DEAR DR. FOX: Even though I know you advocate feeding pets -- especially diabetic ones -- homemade food, I wonder if you'd consider this question.

My geriatric cat has been insulin-dependent for 5 1/2 years. I started him on Fancy Feast Classics, but I got shamed into changing him to Hills m/d. This summer, I ventured back to Fancy Feast since he likes it so much better. Suddenly, his blood sugar dropped like a rock. On a schedule of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. insulin glargine injections, his glucose would be 70 to 100 at 1 or 2 a.m. -- unusual behavior caused me to get up and test.

In your opinion, could m/d have been keeping his blood glucose elevated? If I were to cook his food myself, what would I give him? -- M.J., Cheyenne, Wyoming

DEAR M.J.: As I repeatedly stress in this column, avoid feeding cats high-carbohydrate treats, as well as regular cat foods. I invited veterinarian Greg Martinez (visit dogdishdiet.com) to offer his opinion since I am impressed with his nutrition-first approach to companion animal health issues, which I have long advocated -- and now I feel less alone professionally!

"Diabetes in cats is thought to be caused by too many calories in the diet and too little activity. Overweight, sedentary cats develop Type 2 diabetes, which is the insulin-resistant type also seen in people. A diet with fewer calories per ounce, less fat and fewer carbohydrates will obviously have more protein, just the mix of ingredients that cats evolved to eat (moist rodents or other prey). That same mix of ingredients will also help cats lose weight and regulate their blood sugar. Hill's m/d diet is formulated to have fewer carbohydrates and less fat than other cat foods, but it still may have too many simple carbohydrates for some cats. Fancy Feast Classics worked so well is that the ingredients are also high protein, low fat, high moisture and lower calorie ones. It could be that your cat does not tolerate the cornstarch in the m/d, which may elevate his blood glucose more than the type of carbohydrate in Fancy Feast Classics (the only listed is guar gum, which is a soluble fiber known to help with regulating the blood sugar). Individual cats may just do well with different ingredients, and it sounds like Fancy Feast agrees with your cat, where Hills m/d doesn't. You may try asking your local pet store for a grain-free quality canned cat food with a similar high-protein, low-carbohydrate, medium-fat mixture.

"If you are going to make your own cat food, veterinarian Lisa Pierson has lots of good info on cooking for your cat: Access 'Making Cat Food by Lisa A. Pierson, DVM' at catinfo.org/?link=makingcatfood. The basic recipe calls for 90 percent low-fat meat and keeps the carbohydrate level at less than 10 percent. This high-protein diet is not appropriate for cats with kidney issues."

I would urge against feeding animals carrageenan, which can be found in the Hill's prescription cat food. Read more at my website, DrFoxVet.net.

DEAR DR. FOX: I read your column regarding German shepherd dogs and waiting to spay until after a year because of an issue with their bone health -- I think. I gave the article to my daughter, who has a 5-month-old rescue German shepherd. Now I'm reading about how important it is to spay female dogs before the first heat cycle to help prevent mammary gland cancer.

What is the best way to go in this case? My daughter was going to wait until her dog was a year old, but has changed her mind to have it done at 6 months of age, which is in a month. -- K.K., Fargo, North Dakota

DEAR K.K.: It is a long-held view that spaying dogs before their first heat will help prevent mammary gland cancer. While this is generally true, there are several other health issues that can arise following early removal of the ovaries and which, in the final analysis, negate the benefits of early neutering. So my advice is to wait until the dog is closer to maturity -- around 2 -- before having the operation.

Some veterinarians now leave the ovaries intact to prevent the hormonal deficiencies and imbalances associated with the adverse consequences of a complete ovariohysterectomy. This topic is controversial, and more clinical studies and long-term evaluations of various breeds and the risk-to-benefit ratios of complete or partial removal of the reproductive organs are called for. This may contradict animal shelter policy of neutering all animals prior to adoption, especially in areas where there are too many animals multiplying in the community and adopters cannot be trusted to prevent their animals from reproducing by keeping intact females restrained when in heat.

(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 rescued our cat, Cookie, who was born outside behind a garage, at about 4 to 6 months old. She is currently 3 years old.

We had a rough start -- biting and scratching that would leave scars on us. We read articles on how to deal with feral cats, and she turned around.

Cookie is not like our previous cats -- she does not purr, she hisses at times when approached and she is not a lap cat.

We have two small crocheted blankets she sleeps on: one on the bed and one on the couch. About three times a day and every time she is alone, she jumps on the bed, bites the blanket, jumps off the bed, drags it through three rooms and takes it to where her food is. Then she meows, almost howls, for a few seconds. Sometimes she kneads the blanket.

Do you have any idea what causes this behavior? -- V.T., Brick, New Jersey

DEAR V.T.: Your cat's behavior may remind some readers of how their children needed to carry a comforter, blanket or towel everywhere they went. Some would suck or stroke a corner -- all self-comforting behaviors, which some cats will also engage in. Cats also knead and "nurse" the soft material; sometimes they'll even do the same to caregivers' arms or earlobes!

This may be one aspect of your cat's fetishlike behavior. Another is the behavior of carrying a kitten to the food source, or carrying prey from room to room. Such seemingly bizarre behaviors are the result of cats adapting to the domestic environment where their natural predatory and parental instincts are thwarted or suppressed, and where they are deprived of interaction with their own species. In some instances, these cats were weaned too early and experienced maternal deprivation.

DEAR DR. FOX: I read with interest the column regarding dogs' "love." Here is a story about our beloved Loki, the Lab-pit bull rescued from the Brooklyn Animal Care and Control shelter in New York City:

Loki was 8 years old when we adopted him. From the very beginning, he had serious health issues. However, he was a wonderful, affectionate pet who lived to be 13. Much of Loki's enthusiasm for life had to do with Joey, the female German shepherd who lived next door. The two really enjoyed each other and would "call" for each other when outside.

Tragically, Joey's owner became terminally ill with cancer. Right after he died and the house was being emptied, Joey came to our back door. I called to Loki, but when I opened the door, Joey came in. She had never done that before. She slowly walked around the house while Loki sat somewhat puzzled in the kitchen. Then Joey went up to Loki, they touched noses, and Joey went back out to the now-empty house. She had been given away to some relatives who lived far away. Loki never saw her again, but he would go over to the empty house and put his paw on the back door. He seemed to be grieving.

What amazed us is that apparently Joey knew she was going away and had come to say goodbye. It was so sad, but totally remarkable how these two dogs had communicated with each other. -- M.H., Poughkeepsie, New York

DEAR M.H.: Thank you for sharing this sad and touching story. I am glad that more people are recognizing that dogs, like many other species, share similar emotions as humans. Scientists are discovering that dogs use similar parts of their brains for cognitive processing to decipher words and language. For me, this affirms our kinship with animals and calls on us to give them the best care possible in accord with their behavioral, social and emotional needs.

(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: In at least one past column, you strongly discouraged using Frontline on dogs and Advantage on cats because of the risk of cancer. I also vaguely recall that these products came out or became popular in the late 1980s.

We started using these medications at our veterinarian's recommendation beginning in the '80s. Since then, both of our dogs were diagnosed with terminal cancer at ages 12 and 13, as were two of our three cats at age 10. The last one was recently diagnosed. We have another cat, 11, who doesn't get this treatment because she never goes outside; therefore, she is the only one not to contract cancer. The other two cats have gone outside on a 20-foot rope attached to our garage, and we check them regularly. The dogs went out on a rope to do their business and were walked on a leash.

None of our previous dogs and cats ever had these products -- and they never had cancer. Our dogs lived to 14, 16 and 17. One cat lived to 19; the other two died at young ages when we were young and naive about letting them loose outside.

Could you cite a study that documented this phenomenon? -- D.A.R., Reston, Virginia

DEAR D.A.R.: Cancers that are not caused by viruses or specifically identified carcinogens such as asbestos have complex causes. Some of those causes include genetic and epigenetic susceptibility, coupled with environmental triggers including radiation, consumption of DNA-damaging food and water contaminants, and exposure to various chemicals. Furthermore, some chemicals, like dioxins, are more toxic in minute doses over a long time period. While in the body, chemicals can break down into metabolic byproducts that can be damaging, and they can combine with other chemicals to be more harmful than when tested alone.

Since it can be extremely difficult and costly to confirm that one synthetic petrochemical or other compound is safe, it is common sense and good preventive medicine to invoke the precautionary principle, which calls for greater vigilance and never using any such products of the Age of Chemistry without accepting the potential risks, which generally outweigh the benefits.

Read more on this subject -- which your experiences certainly support -- on my website, DrFoxVet.net. You can also read about the related risks to humans and companion animals from exposure to the chemicals released unwittingly into the environment that end up inside other life forms.

DEAR DR. FOX: I never hesitate to email you when I disagree with your views regarding trap-neuter-release, so I felt it only appropriate that I do the same when I agree with you on an animal-related issue. Your column supporting the reintroduction of cougars and wolves in areas where they once thrived was "spot on" -- as the Brits say.

Obviously, as you note, such efforts need to be carefully controlled, but they are definitely doable. The cougars are making their way back east of their own accord anyway. There are definitely wilderness places where wolves and cougars could be re-established in limited numbers. There are plenty of deer (and coyotes) available to sustain the wolves and cougars, and the deer population would not be endangered by the reintroduction of such predators.

In urban and suburban areas, wolves and cougars could not coexist with humans, but in large, sparsely populated rural and forested areas, such reintroduction could work. We already coexist with a growing black bear population. I applaud your position on this issue. -- T.R.S., Olney, Maryland

DEAR T.R.S.: There does seem to be a groundswell of public support for "rewilding" of deer as well as wolf and American lion prey-rich habitats. This would benefit from encouraging natural recolonization and would help establish viable populations of these large predators.

I am currently reading Dan Flores' remarkable book "Coyote America: A Natural and Supernatural History," which I highly recommend for all readers who are concerned about the future of wildlife and their environments in North America. Readers will be engaged immediately by the historical, cultural and ecological insights Flores provides with scintillating wit and wisdom. He raises a significant point that effective municipal control of free-roaming dogs across the United States has reduced competition over food resources for the opportunistic, relatively omnivorous and highly adaptive coyote. The coyote has also benefited from America's decades-long extermination of wolves and lions. While some 500,000 of these incredible desert song dogs are killed annually -- including around 80,000 at taxpayers' expense by USDA Wildlife Services for the livestock industry -- they outwit their human adversaries at every turn and are in every state and ever more suburbs and urban environments. Their resilience calls for greater respect and understanding, as advocated by Flores and projectcoyote.org.

The coyote challenges us to find peaceful ways of coexistence for the good of all and to appreciate the presence of a native carnivore who provides significant ecological benefits to healthy ecosystems -- including our own backyards and communities.

(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.)