DEAR DR. FOX: I have a dog, Gizmo, who is almost 4 years old. We believe he's a pug-Chihuahua mix. He's a good guy and wants to please me. About a year ago, he had some sudden and strange behaviors that had a manic quality.

I came into the room and he knocked over a vase on a table and began to gobble up the flowers. I told him no. Then he ran to the carpet and started trying to pull up pieces and eat it. When I told him no again, he ran over to some string curtains and tried to devour those. It was totally out of character and a bit alarming. He was trying to mind me, but it was obvious he couldn't control himself.

We were going out of town, so I got him into the car. I have a tiny dashboard flower vase. He grabbed the artificial flowers out of it and tried to eat them. Then he went to the blankets in his booster seat and tried to eat those. I called our veterinarian, who asked if Gizmo could have gotten ahold of any medications or poisons. He hadn't had access to anything, and our vet didn't have an idea of what was going on. After about two hours, my dog stopped and was "normal" again. A couple days later, he had the same behavior for about 15 minutes. Since then, it's never happened again. However, I remain somewhat concerned. Do you know what it could be or what I should do if it comes up again?

I have another question, this one about my 15-month-old mini-dachshund, Pippin. He's a good guy, too... he just has dachshund traits. You have to love them!

The issue is barking. He barks long and loud if he hears anything outside. I don't want to hurt him with a shock collar, but I need to alter this behavior so as not to disturb my neighbors. He doesn't respond to verbal correction, positive reinforcement or redirection.

I've used a citronella no-bark collar for about five months. At first it quieted him, but only when it was on all the time. Now he decided he'd rather bark and just put up with the sprays of citronella. My last dachshund died more than a year ago. He did the same thing when he was young. I tried a sonic-sound collar that wasn't effective. Eventually, I took him to a specialist and had him "de-barked." He still barked, but it was much quieter. We lived in a condo with close neighbors, so I had to do something. I always had mixed feelings about it, though. Ethically, I'm not sure elective surgery is great to do to people or our furry friends. On the other hand, the specialist I used said she started specializing in that surgery because so many dogs were losing their homes or even being killed because of their barking.

Do you have ideas to stop the barking in a kind way? -- D.G., West Palm Beach, Florida

DEAR D.G.: One of our dogs, Tanza, whom we rescued as a pup while working in Tanzania, startled us one day by bizarrely walking stiff-legged across the room with eyes fixed and a worried expression on her face. Then she grabbed and tried to swallow anything she could get into her mouth -- carpet edges, pillow corners, etc. So I immediately took her outside, where she ate some grass and leaves and eventually vomited.

Clearly, her bizarre behavior, which on occasion she subsequently repeated, was an indication of acute nausea and an urgent need to empty her stomach. This is what your dog was most probably experiencing. Dogs have an almost automatic response to vomit when anything irritates their stomachs, which is probably a survival mechanism after generations of living as scavengers and garbage-eaters. 

Your other problem dog is another issue for whom, as you have discovered, there is sometimes no easy solution. Some anti-bark collars emit a high-frequency sound and can work well to stop some dogs from constantly barking. For others, the simple solution is to leave a talk radio or TV channel on to act as a sound barrier to outside noises that can trigger indoor dogs to bark.

(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: Because I have worked for a veterinarian for 13 years, I find your ideas both interesting and useful in our clinic. I have been a volunteer at my local animal shelter for 25 years. My shelter is county-operated, so we must accept all strays, turn-ins, ferals, etc., from anyone who lives in our county. We are open seven days a week, and we do have bona fide hours of operation, but those go by the wayside daily because there is so much that doesn't get done by the end of the day.

We never have enough money, personnel, volunteers, foster families or fundraisers. Although this shelter is county-operated, the budget for animal welfare is very small. Usually, the money allotted for medical care has run out by February or March. We try to raise funds any way we can, but the county residents get resentful because they think that their taxes should pay for everything. I know this sounds like a personal problem, but when you write a three-column article in a newspaper like The Washington Post, it is going to get noticed. And when you say that most animals entering a shelter need quiet quarantine rooms, I am not sure you know the nature of a crowded animal shelter. How can we provide any more than we already do when we don't have enough people to help us? The turnover of paid help and volunteers is enormous because of the stress and sheer volume of the daily work. I have spent an entire day just doing laundry. It never ends.

What I would like you to know is that shelters all over the country are having the same issues. It usually boils down to lack of money. Can you give us some solutions to these problems instead of drawing attention to problems that will keep people from checking out shelters for adoptable animals because they are afraid of what they might see? We are doing a marvelous job with what we have; our animals are safe, warm, fed, watered and exercised as much as possible -- but it is not easy. -- J.O., Stevensville, Maryland

DEAR DR. FOX: Thank you for writing about what a shelter should do to enhance the adoptability of its animals. Even better, shelters should find a way to minimize disease; instead, newly adopted dogs frequently have kennel cough, or worse, and cannot show their true personalities because they are sick.

You are so right about trap-neuter-release (TNR), which turns its back on cats so that its advocates can feel good about themselves. They won't acknowledge pictures of starved, maimed, diseased, injured and dead cats who are victims of the concept. As for no-kill shelters, they often flaunt the term. Some warehouse animals, but many also ship animals they can't adopt out to another facility that euthanizes.

The other flaw of the no-kill movement is that it endorses adoptions to practically anyone who can "talk the talk" and knows how to fill out an adoption application, often with omissions and falsehoods. People surrender pets to a shelter because "he didn't know how to behave" or "he got sick," and then they ask to see other ones. Home visits are not conducted to educate pending adopters on successful transitional techniques and how to work through inevitable problems. Most public and private shelters/rescues do not choose to meaningfully screen and educate adopters because the marching orders are to get these hapless animals "adopted." Even some private rescue organizations have succumbed to handing out animals. Thus, these animals are really "sold" for fee generation, and they often pay a terrible price.

Rehabilitating and nurturing shelter animals would save more of them, but why bother if the animals are being shoveled out the door or handed over to someone who has an irresponsible attitude toward defenseless pets? In my mind, euthanasia is a better option to a life of hell. I believe there are far more adoptable pets than responsible pet owners.

Please do not use my name, as I have been in the rescue business for 15 years and have been attacked by people who don't like it when I stand up for animals and tell the truth. And thank you for you relentless efforts on behalf of animals. -- Anonymous, Rockville, Maryland

DEAR J.O. & ANONYMOUS: Thank you for sharing your experience working in the trenches of animal rescue and sheltering, and blessings to you both for doing so. I wish more people, especially active, healthy retirees, would volunteer and, more importantly, do fundraising and get old blankets, towels and other supplies to local shelters.

We are still in the season of giving, and I urge all people to consider donating to their local animal shelters that should have nonprofit 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, so donations are tax-deductible. Better to start locally rather than donating to the well-heeled national organizations, whose big money doesn't always get down sufficiently to the local communities and may actually turn off potential donors to local shelters thinking that the problems are being cared for by the larger organizations. We need both -- national appeals and grassroots activism and involvement, plus more dollars coming from the municipal coffers.

(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: Recently, you wrote in your column, "Make the wellness exam part of the needed annual blood test for heartworm prior to resuming post-winter preventive medication; this exam should evaluate kidney and liver function, blood glucose and other essential health indicators."

I thought that there was no treatment for heartworm (at least for cats), and if that's true, then there isn't any point in testing, right? More to the point, just so I'm clear, are you saying we should take our 1-year-old indoor-only cat in for yearly blood testing? Even if she seems healthy otherwise? She's supposed to go in for another rabies shot -- something else I question, again considering she's indoor-only with no possibility of escape -- but we'll get blood work done as well if you think that's wise. -- M.K., Washington, D.C.

DEAR M.K.: You raise an important issue when it comes to the annual wellness exam protocols, which vary from region to region and veterinary clinic to clinic.

The blood test for heartworm infestation is routine for dogs, and if the test is clear, they can be put back on the seasonal preventive medication. Since cats can get heartworm disease -- especially if they get outdoors or onto a porch with defective screens where infective mosquitoes can get inside -- the blood test for such cats, and preventive medication if they do not test positive, is an advised protocol.

Ideally, have the veterinarian come to your home to do the wellness exam, and check my website (DrFoxVet.com) for what most veterinarians consider to be the optimal vaccination protocol for indoor cats. Fortunately, more veterinarians are aware that until recently, too many unwarranted vaccinations have been prescribed for cats and dogs, with attendant risks to both species, as I have documented in my column and in my book "Healing Animals & the Vision of One Health."

DEAR DR. FOX: My 2-year-old female cat is sick. I took her in for her annual checkup last Friday. The vet gave her Pfizer's nasal vaccine FRVC (no distemper). No other medication. She got her last set of vaccinations by injection in November 2013.

On Nov. 26, 2014, she was throwing up and had a fever of 104.6. She got a shot for nausea and a delayed-reaction antibiotic. She started keeping food down. Two days later, she threw up three times overnight. I took her back to her vet. Her temperature was up again. She had eaten and was keeping it down, but got another nausea shot. At the vet, she also got an X-ray, blood work and a stool check. She showed no problems on the X-ray. She had no elevated white cell count, no problems with the stool and no fleas.

Could this be a late reaction to last year's vaccines? What should I do? Her vet says he can give her a shot to bring her temperature down, but I worry because she has already received the other medications. She also has three brothers due for their annual checkups and vaccines. I don't know if I should let them get the nasal vaccine.

I am worried sick about Angel. She's a rascal, but I love her. -- M.H., St. Louis

DEAR M.H.: I am sorry to hear about your trials and tribulations following what should have been a routine wellness examination and what you and your poor cat had to go through, including costly diagnostic tests to rule out a cause other than a delayed adverse vaccine reaction.

I consider this the most probable cause. The new-generation feline vaccines that are sprayed into the cat's nose to protect against panleukopenia (feline distemper), calicivirus and rhinotracheitis (feline influenza or herpesvirus-1) certainly eliminate the possibility of an injection-site cancer developing. Feline nasal vaccine manufacturer Heska Co. also notes that unlike the nasal-spray vaccines, subcutaneous vaccines have been reported to produce a significant antibody response to kidney cells that could be a factor in causing kidney disease later in life. But this does not mean that this new generation of vaccines is safe, and your veterinarian should report your cat's post-vaccination issues without delay to the manufacturer, Pfizer, and the Food and Drug Administration. The suggested injection (probably prednisone) to bring her temperature down may be effective.

I would also ask why your cat, presumably a protected indoor-only cat, who had prior vaccinations, was given this annual booster and what was the justification for giving additional vaccinations, which could have triggered an adverse effect on your cat's immune system.

(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.)