DEAR READERS: Treating impulsively aggressive and fear-biting dogs takes expertise and expense. This can mean that animal shelters that are unable to deal with such dogs and with a “no-kill” prohibition on euthanasia may ship them from shelter to shelter to avoid euthanasia, putting handlers and veterinarians at risk, or adopt them out, putting the public at grave risk.

I found the following report unbelievable and would like to issue a call to action by all responsible parties:

From "Aggressive pets adopted out in quest to save animals’ lives: Has no-kill philosophy gone too far?" by Phyllis DeGioia for Veterinary Information Network:

"A man was mauled to death by a Rottweiler he'd adopted three hours earlier from the Jackson Madison Rabies Control shelter in Tennessee, local media reported last November. Anthony Riggs, 57, was said to be an experienced dog owner who had previously owned a Rottweiler, Doberman and wolf hybrid.”

The following letter by a man dedicated to trying to help such dogs is a warning to all well-intended animal rescuers and dog rehabilitators.

DEAR DR. FOX: Concerning some "no-kill" animal shelters adopting out dangerous dogs, I would like to share my experiences working in such a shelter.

I worked mainly with pit bulls, many being very adoptable, adorable and safe, but others with post-traumatic stress disorder, who needed rehabilitation, and a few who were unstable and dangerous.

I recently had to resign from the shelter where I was employed as director of dog behavioral evaluation (or director of rehabilitation) because of this sort of thing. I would assess a dog and deem it too aggressive for adoption and dangerous to shelter staff, but my supervisors would take no action until the dog had caused great bodily harm to my staff and friends.

It still happens to this day. I get phone calls all the time asking for guidance and insight into dogs who I would recommend for euthanasia based on potential aggression toward humans. For instance: Some sweet gal will try to walk a trained guard dog, only to be mauled violently. I'm not sure how to fix that situation, but I do know that "no-kill" shelters fall victim to the paradigm that human abuse and fear are the only root causes with every aggressive dog. I wish that were true. Unfortunately, many dogs learn to use aggression as a means of dominance with the staff. It's simple control.

Once again, dogs prove to be very much like humans in the personality spectrum. Almost all dogs are victims of our system, but some truly are criminal in mind. Though these dogs are extremely rare, I have seen them in my time as a trainer. I suspect that this Rottweiler was one of these. A dog has tried to kill me more than once. It is terrifying. -- P.S., St. Louis

DEAR P.S.: Bad breeding, bad rearing and handling and bad nutrition all contribute to the growing problem of our dogs becoming dangerous and injuring, even killing, us and our loved ones. Breeders must be more cognizant and screen to eliminate aggressive parent dogs and any whose pups later develop impulsive and uncontrollable aggression.

Researchers at the University of Zaragoza in Spain have found that blood serum levels of serotonin are lower in dogs aggressive toward humans, and especially in English cocker spaniels showing impulsive aggression, than in non-aggressive dogs; they also have higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

Puppy owners must teach proper care, socialization and basic obedience. Many dogs on the edge of being unstable and aggressive can benefit from a high-tryptophan diet, such as turkey, and supplements that increase brain serotonin, such as the product NutriCalm, which can be prescribed by vets. Over-the-counter options include Animal Health Options’ ProQuiet and PetzLife’s @-Eaze.

Research has also indicated that SSRI drugs improve the aggression problem in combination with behavior modification. There has been enough demand for Prozac for dogs that Eli Lilly has created a beef-flavored version of the medication.

The “bonding” hormone oxytocin and calming music may also facilitate the assessment and decision to euthanize or socialize these poor, disturbed dogs -- some with temperament-changing thyroid disease, painful old injury, human abuse and PTSD -- back to never behaving aggressively toward humans and other animals.

Regardless of no absolute guarantees and legal liability from owning a once-aggressive dog, all dogs with severe cases of impulsive aggression should be euthanized if there are no veterinary behavioral services available, rather than being permanently incarcerated in “no-kill” shelters, as I have witnessed, or adopted out, which is insanity. There are circumstances when the decision of euthanasia is a kindness, since these unstable dogs would otherwise be imprisoned for life.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 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 was very surprised to see your mention of fragrant scent spots on dogs in your recent column. I have a 5-year-old miniature black and tan dachshund, and several years ago, my kids and I discovered a spot on her that we later came to describe as her "sweet spot." It is located on her breastbone. I can only describe it as a very subtle flowery smell, but I can't put a flower name to it. -- L.B.

DEAR DR. FOX: We rescued a blue brindle greyhound. She smelled like baby powder until the day she passed. There didn't seem to be any particular area on her body from which the smell emanated, but we loved to stick our noses in her soft, silky fur and breathe in her scent. Of course, the noseful of hair was a drawback. Subsequent greyhounds have remained scentless. -- G.C.

DEAR DR. FOX: Our German shepherd, spayed at an early age, had a very pleasant flowery smell on each cheek, like your new dog. It seemed to fade with age. I've had many dogs in my life, but she was the first female and the only one with the flowery smell, almost like a delicate perfume. -- B.E.

DEAR DR. FOX: We had a Scottish terrier who had that wonderful puppy smell on the very top of his head all the years he was alive. You know -- that wonderful scent that usually goes away early on. He kept it only on the top of his head. Lovely. -- R.W.

DEAR DR. FOX: I presently have shelter-adopted mutt mother dog Sunnie, and her son Danny. Danny smells like brown sugar. He is now 7 1/2, and the smell is a bit fainter, but still there, mainly along his neck but also a bit on his chest. No matter how long we go between baths, he never smells doggy. His mama smells feral. Not doggy -- feral. She has a faint musky odor; your nose has to be in her fur to notice it, but it's there. Too long between baths, and she will feel a bit oily.

And yes, they do have popcorn-smelling feet, too. My 12th birthday gift (oh so many decades ago) was Sandy, a basenji, and her stomach smelled like rosewater and her feet like popcorn. -- B.W.

DEAR RESPONDENTS: Thanks to you all for sharing about your dogs' scents. I can see some dogs feeling surprised, or thinking "it's about time!" for their human companions to really start sniffing them.

Our noses can give us rapture with certain aromas or alarm when another's familiar scent has changed, even making one want to vomit with the sensation of something going sour or rotting. Veterinarians and others caring for animals use their sense of smell as a diagnostic tool, just as dogs are now being employed after selective training to detect the presence of bladder and other cancers in humans, using their noses that are some 100 times more sensitive than ours.

SOME OF MY FAVORITE QUOTES

-- Founding father of ethology, the science of animal behavior, Dr. Konrad Lorenz: "Far from seeing in man the irrevocable and unsurpassable image of God, I assert (more modestly and, I believe, in greater awe of the Creation and its infinite possibilities) that the long-sought missing link between animals and the really humane being is ourselves!"

-- Ethologist Frans de Waal, Ph.D., has concluded: "The more self-aware an animal is, the more empathetic it tends to be."

-- Anthropologist Loren Eiseley wrote: "One does not meet oneself until one catches the reflection from an eye other than human."

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 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: Attorneys in California, Minnesota, Georgia and North Carolina filed a class action lawsuit against the leading manufacturers and sellers of pet food: Mars, Nestle Purina, Hills, PetSmart and several veterinary hospital chains in California on Dec. 7. The four main pet food brands involved in the suit include Hill's Prescription Diet, Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets, Royal Canin Veterinary Diet and Iams Veterinary Formula.

Mars, the biggest seller of pet food, sells two of the four prescription pet food brands and is also the owner of the largest veterinarian hospital chain the United States, BluePearl Vet Hospital. Mars also partners with the largest specialty pet retailer, PetSmart, in the ownership of the largest veterinarian clinic chain, Banfield Pet Hospital.

The suit concerns prescription pet foods that cost more, but that plaintiffs contend are no different than any other kind of pet food. Some highlights in this complaint:

-- "Defendants' prescription pet food contains no drug or other ingredient not also common in nonprescription pet food."

-- "Defendants' marketing, labeling and/or sale of prescription pet food is deceptive, collusive and in violation of federal antitrust law and California consumer-protection law."

-- "Defendants are engaged in an anticompetitive conspiracy to market and sell pet food as prescription pet food to consumers at above-market prices that would not otherwise prevail in the absence of their collusive prescription-authorization requirement."

As documented in the book "Not Fit for a Dog: The Truth About Manufactured Cat and Dog Food," which I co-authored with two other veterinarians in 2009, the claims being made by the providers of overpriced, often unpalatable and nutrient deficient prescription-only manufactured pet foods are generally questionable and often lacking in sound clinical and scientific evidence of being of any benefit.

DEAR DR. FOX: I have a 13-year-old beagle-shepherd-Lab mix named Nibbles. At her last vet appointment, her tests showed kidney problems.

Up until that point, she had always been eating Nutro Max dog food, and was on the senior formula. The vet, who I've gone to for years and do trust, put her on new food, Hills Prescription Diet k/D Kidney Support, which has "less phosphorus, protein and salt" -- or so he said. Looking at this food's ingredients and comparing them with Nutro Max, it seems to me like this new food has a lot more junk ingredients in it, and more fat.

Now, if this diet works despite all the crap ingredients, then fine! The issue is, prior to the diagnosis, I had seen no sign of kidney issues. Now, after about a month on this food, she seems very antsy and anxious; she pees more than she used to, drinks more than she used to and seems hungrier. The main reason I am writing is that last night, she wet the bed (she released her whole bladder). This has never happened before!

The reason she went to the vet in the first place was merely for a senior exam, during which I mentioned her recently insatiable appetite, and her weight loss (she's lost about 5 pounds). Her whole life, she's received a half-cup of food in the morning and a half-cup at night. We upped it to an extra half-cup in the past year, and now with the new kidney support diet, we upped it to 2 full cups a day.

Is this recent bed-wetting and altered behavior part of the kidney cleansing process? Or is this making her issue worse? To me, it seems like the less I feed her, the better (for example, go back to only 1 cup of food per day), but she is so hungry, and that also seems kind of mean. She also takes a kidney-support vitamin (VetriSCIENCE). -- H.P., Washington, D.C.

DEAR H.P.: Dogs with chronic kidney disease, when accurately diagnosed, need careful monitoring of blood pressure, dietary phosphate, potassium and blood urea nitrogen, as per my article on kidney disease posted on my website, DrFoxVet.net.

The ingredients in the special prescription diet are of dubious value, possibly harmful and certainly not providing your dog with sufficient nutrients if she is constantly hungry.

This is no way to go. Chronic kidney disease can lead to sarcopenia -- wasting of muscles due to the kidneys passing out more protein. So your dog needs some good-quality protein in her daily diet.

Dogs with kidney disease drink more, so take your dog out more frequently to urinate. But this, coupled with the increased appetite, could be related to diabetes, which I would have your dog checked for, along with a blood test to see how her kidneys are functioning.

Do keep me posted on the outcome, and good luck.

BIRD INFLUENZA VIRUS INFECTS CATS

Avian influenza H7N2, identified by the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin -- Madison, infected at least 45 feline residents of the Animal Care Center shelter in Manhattan, marking the first documented instance of infection and transmission of H7N2 among domestic cats.

Most affected cats exhibited mild symptoms, but one elderly cat with other health problems died, and testing is underway to ensure no humans or other species of animal at the center have been infected.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 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.)