well with your dogs; he may adapt well to a safe, enriching social life indoors.

RABIES RISK WITH FERAL CAT COLONIES

Please see the following release from the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA.org):

"In the U.S., rabies is most often found in U.S. wildlife species -- including raccoons, skunks, bats and foxes -- but cats remain the most frequently reported rabid domestic animal. In 2023, for example, 222 rabid cats were identified nationwide, compared with 33 rabid dogs. Cats’ prevalence in both urban and rural environments, combined with their tendency to interact with wildlife and humans alike, makes them a key species of concern for public health. ...

"An incident involving a rabid feral cat thought to have exposed numerous people to the deadly virus underscores the need to educate the public about health risks associated with feral cat colonies, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Following a review of the 2024 event, authors of a CDC report concluded that maintaining high rabies vaccination coverage within feral cat colonies can mitigate the disease threat. A better understanding of urban cat ecology and its role in rabies transmission and human exposure is also needed, the authors say in the article, which appeared in the CDC’s Aug. 21 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report."

Feline rabies vaccinations are only effective for one year, and it is a challenging responsibility to revaccinate feral cats. Even with the best management, such colonies still pose a risk to public health and to wildlife from other diseases, some flea-borne.

TOY ADDICTION IN DOGS

If your dog can’t go a minute without bothering you to throw their ball, or they refuse to give up their squeaky toy, research shows that they may be displaying a high tendency for addictive behavior, such as craving and a lack of self-control. This is particularly prevalent in breeds like shepherds and terriers.

“Addiction means actually it has negative consequences for the individual,” said Stefanie Riemer, co-author of a recent study, to The Guardian. “If the dog cannot cope with the toy being unavailable, then it may be more something like addictive-like behavior.” (See the study "Addictive-like behavioural traits in pet dogs with extreme motivation for toy play" by Alja Mazzini et al., published in Scientific Reports, 2025.)

Just like many people who chew gum to relax, and children who find comfort in a cuddly toy, dogs also derive pleasure from chewing and playing with toys. More anxious dogs, and those showing separation anxiety when left alone, are most likely to develop addiction-like behavior toward various toys as a coping mechanism.

(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 see the existential crises we are facing today not being simply a consequence of ignorance, but of indifference and denial, compounded by greed. Together they foment spiritual corruption and ultimately, our de-evolution. We have the science, the intelligence and the ethics to combat these crises, but these things are seen today as obstacles. President Trump derides such assets as “woke” in his attacks on academia, the scientific community and even the National Institutes of Health.

World trade should be regulated not by tariffs, but by a carbon tax to minimize environmental costs. These are too often “externalized,” with polluting industries being given government subsidies. Abandoning the principles of social, economic and environmental justice is not good business, nor good politics. Trump’s tax credit to boost corn production for ethanol (while eliminating tax credits for solar energy) and promoting harmful deep-sea mining for rare minerals are clearly steps in the wrong direction. Tearing up the last of the prairie grasslands and draining wetlands -- all of which help sequester atmospheric carbon, prevent flooding and purify rainwater -- should be prohibited and these ecosystems restored.

Close to half of all animal species on Earth have become extinct since I was born over 80 years ago, as politics and economics took precedence over science and the rising evidence of our collective destruction of planetary life. All of this, along with decades of warnings about the looming climate crisis, was overshadowed by costly wars, internecine strife, terrorism and corporate colonial hegemony. National and international factions, religious and racial, are additional obstacles to unified action on saving our planet and ourselves.

I empathize with Diana Six, professor of entomology at the University of Montana, who told The Guardian in 2021: “My whole life has been documenting how life works, how we can conserve species that are in trouble. [But in recent years,] I was no longer cataloging life and finding ways to prevent ecosystems from reaching tipping points. I had actually hit my own tipping point. Somewhere along the way, I had gone from being an ecologist to a coroner. I am no longer documenting life. I’m describing loss, decline, death. And that is what is accounting for my kind of overwhelming sense of grief.”

We have breached seven of the nine planetary boundaries that maintain life on Earth as we know it, according to a team of scientists monitoring the state of the world. This calls for a United Environmental Nations organization to link civil society initiatives in every community and country to act under the banner of One Earth, One Health.

BRING BACK THE BISON!

From 2017 to 2022, researchers monitored migrating bison across Yellowstone National Park, finding that these animals kept carbon levels stable while enhancing nitrogen turnover, which in turn stimulated plant growth and carbon sequestration. Grazing increased the presence of helpful microbes and bacteria, and created many pockets for nutrient levels to flourish and support other wildlife.

Bison can be a key driver of healthy ecosystems when allowed to roam. When kept on smaller ranches or reserves, bison do not achieve such diverse effects. “The ecological function of migratory herbivores depends fundamentally on their ability to move across landscapes ...” conclude the study's authors. “Restoring bison at this scale is not only possible -- it works.”

For details, see "Yellowstone’s free-moving large bison herds provide a glimpse of their past ecosystem function" by Chris Geremia et al., published in Science, August 2025.

One of the greatest crimes against nature was the mass extermination of millions of bison that filled the Great Plains and roamed free from Mexico to Alberta and from the Rocky Mountains to South Carolina. We must increase their numbers by restoring grassland, woodland and wetland habitats.

BANKS PROFITING FROM DEFORESTATION

Since the Paris climate agreement was signed in 2016, banks and investors have made an astonishing $26 billion in profits from financing companies driving deforestation. U.S. financial firms earned $5.4 billion, led by Vanguard, JPMorgan Chase and BlackRock. EU banks brought in $3.5 billion, with BNP Paribas and Rabobank at the top. U.K. banks raked in $1.2 billion, with HSBC, Aberdeen group and Schroders leading. Outside these hubs, banks in Brazil and Indonesia made billions more.

"The new analysis represents the largest ever mapping of income from the harmful financing of companies accused of deforestation, land grabs and human rights abuses, including through some of the world’s largest agribusinesses," according to GlobalWitness.org.

Leaders must act. The financial system cannot continue to bankroll the destruction of our forests -- and the lives, communities and climates they sustain. For details, see globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/banks-make-26-billion-in-a-decade-of-financing-deforesting-companies.

(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.)

The insightful article by Mohamud Farah about Somali families in Minnesota balancing their faith with having dogs in their homes (Minneapolis Star Tribune, Oct. 12) underscores the persisting social stigma attached to owning a dog. Regarding dogs as "unclean" goes back millennia, most probably due to the fear of them transmitting rabies, for which there is now a vaccination.

Many people, both Muslims and non-Muslims, fear dogs' saliva. I have received more than one letter from elderly people whose dogs have licked and healed sores on their legs and arms, reminiscent of the biblical story of leprosy-afflicted Lazarus being cared for by street dogs. Dog saliva contains the antibacterial enzyme lysozyme, and stimulating the skin around the wounds through licking increases healing blood flow. Lysozyme is an important antibacterial component of saliva in healthy dogs. It participates in the host immune defense, along with salivary secretory immunoglobulin (SIgA) against bacteria, maintaining the steady equilibrium of the oral cavity environment.

There is evidence that human saliva has similar healing and analgesic properties. Saliva from humans has yielded a natural painkiller dubbed opiorphin that is up to six times more powerful than morphine, researchers claim. This is probably present in the saliva of dogs and other mammals.

Exposure to the bacteria that dogs bring into our homes on their paws and pass on when they contact family members has been shown to enrich the microbiomes of children, which in turn gives greater protection against infections and allergies. Pollen in their fur may also be a source of desensitizing exposure.

Dogs are good for us, and we should be good to them and let all religious faith traditions promote compassion and respect for them and all creatures great and small.

I respectfully invite all imams and rabbis to read this scientific review of ritual slaughter, since all religions must evolve to be relevant. That includes making animal slaughter more humane. Simoes, J., Fox, M.W. (2025). Ritual Slaughter: An Open Debate. In: Simoes, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Livestock Medicine for Large Animal and Poultry Production. Springer, Cham. doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-52133-1_528-1

I was raised in a Christian community and believed the hymn that went "All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, the good Lord made them all.” So, as a child, everything in Nature, every creature, tree and flower, I saw as part of God, manifestations of divinity. I felt the radiance in every living thing that I beheld in awe and wonder.

Growing up in a culture and world where there is so much animal as well as human suffering and destruction of Nature, and conflicts between religions and nations, has been challenging. Now, as a senior citizen, I see hope in the virtue of benevolence in the loving core of every religious tradition that embraces the Golden Rule and equalitarianism, the bedrock of social and economic justice. This civilization with its technosphere will soon end if it causes more irreversible damage to the biosphere.

NO FUR NOW IN VOGUE

The October 2025 Vogue magazine and its subsidiaries have banned fur in their apparel coverage. This is good news for the millions of animals being caught and killed in traps and raised in small cages on fur farms. It has taken decades of rising public outcry over the cruelty of exploiting animals for their fur and pelts. Many years ago, when on "The Tonight Show" as a guest, I confronted actress Shelley Winters during a commercial break about the full-length fur coat she was wearing. After she told me it was a wild lynx coat, I politely informed her that it probably took 10 to 15 of them to make that coat and that they had been caught and killed in a trap. Half turning away from me, she replied that she thought it was OK because they had been ranch-raised, and anyway Marlon Brando had given it to her!

(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.)