DEAR DR. FOX: I have lived in the same place for six years. Five years ago, a feral cat showed up. She had been abused -- I could tell in her behavior -- and was very frightened of people. After many months of feeding her, she came to trust me.

I named her Boo. She is all black. Over the years, she also came to trust my friends and neighbors. She is very loving and affectionate. Boo will come into my house to sleep when it is too hot outside, storming or too cold. My two dogs allow this because she is one of the family.

Boo could never be an inside cat. She has to have her freedom; she can't be in the house too long.

I plan on moving soon to an island that is 45 minutes away. I don't know what to do with Boo. She is getting old; she has developed cataracts and is gray in some places. I feel like I cannot leave her. I would never take her to a shelter. Most of the neighbors who loved her have moved.

Should I take her with me and let her live outside in an environment she does not know? -- B.W., Naples, Florida

DEAR B.W.: You are a "captive of your own compassion." My wife, Deana Krantz, and I have found ourselves helping animals in our work on many occasions. We currently have two ex-feral cats; neither has ever tried to go back outdoors once given love, food, water and a cozy environment, plus padded window shelves and a cat tower to get up and above us, hide and look outdoors at the birds and squirrels.

I urge you to either take Boo to a cat rehabilitation center and adoption facility where the mandate is never letting cats outdoors in an unenclosed space, or take her with you to your new home, and never ever let her out. With her failing eyesight and age, she would be vulnerable outdoors and could be killed by a larger predator.

My books "Supercat: How to Raise the Perfect Feline Companion" and "Cat Body, Cat Mind" may be helpful to you if you chose the latter suggestion, which I think is feasible for you. Keep me posted!

DEAR DR. FOX: My sister has a 5-month-old male formerly feral kitten. He seems to be very happy; he enjoys being petted and sleeping in her lap.

DEAR C.C.B.: Kittens, like puppies, bite during friendly interactive play. Their bites can hurt because their milk teeth are very sharp. They quickly learn while playing with each other to not bite too hard and to not use their claws. This is one reason why I advise people to adopt two kittens from the same litter, rather than just one.

Your sister's cat is young enough to quickly accept and enjoy the company of another feline around his same age. I would encourage her to adopt another young cat. She will then enjoy hours of entertainment with the cats taking care of each other's basic needs.

But he also bites my sister. What can be done about this? He is an indoor-only orange tabby. -- C.C.B., Falls Church, Virginia

My cat books may be helpful. It is especially important that your sister learns about feline behavior and communication and wears protective clothing to cover her arms and legs while petting and playing with the cat -- she must teach the cat that biting hard and scratching are unacceptable behaviors.

Most young cats love rough-and-tumble play. For a single cat, one game that can help this behavior is to tie a fluffy toy or bunch of feathers to a string and tie the string to a cane so you have an interactive toy for the cat to hunt, chase and "kill" while your sister is at a safe distance, holding the cane.

(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.net.)

DEAR DR. FOX: We had four indoor cats. One has been put to sleep leaving us with three: one male and two females, all siblings.

Every time one goes to the vet, he or she is hissed at for up to a week -- I guess because of the smell from the vet. Is there any way to prevent this? -- P.G., Manahawkin, New Jersey

DEAR P.G.: This problem with your cats is so prevalent that I wonder why more veterinarians don't prescribe possible remedial measures when their feline patient has other cats to come home to.

An essential component of appropriate veterinary care is to consider the environment the animal patient is living in. Until recently, the kind and brand of pet food the animal patient was being fed was not a basic clinical question.

Check my website, DrFoxVet.net, for the article on introducing a new cat into a home where there are cats already; try those steps in the future. Products like Feliway (a pheromone diffused to help calm cats with an estimated 50 percent success rate), together with anointing all cats with a dab of your own perfume or aftershave and giving all the cats some catnip or Petzlife@Eaze, may also help.

DEAR READERS: I was saddened and disgusted by one letter I received asserting, "people who cannot afford to keep a pet shouldn't have one." People with companion animals are suffering across the country, unable to afford veterinary services or boarding fees in times of crisis, such as hospitalization or spousal abuse.

I am heartened by the veterinary profession's increasing involvement in this tricky situation, notably WisCARES, supported by the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, which I hope other veterinary schools will quickly follow. According to the Dec. 1 edition of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, there are several resources being developed to help provide "street medicine" for animals in need. Sites such as petsofthehomeless.org and thestreetdogcoalition.org, as well as the American Veterinary Medical Foundation (AVMF.org/CARE), disburse donations to veterinary clinics that provide charitable care. There are also full-service veterinary hospitals, like Mission Animal Hospital in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, that have been established as nonprofit organizations to provide affordable care priced on a sliding scale according to each client's income. I have long advocated for this practice here in the United States after being impressed as a veterinary student with the long-established People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA), which operates across the United Kingdom.

I also applaud the Association of Shelter Veterinarians, whose involvement in the welfare and care of lost, abandoned and relinquished companion animals has done so much to improve the well-being of animals in several municipal and private shelters across the U.S.

Every effort needs to be made to protect the human—animal bond; otherwise, the animals end up in shelters and are often euthanized while their grieving owners must deal with their losses.

DEAR DR. FOX: We're late in sending this response, but we felt it necessary. We're involved as volunteers at our church's food pantry, which serves 35 families weekly.

One year ago, a Girl Scout troop in our area of O'Fallon, Missouri, took on our food pantry as a community service project. They did not stock food for humans; instead, they supplied food for the pets of our food pantry clients. Our first response was, "Why do this for food pantry clients, when so few of them would even have pets due to a lack of money to take care of their medical needs?" Our next response was, "Even if only one client had a pet, that pet and owner deserve free food, as we know the animal is sometimes more than a pet -- it could be the client's best friend." As it is, several of our food pantry clients do have pets.

We are grateful for the Girl Scout troop; they opened another valuable mission for our food pantry clients, and our clients are most grateful. We have no provisions to help with the veterinary costs, but we can now provide food for the animals. Perhaps what happened to our food pantry through the generosity of the Girl Scout troop will motivate other organizations to do the same. -- B.A. & S.A., O'Fallon, Missouri

DEAR B. & S.A.: I hope your letter will inspire others in communities across the U.S. that are blighted by poverty, both financial and spiritual.

Being able to have, keep and love an animal companion can be a lifesaver for many, especially those living alone as well as the thousands of military veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

(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.net.)

DEAR DR. FOX: I hope that you can give me some insight into recent "catfrontations."

My husband and I returned from our service as Peace Corps volunteers in March. During our two-plus years of service, our two cats (ages 12 and 9 and both spayed females) were fostered and adjusted well.

We returned to the U.S. and moved to a new state. The two cats seemed to adjust well to our new home for many weeks. Then suddenly the younger, meeker one began to engage in continuing fights with the older one. This morning, I found one of the cats had urinated and defecated on their food and water mat. Any recommendations? -- R.P., Longmont, Colorado

DEAR R.P.: Felines can be fickle, fastidious and feral in their behavioral range. No peace in your two-cat family after your Peace Corps service is ironic. That they adapted well initially to the new home with you, and the sudden incidence of aggression, calls for some detective work.

These spats could be caused by a free-roaming cat outdoors who your cat sees, hears or smells as the cat enters and no doubt spray-marks your property. Allowing indoor cats to go outdoors at any time, unsupervised and roaming out of their owners' properties, should be prohibited in every community. Such cats are the most common cause of indoor cats becoming extremely disturbed, house-soiling, attacking each other (so-called redirected aggression) and developing stress-related health problems such as cystitis. Others may show displacement behaviors such as excessive self-grooming and self-mutilation.

See if there is a cat entering your property; if you can locate the owner, have them keep the cat indoors. Try the cat pheromone product Feliway in the room your cats congregate in with you. Put a few drops of essential oil of lavender where your cats sleep, give them catnip, groom them together regularly and engage in interactive games.

DEAR DR. FOX: Thank you very much for your quick and thoughtful response, Dr. Fox.

Perhaps you are prescient: There is a neighbor with a female calico who has wandered into our backyard and riled our younger female cat. We will try your suggestions. -- R.P.

THANKSGIVING TURKEY PARDON US

Conforming to tradition, President Obama gave the sign of the cross, or some semblance thereof, as he "pardoned" a turkey, meaning that its life would be spared from the mass slaughter of turkeys for America's Thanksgiving celebration. But should we not perhaps consider a Thanksgiving that embraces all creatures in gratitude for how much they have contributed to society, to the economy, to our emotional and spiritual well-being and especially to ecological integrity and environmental health? Perhaps the next president might express a different sentiment to the ceremonial turkey presented to him or her and pray for all of us to be pardoned for what we have done to Mother Earth and all who dwell therein.

(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.net.)