DEAR DR. FOX: We are at our wit's end with our 14-year-old Chihuahua/rat terrier. He is having some sort of reaction and, according to our vet, is producing too much yeast.

We have been taking him to the vet for a monthly allergy shot, bathing him weekly with Pharmaseb Shampoo and feeding him Hill's Prescription z/d food in addition to a small amount of homemade chicken and vegetables. His whole belly is like alligator skin, and he is losing hair on the top of his back. Besides the expense of the monthly trip to the vet and the shot, the food is expensive, too. Now the vet is suggesting an allergy test that would cost $500, along with keeping my dog on a serum for the next several months, which would cost $325 every three months.

Is there anything else we can try? I am desperate for help and a solution. This poor little dog spends 3/4 of the day scratching. He even stops to scratch before going out for a pee in the backyard. His ears are also inflamed.

Do you have any suggestions? Is this an immune system problem? Is this just par for the course for older dogs? -- J.F., Palm Beach, Fla.

DEAR J.F.: Your poor dog is suffering indeed. First, has mange, a skin parasite, been ruled out? Next, consider hypothyroidism, which in older dogs is often combined with Cushing's disease, both of which the veterinarian should have checked for.

The possibility of an underlying food ingredient allergy or intolerance remains, and one of the problems with these expensive prescription diets is that they often contain additives and other ingredients as well as contaminants that may cause more harm than good.

I would put your dog on a "detox" diet of 3 parts boiled brown rice or quinoa; 2 parts ground lamb or white fish; and 1 part chopped green beans for three to five days. After that, transition him onto a boiled potato and white fish diet with a pediatric multimineral or multivitamin tablet and a few drops of fish oil mixed in. Also, give your dog probiotics and a bath using Selsun Blue medicated shampoo, followed a week later with a soothing oatmeal and aloe vera or chamomile shampoo.

DEAR DR. FOX: My 7-year-old yellow Lab has a bad habit that is driving me crazy. When she is in the yard playing with a ball or stick, she stops playing and starts pulling out the grass with her teeth. She does not dig holes.

She does this when she is alone a and when I am out there with her. When you try to correct her, she thinks it is a game, runs across the yard and does it again.

What can be done to correct this behavior? We cannot leash her every time she needs to go out or prevent her from running around. Do you think an electronic training collar would help, or might it do more damage to her mental state? Any recommendations would be appreciated. -- M.M.

Dear M.M.: Is your dog eating some of the grass or just snapping and pulling it up?

If she is eating some of the grass, you must know that is normal dog behavior. Give her a small unmowed patch of couch grass to nibble on. This could be good for her digestive system and urinary tract. Dogs with some internal irritation or discomfort will often eat grass, and not always to trigger vomiting.

If this is more a redirected play behavior, throw her some sturdy squeaky toys and 18-inch ropes with a knot on both ends, which she may especially enjoy being able to retrieve and "kill."

Never use a shock collar. For details, check my short article, "Dominance Training" on my website, DrFoxVet.com.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Universal Uclick, 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 DrFoxVet.com.)

DEAR DR. FOX: Thank you so much for sharing the letter about Inky, the friendly cat who was abandoned. I am the director of and humane investigator for the Danville Area Humane Society in Danville, Va. We are very much opposed to trap-neuter-release, and are facing outrage from the pro-TNR folks. As soon as I send this email to you, I will write our response to a recent letter to the editor in our local paper proclaiming that we "kill" cats just to make money. We have an endless supply of pictures that tell one thing -- the streets are not safe for cats.

In Virginia, we actually had to fight a legislative battle two years ago when TNR proponents wanted to trap, neuter and release cats onto private property without the owners' permission. In addition, proponents said that the cats would not need to be fed, watered, monitored for health issues, etc. Yet they wanted me charged with cruelty for euthanizing shelter animals!

With people who are mistreating animals, we can seize the animals and take the owners to court. Now, many people who believe the only measure of progress is in having no euthanasia in a shelter hail the "no-kill" operators as heroes and we are the scum who do nothing but kill, kill, kill. We are on call all day, every day, and we leave at a moment's notice to rescue animals from trees, sewers, the middle of the road and so on.

Again, thank you for running the experience of Inky, and thank you for your response. -- P.D., Danville, Va.

DEAR P.D.: I appreciate readers' feedback on the issues concerning the health, wellbeing and rights of companion and farmed animals.

There is less fiduciary corruption in the fundraising activities of the larger national animal and environmental protection organizations than there is a lack of vision and accountability for their actions and interventions, which is supported by a sentimentally motivated, but misguided, public. They may hold feel-good conferences and consultations with "experts," but the reality of having to exercise humane stewardship, which on occasion includes the killing of animals to help reduce animal suffering and restore ecological integrity, cannot be ignored.

Playing on public sentiment to raise money to "protect" feral cats, including dumping these animals instead of euthanizing the unadopted and unadoptable and putting local animal shelters that must euthanize in the spotlight of public condemnation, is wholly unethical and self-serving.

As a culture, we hold such an abhorrence of death that we bankrupt the health care system by preventing death in the elderly and already dying. When it comes to euthanasia, we do a better job in most animal shelters now that decompression chambers, curare-like injections that paralyze and suffocate, and carbon monoxide from gasoline engines have been outlawed. In fact, we kill these animals in a more humane way than we do our own kind: In Ohio recently, a death-row inmate's suffering was protracted by the use of inappropriate drugs.

I take my hat off to all who work in animal shelters across the U.S. who take the animal "garbage" of a disposable society, and must kill more than they can ever hope to adopt. This killing is a reality. It can be reduced, but not subverted or lambasted by those who seek to capitalize on this companion animal population crisis in many of our communities. The much-lauded TNR method of "helping" unhomed cats, which may work in a few locations where there is no threat to wildlife, is neither a panacea nor an appropriate response to the companion animal population and homelessness crisis that we face as a society today, from the dogs in the streets of Detroit to the cats in New Orleans.

I advise my readers to support your local animal shelter: Adopt one or two animals rather than purchasing one from a big commercial kitten and puppy mill breeder or online outlet; volunteer; and get on the board!

CAT SAVES WOMAN HAVING A STROKE

According to reporter Sarah Okeson of Springfield, Mo., Erna Pratt credits her 13-year old cat, Trigger, with saving her life. The cat woke Pratt's daughter when Pratt, 75, was immobilized due to a stroke. Trigger was in the kitchen when Pratt's stroke began and, at the command of her owner, went to another room and meowed loudly to wake Pratt's daughter, who called 911. The cat "literally saved my life," said Pratt, who recovered and is back at home with her family.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Universal Uclick, 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 DrFoxVet.com.)

DEAR DR. FOX: I am a huge fan of your work and advice. I have had a heck of a year since March: I've lost five cats. I lost three cats within three months of each other and two to kidney failure.

Now, another cat is diagnosed with severe kidney failure (9.9 creatine levels). We've gotten a grim prognosis from the vet. I am giving him fluids every other day, but he is losing weight and not eating much. I have many questions.

Why this is happening? And how? And what can I do? These cats are not old. They are 11 to 13 years old.

Sadly, by the time you see them heavily drinking water, it is too late. This has been my experience. They say that by this point, 70 percent of kidney function is gone. Is it the water, the litter, the food? Should I have been giving them raw food?

I rescue, trap, spay and neuter strays. I see the crap food they get from volunteers. I coddle, make their food and give them herbs and nutrients. I am frustrated and need to talk to a professional natural doctor of veterinary medicine.

My regular vet has no answers, just a diagnosis and blood work results. A statistic says it is the No. 1 reason for cat illness and death. I am an herbalist. I try to do things right, but I must be doing things wrong.

I know my cat with kidney failure now will die, and I will agonize over his decline and weight loss and ultimately have to put him to sleep when all hope is gone, just like the others.

UPDATE: Blue passed away a week before Christmas -- he was not eating and was suffering. Noted herbalist Juliette de Bairacli Levy suggested giving cats sea kelp, coconut oil, a raw diet and lots of sun and "wildness" in their life, along with limited vaccines, chemicals, flea treatments, etc.

I put nettle and cleavers in my cats' food, which are supportive kidney herbs. I am on hyperalert now for any cat that I see drinking water, because when I see this, that is usually the next one to go.

What should I be doing now? I am overwhelmed with the finality of this kidney disease. Is there any research being done? Thank you so much. -- J.M., Washington, D.C.

DEAR J.M.: I'm sorry for your losses. My short article on caring for cats with kidney disease and renal failure (on DrFoxVet.com) may help.

Dandelion root tea and subcutaneous fluids may help -- give them to your cat by dropper -- they act as a cheap form of dialysis. Blood potassium and phosphate levels must be monitored, as well as blood pressure. Vitamin D supplements may also help. Cats with a poor appetite can be helped with highly palatable meaty varieties of Gerber's baby foods.

Good luck. There are many theories as to possible causes: some related to the noncarnivore dietary formulations, high in cereals and poor-quality protein, still being widely marketed, and other to a possible vaccination-linked autoimmune disease.

HOPE FOR CATS WITH CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE

Veterinarian Jessica Quimby and colleagues at Colorado State University's James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital are analyzing the effects of stem cell treatment on chronic kidney disease in cats. Half of cats older than age 10 develop chronic kidney disease, and there is no cure for the progressive condition. Prior studies by the group found some improvements in renal function among cats who received intravenous stem cells collected from the fat of donor cats. The current study will evaluate the effect of stem cells injected near the target organ. For more information, visit PhysOrg.com.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Universal Uclick, 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 DrFoxVet.com.)