DEAR DR. FOX: There is a disturbing trend among many so-called "sanctuaries" and "rescues," where they are denying suffering animals veterinary care, including a dignified and painless death. Instead, they leave animals to languish and die slowly and miserably.

Some of these places are opposed to euthanasia and follow a "life at any cost" mentality. Others are scammers who post photos of sick and injured animals in order to pull at heartstrings and solicit donations. Still others let animals suffer because of laziness or callous indifference.

At Darlynn's Darlins Rescue Ranch in Florida, a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) investigation revealed an emaciated pig named Spunky who was covered in lesions and couldn't use his back legs, who languished for months. Another emaciated pig, Buddy, spent his miserable final weeks lying on his side, struggling to get up.

At Angel's Gate Hospice and Rehabilitation Center for Animals in New York, PETA found that elderly, sick and disabled animals were kept in filthy, crowded conditions without veterinary care. Many had been sent there by Animal Care Centers of New York City in an attempt to reduce its euthanasia rate, including an elderly Chihuahua named Malcolm. After weeks of suffering from an apparent untreated neurological disease that left him unable to stand, walk or eat, Malcolm died alone in a cage.

Furrever Grateful Rescue in California subjected a cat whose face was being eaten away by cancer to multiple unnecessary surgeries. After the surgeries failed, the rescue took the cat to another veterinarian, who recommended euthanasia. The group refused and took the cat to a warehouse. They reportedly used him as a fundraising tool by posting photos of his decline online. Authorities finally intervened, the veterinarian's license was revoked, and the cat was put out of his misery.

These cases are a reminder never to blindly give animals or money to just anyone who calls themselves a "rescue." Thoroughly investigate -- in person -- any group you're thinking of supporting. Open-admission shelters -- the kind that refuse to hand over sick and dying animals when the merciful thing to do is to end their suffering -- deserve our support and thanks. -- T.L.C., People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Norfolk, Virginia

DEAR T.L.C.: Thank you for this important and disturbing warning and for doing the investigations to uncover such fraudulent and cruel exploitation of animals. There are many more posted on your website, which I find very alarming. For more details, readers can go to peta.org/issues/companion-animal-issues/animal-shelters/kill-label-slowly-killing-animals/.

With the holiday season upon us, which is losing its spiritual and religious significance as a season of giving to ever-more consumption, I appeal to everyone to support their local animal shelters, ask what supplies they need and go visit. If there is no open-door policy and they have tax-exempt charity status (about which you should also ask and get their tax exemption ID number), you should contact your state's attorney general's office and the Better Business Bureau. The doors should be open.

Pledge to volunteer in 2017, or adopt a cat or dog -- ideally after the holidays are over, when your home may be quieter and safer for the new addition.

DOES YOUR DOG HAVE FRAGRANT SCENT SPOTS?

My wife, Deanna, and I recently adopted a mutt, or mixed-breed, female dog brought up by the humane society in Minneapolis from Alabama. We chose her in part because she looks like some of the pariah or indigenous native dogs my wife rescued in India when she ran an animal shelter (for details, see our new book, "India's Animals: Helping the Sacred and the Suffering" on Amazon.com).

To our surprise, this dog from Alabama has a fragrant, flowery-scented area on each cheek where the fur makes a small ridge down her neck. It is a very similar scent to one we detected in some of the Indian dogs; when the dogs interact socially with each other, they usually sniff this region. Years ago, a breeder of Scottish terriers had me sniff the top of some of his dogs' heads, and I noted a similar fragrance.

I would like to hear from readers whose dogs have similar scented areas on their bodies (excluding paws that smell like peppery popcorn) and let me know exactly where and what the scent smells like. If we had dogs' noses, we might have a better vocabulary to describe various scents!

(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: Our local TV station runs a commercial showing an empty NHL arena that states there are 20,000 empty seats. This is the same number of dogs euthanized in the area in the last year. My question is: Where do all these dogs come from?

They can't be all from pets who weren't spayed or neutered. Is this a result of puppy mills and breeders who can't sell their puppies? I think local TV and newspapers should show the faces of the dogs they put down. I know it would be horrible, but this needs to stop. -- L.J., St. Louis

DEAR L.J.: I appreciate your concern and applaud the local TV station for not too graphically giving the public a feel for how many puppies and adult dogs are killed every year in shelters. The number of kittens and cats would be many times more.

All of this is not entirely the fault of commercial puppy and kitten mill producers; rather, it's the lack of real understanding and concern of those cat and dog owners who allow their animals to roam free and to breed. Some even say that it is "educational" for their children to see the "miracle of birth," and thus justify not having their dogs and cats fixed.

Many animals are abandoned by people who find them too much trouble or difficult to care for, or whose kids have lost interest in them. Some are abandoned rather than surrendered to the shelter because the owners fear the animals will be euthanized. Many animals in shelters had easy-to-correct behavioral problems, others were just too expensive to care for in a failing economy -- especially popular and expensive purebreds with built-in health problems. Other dogs and cats filling those stadium seats are from owners who can no longer keep them because of housing restrictions.

"Full house" at the community animal shelter is a sad reflection of the times. Several years ago, one friend, the late Tom Hughes, who worked in municipal animal rescue and sheltering in Canada, was so aghast at the intake of surrendered, abandoned and stray animals that were being euthanized that he took a week's kill and piled the bodies on the steps of the government offices and called in the media. Certainly more media coverage is needed today on many animal issues, and local stations can also help promote shelter adoptions and free, responsible animal care instruction.

HUMAN PAIN-RELIEVING DRUGS CAN PUT PETS AT RISK

-- Ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) is the most common human medication ingested by pets. Many brands have a sweet outer coating that makes it appealing to pets (think M&Ms -- but potentially deadly ones). Ibuprofen can cause stomach ulcers and kidney failure.

-- Tramadol (Ultram) is a pain reliever. Your veterinarian may prescribe it for your pet, but only at a dose that's appropriate -- never give your own medication to your pet without first consulting your veterinarian! Too much tramadol can cause sedation or agitation, wobbliness, disorientation, vomiting, tremors and possibly seizures.

-- Acetaminophen (Tylenol) is a very common painkiller found in most households. Cats are extremely sensitive to acetaminophen, but dogs can be affected, too. Acetaminophen can cause liver damage. It can also cause damage to your pet's red blood cells, making the cells unable to carry oxygen; like your body, your pet's body needs oxygen to survive.

-- Naproxen (Aleve, Naprosyn) is an over-the-counter pain reliever. Dogs and cats are very sensitive to naproxen, and even small amounts can cause stomach ulcers and kidney failure.

(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: More fur could fly! Unmentioned thus far in your column regarding feral cats is the well-meaning but poorly advised habit some residents have of leaving cat food outside in bowls. Cats are not the only critters attracted to cat food. Raccoons, coyotes and rodents like rats and mice are, too. And these animals are fairly abundant here in western Prince William County, Virginia, and perhaps in your area, too.

A lot of the residents in my neighborhood leave trash, including meat and bones, in thin plastic bags on the curb for the twice-a-week trash pickup, rather than utilizing the solid plastic bins everyone was provided. The homeowners association, strict on many things, has been lax in this regard. When I walk my beagle around the neighborhood, I see many of these trash bags ripped open with bones strewn about, perhaps the work of cats or other wild animals. The bones could cause choking in animals, and they attract flies.

Eventually, the coyotes will catch on that there are free meals from these trash bags and cat food bowls. Once they catch on, it's just a matter of time before small pets and perhaps even toddlers start disappearing, as has happened already in the western United States. Maybe then something will be done. -- D.V., Bristow, Virginia

DEAR D.V.: Yes, it seems that the fur must fly before people wake up and act responsibly on many fronts.

I have addressed the issue of people putting food out for free-roaming cats in earlier columns. It is one of many human activities that, as Dan Flores emphasizes in his excellent book "Coyote America," create ideal conditions for some wild species to proliferate so the war on wildlife will continue.

All garbage should be put in raccoon-proof containers; these masked bandits are the most dexterous of species in opening containers and spreading the contents out for all to share. More than one dog has died from eating the bones out of the garbage, but coyotes, by all accounts, seem to handle such potentially hazardous fare just fine.

Those good-hearted people who put out food for stray cats and end up feeding raccoons, opossums and the occasional coyote -- who will happily make a meal out of a cat -- must realize that their concern for cats amounts to misguided altruism and does more harm than good, as you point out in your letter. Such feeding encourages cats to congregate and multiply. Even neutered "community colonies" of cats pose a serious threat to wildlife and to public health.

Real concern calls for responsible action, and with free-roaming cats, that means humane trapping, neutering and holding in quarantine or group housing in sanctuaries where rehabilitation and socialization can lead to many becoming friendly and adoptable.

DEAR DR. FOX: Several years ago, you gave us excellent advice about our cat's low neutrophil level. We followed your vitamin and food regimen, and Jacky Paper remains an active cat.

I'm writing because Jacky has always had a weird fetish. A friend recently suggested that it could be diet- or vitamin-related, so we're turning to you once again. The cat has an obsessive need to gnaw on plastic, rubber bands, twisty ties, ribbons, bows and any substance that is plastic or rubbery. For example, when we bring home bottles of Gatorade held together by plastic rings, Jacky hears us separating the bottles and comes running into the kitchen, jumps on the counter and tries to bite the plastic. When we throw the rings in the garbage, she claws at the can to try to get at them. It's like she has a cat version of pica.

A few weeks ago, we were awakened at 4 a.m. to the sound of Jacky Paper choking. I jumped up and was horrified to see that she had just vomited up a piece of plastic about 4 inches long by about 1 inch wide. We discovered that we had inadvertently left a plastic bag of oranges in the fruit bowl -- we just forgot to take out the fruit and throw the bag away. Of course, she zeroed in on the bag and chewed it up and swallowed the plastic.

What can we do to curb her plastic fetish? -- B.K., Arlington, Virginia

DEAR B.K.: I always advise close examination of the animal's oral cavity to rule out inflammation or infection that can make some animals want to chew things to help alleviate the discomfort.

The second consideration is possible digestive or inflammatory bowel issues or internal parasites. All of these are possible triggers for pica, or abnormal appetite. But if there is no identifiable physical cause and only specific materials are chosen to consume, I would diagnose addictive behavior triggered by one or more substances.

In the case of plastic materials, extracts of animal fats (stearates) are used as a softener, and some animals may detect the odor or taste and find it irresistible. Some cats like to hoard and chew paper money, which is treated with a finishing coat containing animal fat extract.

Once a cat develops an addiction to these kinds of materials, the only things to do are to keep vigilant and store such items out of the cat's reach. Plastics, including those on food packaging, contain phthalates, which disrupt the endocrine system, along with bisphenol A (BPA), which is still used as a lining in canned foods for human consumption as well as in most cans of pet food. So many chemicals have been put into the environment and into the food chain with limited, if any, knowledge about their safety or concern. A coalition of health-care professionals and scientists have posted a call-to-action statement called Project TENDR (Targeting Environmental Neuro-Development Risks) in the scientific journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

(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.)