DEAR DR. FOX: I live alone with my beloved dog. Preparing for the worst in this virus pandemic, I am thinking ahead to the scenario in which I get so sick that I can’t take him out, or that I need to go to the hospital. In this case, I would ask a neighbor or friend to take care of my pooch. My question is whether my dog would need to be disinfected in some way before it would be safe for another person to take him. Could the virus be transmitted through his fur? If so, what procedures would you recommend? -- E.C., Ashland, Oregon

Dear E.C.: You ask an important question with regard to this new plague. I hope you will remain safe, and have all your basic needs secured by practicing social distancing and personal sanitization -- hand-wipes, latex gloves and masks. Leave nonperishable grocery supplies, including pet food, in a separate room for 48 hours after getting them home.

People who get this disease and have animals should stay in place and self-quarantine, and the companion animals living with those who must be hospitalized should be properly quarantined and tested -- not euthanized. Thousands of cats were killed during the Black Death plague across Europe in the 17th century, taking the blame for what had become a human-to-human transmitted disease by people’s infected body lice and fleas.

A dog in Hong Kong whose COVID-19 test result was weakly positive died two days after being released from quarantine, according to Hong Kong’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department. The 17-year-old Pomeranian showed no signs of the disease, and a subsequent blood test for antibodies was negative. Though the owner, who recently recovered from COVID-19, declined to authorize a necropsy, experts say the dog’s age, underlying health conditions and the stress of quarantine were likely factors in the dog’s death.

In March 2020, the Hong Kong government urged people not to abandon their pets and to stop kissing them after a second dog tested positive for coronavirus, but stressed that the animal had not shown any symptoms of the disease. A German shepherd was sent for quarantine, along with another mixed-breed dog from the same residence, after their owner was confirmed as being infected, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said in a statement. Though the shepherd tested positive for the virus, no such result was obtained from the mixed-breed dog, and “neither dog has shown any signs of disease,” the AFCD said, adding it will continue to monitor both dogs and conduct repeated tests on the animals.

Cats can be infected with the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 and spread it to other cats, but dogs are not really susceptible to the infection, according to researchers in China. The team at Harbin Veterinary Research Institute in China also concludes that chickens, pigs and ducks are not likely to catch the virus. Seven tigers became ill in late March after interacting with an infected but asymptomatic employee at the Bronx Zoo in New York, but are expected to recover.

People who have been exposed to others infected, or who are themselves infected, should minimize physical in-home contact with companion animals. Wear a mask outdoors when you walk your dog, and avoid contact with other people’s dogs. For extra precaution after dog-play in a dog park, wipe them down well with a warm and soapy sponge.

The virus is very fragile; the only thing that protects it is a thin outer layer of fat. That is why any soap or detergent is the best remedy, because the foam cuts the fat. By dissolving the fat layer, the protein molecule disperses and breaks down on its own. Other tips:

-- Heat melts fat; this is why it is so good to use warm or hot water for washing hands and clothes (and everything else). In addition, hot water makes more foam.

-- Alcohol, or any mixture with alcohol over 65%, dissolves the external lipid layer of the virus.

-- Any mix with 1 part bleach and 5 parts water directly dissolves the protein, breaks it down from the inside and can be used to sterilize surfaces.

If you think your companion animals may have the infection, contact your veterinarian to get the test kit from Idexx Laboratories. The kit has tested thousands of samples from dogs and cats.

I hope this information is helpful. The more informed we are, the more our fears are tempered by responsible, preventive actions.

FLORIDA MAN ABANDONS DOG, FEARING COVID-19

A man in Cape Coral, Florida, admitted that he abandoned his dog because he was afraid he could catch COVID-19 from her, and he refused to take the dog back after being informed that his fear was misguided. “In the United States, there is no evidence to suggest that any animals, including pets, livestock or wildlife, might be a source of COVID-19 infection at this time,” the CDC says. (Newsweek, 3/30)

(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: The CDC states: ”Zoonotic diseases are very common, both in the United States and around the world. Scientists estimate that more than 6 out of every 10 known infectious diseases in people can be spread from animals, and 3 out of every 4 new or emerging infectious diseases in people come from animals.”

COVID-19 is a wake-up call. After its first wave of global socioeconomic disruption, we must reassess how the consumption of wild and farmed animals can cause epidemics, pandemics and regional outbreaks of food poisoning, and begin to transition from meat-eating omnivores to vegetarians and vegans.

Humans should keep out of wildlife habitats where such diseases emerge, to which we have no immunity. Consumers in industrial countries must support producers of organically certified foods to sustain a healthful vegetarian/vegan diet with minimal or zero consumption of eggs, dairy and meat, including seafood. Overfishing for human consumption, and to feed farmed animals, is one factor in the demise of the oceans. Large fish like tuna are contaminated with mercury, and farmed salmon can be high in dioxins. One-third of all fish caught globally are fed to farmed fish, further depleting the oceans.

America’s great prairies and other grasslands around the world have been degraded by overgrazing livestock. Millions of acres have been plowed up, and wetlands drained, to produce GMO corn and soybeans to be fed to livestock and poultry -- and to export to other countries like China, all at the cost of topsoil, water quality and increased carbon emissions. This all aggravates climate change and furthers the loss of biodiversity.

So we are all to blame, as a species that continues to regard other animals as dietary staples, creating anthropogenic zoonotic diseases in the process -- notably antibiotic-resistant bacteria from factory-farmed animals and strains of influenza from pigs and chickens. It is “species-ist” to claim that animals were created for our own use, and that we can kill, consume and exploit them as our needs and wants dictate.

For more details about this emerging disease, see my article “What Coronavirus COVID-19 Is Telling Us: A Holistic Veterinary and One Health View,” posted on my website (drfoxonehealth.com).

DEAR DR. FOX: Your recent article was the best I have ever read on the problems with diseases such as COVID-19. Would you please do the country and the world a favor by submitting it to the New York Times as an op-ed piece, so it has the greatest distribution? -- Dr. James Powell, retired dean of Arts and Sciences, Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana, South Bend

DEAR DR. POWELL: I greatly appreciate your approval of my Animal Doctor newspaper column entries concerning this coronavirus pandemic. This is a complex issue that cannot be compressed into a short newspaper review.

At best, all the suffering, death, grieving and economic impact of this latest COVID-19 pandemic will change how we choose to live: most especially our collective exploitation and consumption of animals, wild and domesticated. This brings on such pandemics and other zoonotic diseases, along with accelerating climate change and loss of biodiversity.

LET YOUR CAT OUT AND FEED THE COYOTES

I have written repeatedly to advise cat owners not to let their cats roam free, especially because of their killing of wild birds and other creatures. Here is one more reason to keep cats indoors: California State University, Northridge, professor Tim Karels, et al., with the National Park Service, found that cat remains were found in 20% of the poop of urban coyotes in Southern California, compared to 4% in suburban coyotes.

(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 little girl, Emee, is 10 years old, and has been a lap dog forever. But she has suddenly developed a need to be around me constantly. She wants to sit with me, and follows me wherever I go. When I go to bed, she wants to cuddle right next to me, with her body and head covered. Is this normal? -- A.N., Naples, Florida

DEAR A.N.: There could be one of two issues going on between you and your dog. Considering your dog’s age, she could be feeling more insecure and anxious because she is not feeling well -- possibly kidney or liver problems, or she might be losing eyesight or hearing. So I would advise a wellness examination with her veterinarian. When was her last checkup? If they insist on giving your dog any vaccines other than a rabies shot, which may be overdue, then decline.

The second possibility is that your dog, whose nose is far more sensitive than ours, is detecting a change in your body odor, which could mean you have some health issue that calls for a medical checkup. Dogs have become more attentive and seemingly concerned about their owners who have turned out to have such health issues as diabetes and breast cancer.

DEAR DR. FOX: In reference to the “dog’s foul smell” another reader mentioned: I have had a stinky/fishy smell from my dog, and it turned out to be her anal glands. That sounds like at least part of the problem. -- J.M. Trenton, New Jersey

DEAR J.M.: Yes indeed, when a dog’s anal glands are overactive, often because of inflammation and sometimes because of a dietary allergy, some of the stinky secretion can leak out where the dog is lying. In the process of self-cleaning, the dog may then seem to just have bad breath. Normally some anal gland secretion is passed out every time the dog defecates, possibly as a social signal. Lack of exercise, constipation and obesity can often lead to the two anal gland sacks filling up and suddenly being discharged in the home.

When dogs develop a chronic anal gland problem, regular manual emptying is needed. In some instances, irrigation under light anesthesia is necessary to flush out the sacs and put in appropriate medication. A change in diet and increasing the fiber content, as with psyllium husks, can also be beneficial.

DEAR DR. FOX: Recently, you answered a letter from a grandparent considering getting their grandchild a reticulated python as a pet. You wisely advised against it for various reasons, including the risk of environmental harm if the snake should escape, as is well-documented in the Florida Everglades.

But you neglected to mention perhaps the most compelling argument against it: The reticulated python is one of the world’s largest snakes, and when fully grown at over 20 feet, can easily overpower and kill any human on Earth. As well, it is not generally considered very docile like its Burmese cousin. Even among experienced “herps,” the reticulated python is considered suitable for experts only, with extensive (and expensive) habitats. -- F.R., Animal Control Officer, Tulsa, Oklahoma

DEAR F.R.: I really appreciate the work you do, and your advice. I urge everyone not to purchase such “exotic” species for a host of reasons -- many are poached from the wild and die in transit, for one thing. All imports should be banned for humane, conservation and public health reasons. Those bred in captivity often die soon after purchase, since few people can provide the right habitats for them, or they escape or are deliberately released when no longer wanted. There is debate in the U.K. concerning the welfare of snakes so often kept in small, environmentally impoverished containers, in which they can never even stretch out to full length. Children should stick to tried-and-true rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs and gerbils, ideally in same-sex pairs for social stimulation.

Funny story: While walking our dogs when we lived in Washington D.C., I found a beautiful 5-foot-long reticulated python curled up on the sidewalk. I picked up the reptile behind the neck and he/she curled around my arm to get warm. So I walked home with a snake on my arm -- better than a tattoo -- and presented it to my wife as her birthday surprise, since it was her birthday. We celebrated saving such an extraordinary animal, then called Animal Control, which took it to a wildlife sanctuary. On another walk, we saw a shell moving down the road that contained a hermit crab. It was a small miracle that we found a woman who had a hermit crab, who took our “Hermie” to live with hers for company, providing bigger shells as the crabs grew!

PIGS EAT PEDOMETER, START FIRE

A fire at a pig farm in England was started when pigs ate a pedometer and passed copper from the battery, which then reacted with the animals’ waste and ignited. Pigs at the farm are fitted with pedometers to prove they are not confined. (United Press International, 3/10)

(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.)