DEAR DR. FOX: I just have to say that I take offense to the way you refer to rescuers who take in puppy-mill dogs as “rescues,” in quotes, as if they are not legitimate.

I work for a 501c3 rescue that gets retired breeding dogs and puppies with defects from puppy mills. In most cases, the group has to pay a nominal fee to the puppy mill to get the dog, and then invest hundreds of dollars in medical care for each one. They need to be spayed or neutered, have shots, a microchip, and dental exams. In some cases, they need lifesaving surgeries; they recently did an open-heart surgery for one puppy. Many have untreated diseases and need lots of medical testing, not to mention medication.

These dogs come in unsocialized, never having lived in a home or been touched gently by a human ever in their lifetime. These dogs take months to rehabilitate and get healthy enough, physically and mentally, to be adopted -- almost always at a huge loss to the rescuer when you consider the money spent to get the dog well (compared with the adoption fee).

To insinuate that rescuers who do this aren’t real rescuers is demeaning and very wrong. There are many rescuers out there who have “great reputations,” but who only take in young, healthy dogs, give them minimal vet care, then adopt them out for high fees -- making HUGE profits. It is essentially dog-flipping. They adopt out in high volume, and they don’t have a decent application or contract, or do home checks. At the same time, many wonderful rescuers are getting bullied and harassed online for their practice of getting dogs from puppy mills, whether it’s from dog auctions or directly from the mill, because there are people out there who don’t consider it a true rescue.

The fact is, if all of these types of rescues could work together, they could save more dogs, and things would be much better than all the bullying and harassment that goes on now. The reputable rescuers who take in dogs from puppy mills provide full disclosure; the adopters know exactly where the dog came from. It’s not a big secret. There’s room for ALL kinds of rescues, and the bottom line should be SAVING DOGS.

If you can look at a mama dog recently pulled from a puppy mill -- filthy, covered in mats and fleas, with rotting teeth, ear infections, stomach drooping from being overbred, with splayed feet from living in a wire cage, terrified of people because no one has ever treated her well -- and think that saving that dog is not a real rescue, you are very wrong. -- M.M., Salt Lake City, Utah

DEAR M.M.: I totally agree with you. For those people looking to provide a dog with a forever home, your letter establishes guidelines to ask about the origin and history of the pup or adult dog they are considering adopting. It will be the basis of an article I must now write on this issue.

Any and all background information concerning our wonderful dog, Kota -- part Australian red heeler, whom we adopted from Minnesota’s Animal Humane Society -- was flatly denied to us. But we were able to find some information thanks to the phone number on her anti-rabies certificate. She had come from Alabama and was released to us for $400 as a “healthy dog,” only for us to spend more on testing her for heartworm and treating her for hookworm, whipworm and giardia. Parasites were present in her at the time of adoption, putting us and other dogs in our community at risk.

Your communication helps clarify a complex issue. Large commercial dog-breeding operations should be abolished, or at least fully inspected by trained veterinary humane officers. This would be preferable to inspections by departments of agriculture, equivalent to the ones done on livestock facilities and those poor captive mink, foxes and other inhabitants of wild fur-farm ranches. Factory livestock and poultry factory farms should all be closed down for humane, as well as health, reasons.

Rescuing the long-incarcerated and traumatized breeding stock and pups from puppy mills is praiseworthy, but will have to continue without end until this large-scale commercial exploitation is outlawed. All concerned should read Kim Kavin’s seminal book, “The Dog Merchants.”

I was one of the first to investigate and report on puppy mills with dog writer Herm David back in the early 1970s. Things have only become worse since then. Progress in animal protection has been limited by vested interests on many fronts where animals are regarded as mere commodities, as per my book “Inhumane Society: The American Way of Exploiting Animals.” America will only be great when all creatures are given equal and fair consideration.

CALIFORNIA OFFICAL WARNS PUBLIC ABOUT FLEA-TYPHUS LINK

A San Diego woman who has an indoor-outdoor cat and recalls being bitten by fleas was hospitalized for murine typhus.

“Keeping fleas off your pets and out of your homes is the best prevention for murine typhus,” said San Diego County Deputy Public Health Officer Dr. Sayone Thihalolipavan. (The San Diego Union-Tribune, 6/1)

To repeat myself ad nauseam: Cats should be kept indoors for their own health and well-being, as well as our own. Every municipality needs to put effective public education and legislation into action to help achieve this responsible community goal. Our nearby Animal Humane Society here in Minnesota releases cats in midwinter to fend for themselves, and we have one hungry one on our property right now. Cats can transmit many diseases fatal to humans -- probably more than any average rat, mouse, bird or insect they may kill for food.

(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 just read your answer to the woman who asked if you believe that “in heaven, we will meet up with all of our loved ones,” including animals. Though an agnostic, I was really anticipating your response, since my beloved husband died suddenly a year ago, and our 18-year-old cat, Magic, died three months later of hyperthyroidism and diabetes.

Although I was an English major who studied Milton and then earned a doctorate in school psychology, I could not interpret your reply, which seemed equivocal, compared to your customary clear, definitive answers.

I appreciate your thoughtful exposition, yet still wonder if you could perhaps try again, so that the questioner and I may receive a “yes” or “no” to her simple question about your beliefs. -- C.S., Leonardo, New Jersey

DEAR C.S.: As it is in heaven, so it is on Earth when we embrace all we behold.

Jesus of Nazareth purportedly advised we must first become as children before we can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. As poet William Wordsworth wrote, the child is indeed father to the man.

My understanding is that, upon death, an individuated consciousness, or spirit, becomes part of the universal consciousness or Great Spirit of Native American Indian tradition. In that illimitable realm, we will become one again with all we embraced on Earth as individual souls.

I incorporate the animistic and pantheistic aspects of indigenous, “pagan” religious traditions under the banner of panentheism: God in all and all in God. The empathosphere is one integrating component of this Taoist view -- the I-Thou of philosopher Martin Buber and the Unified Field theory of metaphysics.

So I make no pronouncements on what I believe about what we each may or may not experience after we die, including meeting up with our deceased loved ones, whether human or animal. What about the many we directly and indirectly harmed? I recall, in my early years as a nationwide speaker, promoting animal rights while some attendees were wearing the furs of the relatives of their dogs and cats. They took offense when I mentioned this issue in my presentation.

Until there is atonement, there can be no “at-one-ment.” But a broken heart can be an open heart, and I contend that compassion is the greatest power on Earth with which we humans are enabled and ennobled. The rise of mammon and what Pope Francis calls the “tyranny of anthropocentrism” may be quelled by a more evolved human consciousness and civilization, but only if translated rationally and empathetically into reverence for all life. Until then, the hell on earth that we make for animals, and many of our own kind, will be without end.

(For more details, see my book “The Boundless Circle: Caring for Creatures and Creation.”)

STOP WILD HORSES FROM BEING SHIPPED TO JAPAN FOR SLAUGHTER VIA CANADIAN AIRPORTS

American wild horses, as well as Canadian horses, are often shipped as “live exports” via Canadian airports in Edmonton, Calgary, and Winnipeg to Japan to be slaughtered for a disturbing dish called basashi: thinly-sliced raw horse flesh.

There is a petition against this practice, which claims that before being slaughtered, these horses are not provided with food or water for up to 36 hours, as permitted by the law within Canada.

If you would like to see these airports stop their participation in this brutal trade, please take a moment to sign the petition. Go to onegreenplanet.org for details.

(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 just read your column titled “Help Needed for Dogs with Fatty Tumors.” My 11-year-old black Labrador retriever has had fatty tumors since he was about a year old. Most of them are small (less than an inch), but he has had a very large one (4-inch diameter) on his thigh for at least eight years.

As I find a tumor, I have the vet send in a sample to test for cancer. The large tumor has been tested twice. She has always advised leaving the tumors alone because they aren’t malignant.

My dog has now developed a tumor on his back leg, next to his rectum. It was tested and it is not cancer, but it seems to bother him when he runs. He will often sort of hop on three legs. He also sometimes drags it a bit. The vet says it shouldn’t bother his movement. In general, she is a vet who believes in just letting things be.

Should I be concerned about this fatty tumor (2-3 inches) and his running, even though it is not cancer? I would have to find another vet to remove the tumor if you think it should be removed. -- A.H., St. Louis, Missouri

DEAR A.H.: Being unable to examine your dog myself, I recommend seeking a second opinion -- with all due respect for your dog’s veterinarian who, like me, takes a conservative approach to these benign lipomas.

If your dog’s blood tests indicate good liver and kidney function, and thus a lower risk of anesthetic complications, and you can see an experienced soft-tissue veterinary surgeon, I would proceed with the surgery. The growths are only going to increase in size and cause more and more discomfort. The longer you wait, the lower your dog’s quality of life is likely to become.

DEAR DR. FOX: Our cat is a 13-year-old rescue with a host of issues, including IBD, allergies and kidney disease. She is also very emotionally needy.

Ever since she has been with us, she has had a strange interest in eating plastic, particularly plastic bags (which we keep away from her, of course). We brought this to the attention of her vets (she has many specialists) and they all found this perplexing.

A few months ago, she started eating her litter. We use Dr. Elsey’s Senior Litter, which is silica-based and has sodium bentonite in it. I’ve read conflicting reports about whether or not this is hazardous. Her internist recommended cat grass, but she is not interested. I have read that litter-eating could fulfill a dietary need or could be a condition called pica, in which case she could be doing this out of boredom or because of a psychological issue.

She is an indoor kitty, and we have tried to engage her in playtime, but she has a limited attention span and gets bored easily.

What do you make of this behavior, and how do you feel about sodium bentonite? -- M.L., St. Louis, Missouri

DEAR M.L.: Many cats like to lick and even eat plastic. Many plastics have ingredients derived from animal fat, which can make the material attractive to animals. The protective gloss on some paper money also contains stearates derived from tallow (animal fat). I know of many cats who have become money hoarders!

Regardless of what ingredients are in the cat litter you are using, eating litter could be a sign of gut irritation -- lymphatic cancer being my first consideration.

Second, it could indicate a lack of dietary fiber, especially if your cat is fed only moist canned cat food. Mix in a pinch of psyllium husks and let them soak in the food before serving, working up to 1/4 teaspoon in four small meals a day.

Pica can also have other causes, including hyperthyroidism; I would advise additional veterinary evaluation. And consider changing the kind of litter you are using and see if that makes a difference, too.

(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.)