DEAR READERS: Animal shelters and boarding facilities that take in cats need to note a very significant finding from dedicated veterinarians with the University of California at Davis.

A study of shelter cats confirms that giving cats lager cages (about 8-10 square feet, instead of the standard 4-5), with a partition separating the litter box section from where they eat and sleep, greatly reduces their stress and the incidence of upper respiratory disease.

This is a common problem in catteries. This study calls for what I would consider a minimum of two-compartment cages of 8-10 square feet. For details, visit jav.ma/catspace.

DEAR DR. FOX: I have a female hound mix, about 7 years old. I’ve had her for three years. She was a stray that was brought to a shelter and has been a great companion; we love her.

We have been feeding her a high-quality commercial dry food. She stopped eating a while back, and the vet told us she has IBD. It cleared up when we started cooking for her; we did that for a few months and gradually put her back on kibble.

It’s been about six months, and now we are seeing the same symptoms. My question to you is: Are there any alternative foods you can recommend other than home cooking? What about the prescription foods? I’ve heard they can contain fillers/cornmeal. Any supplements that you would recommend? -- K.S., Oakland, California

DEAR K.S.: No dog should be simply fed one kind of “kibble” day in, day out -- especially not the cheaper brands, which are often filled with ingredients condemned for human consumption, and with ethoxyquin and other potentially cancer-causing preservatives and chemical food dyes.

Most dry dog foods are also too high in grains and soy, which are generally contaminated with herbicide residues and are often recalled because of aflatoxins (poisonous molds). One major pet food company (that also manufactures special “prescription diets” for dogs and cats) has patented a spray to keep kibble “fresh” with a covering of polyurethane!

There are many good, biologically appropriate and nutritious manufactured dog (and cat) foods on the market now, but not always available in local stores. For a list of such foods, visit truthaboutpetfood.com and learn how you can donate to support much-needed pet food industry surveillance by an independent agent: Susan Thixton, whom I greatly respect.

BOOK REVIEW

“The Clinical Practice of Equine-Assisted Therapy” and “The Equine-Assisted Therapy Workbook,” both by Leif Hallberg. Find them by visiting routledge.com and searching for “Hallberg.”

There is now a growing evidence base that suggests horses may be able to assist in the treatment of a wide spectrum of emotional and physical conditions that afflict and handicap so many children and adults today, as compiled in the book “The Clinical Practice of Equine-Assisted Therapy.” This is the foundational text for this emerging branch of health care, and establishes professional terminology, training, accreditation and standards, including ethics and horse well-being. The accompanying “Equine-Assisted Therapy Workbook” is an excellent learning guide for all who are working in, or studying, the nascent equine-assisted therapy profession.

“The Clinical Practice of Equine-Assisted Therapy” helps remind us that animals have been our teachers and healers since the dawn of our consciousness. Their healing value to us today continues, which obligates us to end all forms of wanton cruelty toward these sentient beings and relate to them in healing ways.

FECAL TRANSPLANT CLEARS PARVO SYMPTOMS, REDUCES MORTALITY

Fecal microbial transplantation (FMT), along with standard supportive therapy, was more effective than standard care alone in a study of young parvovirus-infected dogs with acute hemorrhagic diarrhea syndrome, reported researchers in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine.

The mortality rate was lower, diarrhea resolved sooner and average hospitalization time was shorter in the FMT group. (American Veterinarian, May 24)

(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: After reading several research reports on a host of petrochemical products -- from plastic water bottles and grocery bags to styrofoam cups and packing materials -- it is evident that they are pervasive and a top environmental and public health issue.

Plastics break down into small particles that become a magnet for toxic chemicals such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in polluted sea and fresh water. Plastics disintegrate into microparticles, now present in many drinking water sources, and further into nanoparticles that can pass though the gut wall and possibly cross the blood-brain barrier.

Many anthropogenic diseases, from obesity and dysbiosis to multiple sclerosis and cancer, may well be exacerbated by these kinds of petroleum products, along with the micro- and nanoparticles in the air we breathe from other sources, including coal-fired power plants, gasoline-driven vehicle exhaust and the incineration of plastic-containing garbage.

To these we should add indoor microfiber particle “dust” from synthetic carpet and upholstery materials. These also contain endocrine-disrupting flame-retardant chemicals, which contribute to the epidemic of thyroid cancer/hyperthyroidism in cats sharing our home environments. These particles also contaminate the environment via the laundry wastewater from synthetic clothing materials. Plastic-derived and other nanoparticles in the air, rain and irrigation water contaminate our food crops, seafood and livestock feed, and thus enter the food chain and much of the food we consume.

We must quickly create and expand alternative products based on eco-friendly biochemical processes such as contained biofermentation and biosynthesis, bioremediation, sustainable biofuels and other alternative energy sources, and natural clothing and other materials derived from cotton, hemp etc. that are recyclable and biodegrade into nontoxic components. Local and international efforts to recover plastic materials from all contaminated aquatic ecosystems and unsealed landfills need to be initiated for the common good.

DEAR DR. FOX: The recent letter in reference to euthanizing shelter pit bulls who have been abused and called a “dangerous tossing of the dice” is heartbreaking.

Humans are the ones who have caused the abuse, yet we don’t euthanize them, do we? This man speaks of these dogs like they are disposable. Imagine if God felt that way about us as humans. Abuse, of any kind, is a choice. It has the power to cause complete wreckage in our lives and render us, as humans, the same status as a shelter dog.

Pit bulls have gained a reputation for responding unkindly when faced with fearful or anxiety-ridden situations. As humans, don’t we do the same thing sometimes? Just like animals, we react when things happen that we don’t like or understand. When coupled with an abusive past, people may respond in a dangerous manner, rendering us “worthless” and on our way to either life in prison or a death sentence. But should all dogs, just because they are pit bulls and have displayed dangerous behavior, be euthanized?

Dangerous people exist, just as dangerous dogs do, but that’s not the problem; PEOPLE are the problem. We abuse each other and animals then get angry when they respond. Our world is crumbling all around us, and still we blame others and seek death as an option to unwanted or undesirable behavior. If death is the “best option,” then why do we still have so many shelter animals and people spending their lives in jail? -- R.R., Farmingdale, New Jersey

DEAR R.R.: Many readers will take to heart what you have written, and most, I am sure, will agree that there are no easy solutions.

We do indeed wrestle with trying to live up to the principles of justice, compassion and reverence for life. And I agree with you that many dogs, not just pit bulls, are aggressive around people and other dogs because of human influences -- improper rearing, breeding, neglect and abuse.

But is it more or less humane to incarcerate such dogs for their entire lives because they cannot be rehabilitated, often for lack of trained staff and potentially life-threatening risks to them? I know of one instance where a powerful and unstable dog being walked at a no-kill shelter broke free and killed a small dog being walked nearby, putting both dog handlers at risk in trying to pry the one dog off the other, and the subsequent emotional trauma to both handlers. Of course, better precautions could have been taken, but what to do in cases of emergency when all animals must be removed from a shelter -- as in the case of a fire or flood?

I consider the “no-kill” animal shelter movement, which justifies releasing unadoptable cats into our communities after neutering, and incarcerating unadoptable dogs for as long as they live, contrary to the ethics of compassion. It is an abdication of the responsible application of euthanasia for the common good. No-kill shelters fill up, and then where do stray and surrendered dogs and cats go? They are often abandoned to fend for themselves, but, given room at shelters, could have been easily and safely adopted.

The pro-life movement is all very well, but its consequences should not cause more suffering just to make its advocates feel good. Such limited morality undermines the fabric of a community of compassionate and responsible living. Some veterinarians and assistants working in shelters where euthanasia is practiced on a case-by-case basis have been lambasted as “animal killers,” much like Planned Parenthood centers have been threatened by anti-abortionist pro-lifers. I can sympathize with those who oppose capital punishment and who point to the evidence of not-infrequent wrongful incarceration; but as a culture, we do need to evolve and embrace a broader bioethical sensibility, as I detail in my book “Bringing Life to Ethics: Global Bioethics for a Humane Society.”

(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.)

Walking my dog in 84-degree weather, just three weeks after we had a blizzard here in Minnesota, we heard a few frogs singing in the swampy ponds. Dog Kota cocked her Aussie red heeler head and looked at me as to say, “So what do we do?” She was clearly not interested in listening to their timeless croaking serenades, so we resumed our walk and I told her the story about frogs someone had told me years ago.

Put frogs in a pot of hot water, and some will jump out for sure (as evidenced lately by some of the croakers fleeing the White House). But you don’t need a lid when you warm the water slowly: The frogs habituate and relax, not knowing what is happening until it is too late and they are too stupefied to jump out.

This may well be the fate of my own kind, I told Kota.

I chose not to tell her that frogs are still being dissected by high school students, because she had suffered enough in her short life before we adopted her from an animal shelter. Nor did I tell her about how deformed frogs were first discovered in Minnesota ponds by school children in 1995. Investigators later found these developmental and also reproductive problems were due to herbicides and an insect growth regulator, methoprene, which municipal authorities put in fresh water to kill mosquito larvae. But they coincidentally killed other aquatic organisms that normally consume the mosquito larvae, such as dragonfly nymphs. Fewer healthy frogs mean fewer tadpoles to consume algae, which can produce lethal toxins and could kill Kota if she drank the water.

Frogs and other amphibians are becoming extinct all around the world, yet they and other creatures play a vital role in controlling mosquitos. We have the science now to identify and correct the causes, but without the will of the public, and responsible government and corporate behavior with regard to public and environmental health, we will surely share the fate of the frogs.

That evening, I saw a TV advertisement promoting the herbicide Roundup (considered by some scientists to be a major human and environmental health hazard), to kill weeds like the dandelion -- a medicinal and most nutritious plant. Why do we harm and destroy what is good for us and the environment? The very next morning, I saw my immediate neighbor, who has two dogs, spraying the dandelions on her lawn. I should take her a copy of the warning about exposing cats and dogs to such herbicides in the Morris Animal Foundation’s new Pet Cancer Prevention Checklist brochure (morrisanimalfoundation.org).

Time to wake up before we all croak!

MERRICK DOG TREAT RECALL: HIGH THYROID HORMONE CONTENT

A voluntary recall was issued by Merrick Pet Care for certain Merrick Backcountry and Castor and Pollux brand dog treats after a consumer complaint of finding high levels of beef thyroid hormone in one of the products. The recalled products include Merrick Backcountry Great Plains Real Beef Jerky, Real Beef Sausage Cuts and Real Steak Patties, as well as Castor and Pollux Good Buddy Prime Patties Real Beef Recipe and Sausage Cuts Real Beef Recipe, all with best-before dates of May 1, 2017 through Sept. 1, 2019. The treats were distributed to pet stores and grocery stores across the United States and via online retailers. (FoodSafetyNews.com, May 24)

(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.)