DEAR DR. FOX: I've been a dog training and behavior consultant for 20 years. Prior to that, I worked in animal protection for 20 years at the Marin Humane Society.

I want to commend you on your stance on so-called no-kill shelters. No-kill is a lovely myth, but the reality is that there are still far more dogs and cats than there are homes for them, and the promotion of "no-kill" has only resulted in more animal suffering -- not less.

There are things far worse than a humane death for an animal who has no home. Extended incarceration in a no-kill kennel is cruelty, and adopting animals to the public who are badly behaviorally damaged is unethical and immoral. And how many other truly adoptable animals' lives could have been saved during the years that one dog occupied that kennel?

The public doesn't understand that "no-kill" doesn't mean the shelter doesn't euthanize animals, or that it sometimes means dumping cats willy-nilly in the community (under the banner of TNR -- trap, neuter, release) as done by a recent shelter director here in Washington County, Maryland.

I often say so-called no-kill is the worst thing to happen to the animal protection movement in my lifetime. It's deceptive and divisive, and it doesn't help animals in the long run. -- P.M., Fairplay, Maryland

DEAR P.M.: I really appreciate your informed response.

There is a real connection with no-kill and TNR that people do not yet understand. An abhorrence of euthanasia of unadopted animals is conflated by feel-good saving-a-life and pro-life sentiments, which can mean unadopted cats are dumped back into the outdoors to fend for themselves and dogs spend their entire lives in small shelter cages and go nuts.

Some shelters do need to do a better job of adopting out animals, but in many areas, there are simply too many cats and dogs and insufficient homes to receive them or provide foster care. There is a feral cat issue in Hawaii that is a serious wildlife conservation problem, and outdoor feeding on public lands will only help increase their numbers without clear identification of vaccinated, neutered and released cats in designated colony sites -- ideally enclosed sanctuaries. Cat lovers should think twice about donating to TNR organizations that should either evolve or perish.

DEAR DR. FOX: Your commentary regarding purebred dogs is offensive to me.

I've been preparing for years to find breed-standard, healthy, health-tested purebred corgis to breed and carry on the lines. I have spent thousands of dollars in emergency health-related vet bills for the rescue mixed-breed dogs that are part of my family, and very little in emergency health-related vet bills for my purebred dogs. Please reconsider your statements. -- M.R., Ignacio, Colorado

DEAR M.R.: I am glad to hear that you are such a conscientious breeder of corgis, a pure breed not yet ruined by popularity and commercial exploitation. As a Brit, I was always amused when one of the Queen's beloved corgis was reported in the media as nipping the heels of visiting dignitaries, a trait of this hard-working Welsh cattle dog.

Certainly with careful progeny testing and good nutrition for both parents, healthier litters of purebred dogs can eventually be produced, as you have experienced. The epigenetic effects of poor nutrition during pregnancy and subsequent traumatic experiences, especially during early puppyhood, can mean that rescued dogs develop various health problems later in life, as my wife and I have documented working with "natural" pariah dogs in India. But because of the documented accumulation of deleterious genes in many pure breeds, the evidence points to supporting the theory of hybrid vigor. Mixed breeds have fewer health problems than the more inbred pure breeds -- with one exception: Some "designer" breeds that are crosses of two pure-breeds both carrying deleterious recessive genes.

Those wishing to check on the prevalence of developmental and inherited disorders in various pure breeds should visit hsvma.org/assets/pdfs/guide-to-congenital-and-heritable-disorders.pdf. See also vet.cam.ac.uk/idid, the Inherited Diseases in Dogs Database.

(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 recently read about a class-action lawsuit brought against the company that makes Blue Buffalo dog food. The company agreed to pay out specific amounts to people who had purchased its products.

I believe the suit pertained to ingredients that were not listed on the label. I used to feed my dogs Blue Buffalo, but I never saved my purchase receipts (really, who does that?), so even if I'd wanted to receive a payout, I couldn't unless the larger pet stores with their "clubs" kept records of my purchases. Even if they did, I still have no wish to participate.

You might want to mention the particulars of the suit in your column in order to bring up the fact one never really knows what is in commercial pet food. -- R.S.B., North Beach, Maryland

DEAR R.S.B.: According to the website Top Class Actions (topclassactions.com), the Blue Buffalo pet food company agreed to pay $32 million in order to settle allegations that it falsely claimed its products were free of poultry byproducts, corn, wheat, soy and artificial preservatives. According to Top Class Actions:

"Pet food competitor Nestle Purina PetCare Co. along with plaintiffs in 13 separate class action lawsuits challenged the 'True Blue Promise' label after claiming that several investigations found those ingredients within Blue Buffalo products.

"The Blue Buffalo class action lawsuit alleged that plaintiffs paid a higher price for the 'natural' pet food because they were misled by false advertisements that Blue Buffalo was a quality choice compared to other products on the market.

"According to the Blue Buffalo class action lawsuit settlement, Class Members will receive $5 for every $50 they spent on various Blue Buffalo products over a seven-year claim period.

"Blue Buffalo stands by its labeling and denies it did anything wrong, however the pet food manufacturer has agreed to the terms of the settlement in order to avoid the cost of further litigation."

This is the largest class-action suit payout in the history of the pet food industry, but is the tip of the iceberg as more reports are published about mislabeling of ingredient amounts and types. This can pose serious health problems for animals with allergies and food intolerances. For pet food companies you can trust if you are not yet preparing your own pet food from known ingredients, visit truthaboutpetfood.com.

DEAR DR. FOX: Yesterday evening, our family cat, a domestic shorthair, started vomiting. The first episode occurred overnight, and then several more followed this morning after breakfast. I removed the food we usually keep out for her and left out a small quantity of water in case she was thirsty. I attempted to feed her some hard-boiled egg whites at dinnertime, and I don't know if she managed to eat any, but she did drink water and vomited shortly thereafter -- a total of three times over an hour-and-a-half timespan. The vomit is just liquid at this point. Her behavior seems OK; she is purring, and until this evening has been very interested in food.

Getting her to the vet is extremely stressful, so before I venture there, is there anything I can do at home? She is not listless or in other distress. Furthermore, our family dog returned home from the hospital the day before this vomiting began. He had an emergency splenectomy. Is there any chance he brought something home that may be causing this?

The cat is 14 years old, remains indoors and is in good health overall. -- M.M., Ashburn, Virginia

DEAR M.M.: There are many reasons why cats will occasionally vomit, often because of a fur ball in the stomach or eating too quickly -- they recover quickly and have their appetites back within a few hours and hold food down. But if vomiting persists or the cat does not eat for 24 hours, which can result in potentially serious dehydration and acute fatty liver disease and be a sign of other problems such as kidney failure in an older cat, veterinary attention should not be delayed.

Some veterinarians do house calls, which can be much less stressful for cats. In this instance with your cat, it could be simply transient, a stress-reaction to the dog coming home and smelling different and possibly behaving differently during recovery from surgery.

(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 READERS: The question has at long last been provisionally and promisingly answered concerning the illogical protocol of injecting the same amount of vaccine for a Great Dane as for a toy poodle.

Now veterinarian W. Jean Dodds, DVM, Ph.D., has published her pilot study evaluation of giving a half-dose of canine distemper and parvovirus to small dogs to see if they develop protective antibody levels in their serum. She found that they do, indeed, develop such protection.

This elegant study, published in Integrative Veterinary Care Journal and American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association Journal, should be an incentive for vaccine companies to address this issue, since vaccines are not without risk; veterinarians should push for a broader study to confirm these findings in a larger population.

OBESITY: THE MODERN PLAGUE OF CATS AND DOGS

America's pets are obese, and there's no sign that the trend is slowing, according to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, which reports that 53 percent of dogs and 58 percent of cats are overweight. Pet insurer Nationwide reports that claims for obesity-linked conditions and diseases increased 10 percent in the past two years. Excess weight causes health problems such as arthritis, bladder issues, kidney and heart disease and diabetes. Food addiction can lead to overeating and the metabolic syndrome. Certain flavors and additives in pet foods and treats coupled with a high cereal or starch content that causes an insulin surge can mean animals always feel hungry. Such biologically inappropriate dietary ingredients may cause proliferation of dependent and demanding gut bacteria that thrive on starches and sugars and influence dietary preferences.

(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 you can shed some light on my beloved pet's problem. I have domestic shorthair cat littermates who are 12 years old. They have been in good health until recently. One had hyperthyroid disease, underwent radioiodine treatment and is doing well. My other cat seems to have a strange condition.

We began to notice that Feliz was circling to the right as he got tangled under our feet. He started distancing himself from our cuddling activities. His personality seemed to change from outgoing, friendly and curious to having a faraway look in his eyes at times.

His physical exam didn't reveal anything except for the circling and lack of activity and somewhat decreased appetite.

The vet suspected the worst: a brain tumor. I was counseled that an abdominal sonogram, chest X-ray and neurological studies may or may not shed light on his condition. We started with blood studies that were all normal.

We gave him prednisolone and an antibiotic injection. Two days later, he seemed to get remarkably better, eating, coming around and interacting more. Two weeks later, he received another antibiotic injection and a reduced amount of prednisolone.

He seemed to be doing well, and after approximately six weeks, we slowly tapered off his medication. He did not do well off prednisolone. He became very withdrawn and has hidden from us, although he did continue to eat. He was restarted on his medicine and there was almost an immediate improvement in his behavior. We did see a change in his agility, as he no longer climbed on his favorite windowsills regularly. The circling decreased on good days.

His abdominal sonogram, chest X-ray and most recent labs are all normal. Unfortunately, the neurological studies are just too expensive.

Is this scenario typical of anything? What can I do to help my beloved pet? Is there anything I can add to his medical regimen? -- L.T., Kensington, Maryland

DEAR L.T.: There are various reasons why your cat developed the neurological and behavioral changes that may indicate either a brain tumor or quite possibly an inflammatory condition, which the prednisolone helped subdue.

Finding out what the cause may be will involve more tests, costs and stress to your cat. Since the steroid medication does seem to help, I would advise you to continue to work closely with your veterinarian on maximizing its effectiveness while seeking to minimize the daily amount prescribed to help reduce side effects.

I would urge you to consider including probiotics in the cat's daily diet, along with anti-inflammatory fish oil like Nordic Naturals for Cats, and make sure that no glutens from corn in particular are in your cat's regular diet. Let me know if there is a high cereal content in your cat's diet, since this can be a cause of neurological disease in dogs, notably border terriers. Also, if your cat consumes a lot of tuna fish, this could cause neurological problems because of high levels of mercury contamination.