DEAR DR. FOX: Our grandson has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. He is 6 years old and is in therapy.

His parents say that their pediatrician says it is genetic, not caused by vaccines. You have written about some of the harms that vaccinations can cause to pets, and we wonder if animals ever develop something like autism. If so, that would be proof of risk, wouldn’t it? -- M.M., Fort Myers, Florida

DEAR M.M.: This is indeed an issue of grave concern and controversy in the human population. There are genetic and so-called epigenetic aspects to this disorder. Many interesting articles and studies have been posted to www.childrenshealthdefense.org, for your further reading.

To my knowledge, there is no clinical evidence of animals developing any condition resembling autism, or any association between being given vaccinations and subsequent changes in cognitive and affective behaviors in cats and dogs. I would like to hear from readers who may have experienced otherwise with their animals (beyond the short-term trauma that some animals experience from going to the veterinary clinic for shots and checkups).

Post-vaccination seizures in dogs have been reported, which does indicate that vaccines can affect the brains of companion animals, possibly due to the presence of aluminum and mercury in most vaccines. This does not mean that companion animals should not be given vaccinations, since the health risks of non-vaccinated populations far exceed the risks of adverse side-effects to a few individuals. The latter can be reduced by avoiding giving too many combined vaccines at the same time, and skipping unnecessary re-vaccinations by doing blood titer evaluations of immune status.

I am much more concerned about the short- and long-term health and environmental consequences on companion animals from topical and oral anti-flea and anti-parasite drugs. For details, see my article “Companion Animal Risks of Flea and Tick Insecticides” posted on my website (drfoxonehealth.com).

DEAR DR. FOX: As a vegan, I would appreciate your opinion. I have an 18-pound, 5-year-old dog, rescued and neutered. What is your professional opinion about the Natural Balance vegetarian/vegan formula for dogs? The ingredients are as follows:

Brown rice, oat groats, barley, peas, potato protein, canola oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols), potatoes, dicalcium phosphate, dried tomato pomace, natural flavor, calcium carbonate, potassium chloride, choline chloride, taurine, minerals (several listed), salt, vitamins (vitamin E supplement, vitamin A supplement, D-calcium pantothenate, niacin, riboflavin supplement, vitamin D2 supplement, vitamin B12 supplement, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, biotin), flaxseed, dried spinach, parsley, cranberries, L-lysine monohydrochloride, L-carnitine, citric acid (used as a preservative), mixed tocopherols (used as a preservative), yucca schidigera extract, dried kelp, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), rosemary extract. -- C.H.F., Larkspur, California

DEAR C.H.F.: Unacceptable, in my opinion. It is nutritionally incomplete, and likely in some breeds to cause dilated cardiomyopathy and other health problems. Read on for more on the subject.

FDA LISTS BRANDS MOST COMMONLY LINKED WITH DCM

The FDA collected 515 reports of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in dogs and nine in cats between January 2014 and April 2019; and because some reports involved multiple pets in a single home, the agency said the total number of animals affected is probably higher.

Although genetic predisposition seems to play a role in some cases of DCM, the FDA has been exploring a possible link with diet. The agency’s latest update includes a list of associated brands and numbers of cases reported for each:

Acana: 67 cases. Zignature: 64. Taste of the Wild: 53. 4Health: 32. Earthborn Holistic: 32. Blue Buffalo: 31. Nature’s Domain: 29. Fromm: 24. Merrick: 16. California Natural: 15. Natural Balance: 15. Orijen: 12. Nature’s Variety: 11. NutriSource: 10. Nutro: 10. Rachael Ray Nutrish: 10.

Many other brands are probably linked to this heart disease in dogs. In my opinion, there are genetic and epigenetic factors involved in the genesis of this cardiac inflammatory disease, which causes enlargement of the heart and eventual heart failure. But diet may also be a factor. The lectins in some vegetables (pulses and potatoes) may block uptake of taurine, a deficiency of which can lead to this disease in dogs and cats.

Dysbiosis may also play some role. There is a lack of beneficial gut bacteria and a paucity of prebiotics and probiotics in many pet foods, as well as a lack of omega-3 fatty acids and an unbalanced excess of omega-6 fatty acids from corn and corn-fed animals.

(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 DrFoxOneHealth.com.)

DEAR DR. FOX: I read your testimony to our government to keep the wolf on the endangered species protection list. Love it! So beautifully written.

I am always saddened by how little people actually hear and take in. To give you, and others, only three minutes to testify at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s public hearings is absurd, and disgusts me greatly.

I am glad, though, that are you are still at it, and I know you will never give up. There are some who can hear you, and all we can do is pray for the rest of them to wake up! You will perhaps never truly know the full magnitude of how your spirit has served! Bless you. -- P.H., West Fork, Arkansas

DEAR P.H.: I appreciate your good words of support and consolation. But I am not a lone voice, since recent polls indicate that the majority of Americans want the gray wolf protected.

The status of wolves and other wildlife in North America is indeed perilous. The peril began soon after the incursion of settlers two centuries ago, who started exterminating indigenous peoples, animals and plants. The University of Washington Press has reprinted Murray Morgan’s 1950 book, “The Last Wilderness,” in which he wrote: “It was strangely like war. They attacked the forest as if it were an enemy to be pushed back from the beachheads, to be driven into the hills, broken into patches, wiped out.”

With the climate crisis we face today, the Hopi prophecy that “when the trees are gone, the sky will fall” seems to be coming to pass.

Morgan’s statement affirms the warlike, adversarial state of mind that I witnessed while growing up in the industrial north of England, surrounded by William Blake’s “Satanic mills.” Still today, many rural communities will support any initiatives that exploit natural resources, especially fracking and mining, if the companies provide jobs for them -- regardless of the long-term hidden costs. I sympathize with them: the rural communities taken over by factory farms; the out-of-work farmers having to care for their ailing elders, many of whom are dying of cancer because of constant exposure to agrichemicals.

I remember pulling over while driving in Iowa, after a tour of Iowa State University’s prototype meat irradiation plant, to save a remnant member of a once-abundant indigenous species: the soft-shelled swamp turtle. I got out of the vehicle and looked back at where I had come from, remembering what I had just seen and felt. I breathed in the heavy, tainted, almost fetid air of that humid summer evening and wept as I set the struggling turtle, so vulnerable in the middle of the road, beside the ditch a few feet below the elevated highway -- the last vestige of her wetland habitat.

Once-thriving towns are now rife with unemployment, depopulation, poor health care services, depression, suicide, crime and drugs. Farmed- and companion-animal veterinary care is lacking in more and more rural communities. There are political and economic solutions, but they are not seen as profitable by most government leaders and their corporate supporters.

The recovery of quality of life for rural communities is inseparable from environmental quality and viable economies that are sustainable for generations to come.

DEAR DR. FOX: I’m 66 years old and a life learner; your column is a daily source of education for me. I’m a pet owner, but your advice goes well beyond this, advocating for environmental and wildlife concerns. Keep it up. -- B.C.S., Nassau, Bahamas

DEAR B.C.S.: Thanks for your encouraging words. I do get occasional letters from readers who do not like the “political” content of some of my syndicated columns. But what I call “biopolitics” is a central aspect of animal health and well-being, just as bioethics links us to a more responsible and humane environmental and planetary stewardship.

Former editorial writer for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, James P. Lenfestey, wrote on Aug. 27 about the death of multibillionaire David L. Koch in an article entitled, “A shameful legacy of outsized anti-science influence.” Not mincing words, Lenfestey wrote that “there will be a special place in the annals of the hell of a hotter Earth for him and his brother Charles.” Both have provided funds to support various vested interests to discredit research, by myself and others, in animal welfare science and advocacy of humane treatment, animal rights and environmental protection.

(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 DrFoxOneHealth.com.)

DEAR READERS: Babies who have regular exposure to livestock have more diverse gut microbe communities than their urban counterparts, according to a study published in Frontiers in Immunology that confirms previous findings.

When microbes from the rural babies’ fecal samples were inserted into piglets kept in a germ-free lab, the piglets developed more robust lymphoid and myeloid immune cells than piglets that received urban babies’ gut microbes. (Bangor Daily News, 8/5)

This kind of research underscores the benefits of getting children outdoors and exposed to soil and vegetation, where many of these beneficial bacteria can be found. These good bacteria also get in and on the dogs in our homes when they get to run in natural places, rather than mowed and chemical-treated municipal parks and playgrounds.

So-called petting zoos are seasonally popular, especially at state fairs, and are a good source of potentially beneficial bacteria for children. But they should be avoided by the immune-compromised, and every animal should have a veterinary certificate of sound health and be free of any communicable diseases such as harmful strains of salmonella and E. coli.

DEAR DR. FOX: We have a finch that comes to our window every day, all day long, for almost two weeks now. He or she sits on the hummingbird feeder hook and pecks on the window, and then flies up against the glass. We also have a birdseed-filled feeder on the window, but the bird doesn’t go to that. This goes on all day long. Other birds come to the feeders, too.

We don’t know what to do for this bird. Is it just looking at its reflection, thinking it’s another bird? Last night, I took all the bird feeders down, and today, he is back -- hitting and flying up against the window with nothing there. The hummingbirds are looking for their food, too.

If you can, please let us know what to do for this bird. -- J.S., Trenton, New Jersey

DEAR J.S.: Male birds of various species will display and attack their reflected images in windows.

This is an instinct-driven territorial behavior that can be stressful to them when they are unable to drive the perceived rival away. So, it would be a kindness to tape some newspaper on the outside of the window to cover it for a few days.

There are stickers and reflective strips one can purchase at pet- and bird-supply stores to stop birds from flying into windows, and I wish more property owners, including glass-box corporate offices, would take the initiative. These are not likely to deter your little finch, but you may wish to consider this for the other birds coming to your feeders.

(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 DrFoxOneHealth.com.)

DEAR DR. FOX: My 8-year-old female cat was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and has lost considerable weight. The veterinarian says there is no cure.

We also have several other cats. They have all been fed dry cat food (Purina Fancy Feast, various flavors). Since this cat has lost weight, we basically feed her anything she wants. Her favorites are canned Fancy Feast, the ”Gravy Lovers” flavors. Usually she only eats the gravy. She also likes bacon, grilled cheese and mozzarella cheese.

Her personality and actions have not changed, and she is not timid around the other cats. We have been taking her in the past year (every two or three months) for injections of B12 and Depo Medrol. Are there any other medicines or treatments I can administer to help her? -- S.E., Sapulpa, Oklahoma

DEAR S.E.: If the veterinarian who examined your cat did not discuss diet, I would seek a second opinion. To find a holistic veterinary practitioner near you, go to ahvma.org.

Chronic diarrhea in cats is a signal of gut inflammation, which can be due to food intolerance or allergy. One cat I know made a full recovery when rice was eliminated from her diet. Others may have adverse reactions to corn, soy, eggs, fish or beef.

In some instances, the problem is lymphatic cancer invading the intestines, for which there is no cure. A biopsy can help confirm this cause, but it is costly, and should be the last resort after addressing the above considerations.

Transition your cat onto my home-prepared diet and see if that helps (if it is acceptable to her, since cats are finicky eaters). If she accepts it and she shows improvement, let me know. Otherwise, let her eat what she likes, and try meaty Gerber baby food and canned sardines. Also, I do not advise feeding cats or dogs an entirely dry, manufactured kibble for many reasons, from obesity to dental and digestive problems.