DEAR DR. FOX: My religion prohibits me from eating certain creatures, but does not say much else about how we should respect and care for them. As a parent and teacher in a secular school (and as a vegan), I find it challenging to get across to children why they should be kind to animals. “Just because we should” isn’t enough; they don’t like “shoulds.” Then there are the contradictions, like: Why is it OK to kill some animals to eat, and to keep others as pets?

So I ask you: What religious faith do you follow, if any? And what advice can you offer to help me educate my students better? -- L.H., Cleveland, Ohio

DEAR L.H.: I embrace any religion that teaches mindfulness of all our relations and respect for life -- human and non-human, plant and animal. At the core is the spirituality of reverence for all living beings from which arises the bioethics of animal rights, protection of the natural world and avoiding harm to others in securing our basic needs.

Mainstream religions continue to limit their potential and responsibility to serve the common good because they are human-centered. The spiritual core is corrupted and displaced by materialism and objectification, especially of animals; so many species are treated as objects and commodities, and everything in the natural world as an exclusive human resource.

Theosophists proclaim that there is no religion higher than truth. But inhumanity can be rationalized and accepted if that truth is exclusive of other living beings and their inherent value and intrinsic rights. We should all examine the truths we live by, be we theists, atheists, agnostics or secular humanists. For more, see my book “The Boundless Circle: Caring for Creatures and Creation,” and view the video on my website (drfoxonehealth.com) entitled “Animals, Nature and Religion.”

For your students, there are some excellent teaching materials and other resources available from the Institute for Humane Education: Write to info@humaneeducation.org.

DEAR DR. FOX: A few years ago, our beautiful black Lab began turning a bronze color, and now her coat looks really dull and brownish red -- only the top of her head and her belly have stayed black and shiny. Our vet recommended giving her a supplement called The Missing Link over a year ago, and there has been no improvement. We have also tried different shampoos and conditioners.

Do you have any thoughts on why this has happened, and what we can do to restore her coat? She is 9 years old, and we feed her Authority Chicken and Rice for mature dogs. She has been on thyroid meds for one year, but her coat started turning years before her thyroid was ever checked. (Her thyroid was checked in the first place after a Google search on what may have caused a bald patch on her tail.) -- J.V., Springfield, Missouri

DEAR J.V.: I always look at what a dog is being fed when faced with any skin/coat issue. The main ingredients in your dry dog food are as follows:

Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Brown Rice, Corn, Oat Groats, Dried Plain Beet Pulp, Corn Gluten Meal, Brewers Rice, Natural Flavor, Chicken Fat, Fish Oil, Powdered Cellulose, Dried Egg Product.

I would not feed my dog such food every day. Your dog might have some nutrient malabsorption issue, which can cause loss of hair pigment called melanin. My home-prepared dog food might make a difference, along with 6 mg melatonin at night.

Some clarification: Melanin is a pigment produced by tyrosine, whereas melatonin is a neurotransmitter produced by tryptophan. The more melanin in the hair and skin, the darker they will be. Melatonin is responsible for maintaining sleep/wake cycles, biological rhythms and the modulation and inhibition of melanin synthesis. In addition, melatonin can repair the cells, which have been damaged by stress and disease, and stop the secretion of certain hormones. Also being an antioxidant, melatonin can destroy microorganisms, and thus it is referred to as disease-fighting hormone.

Your dog could be tyrosine- and tryptophan-deficient. Genetic and other environmental factors can alter hair color; many dogs like to sun-bake, and such exposure could change hair pigmentation. In some cases, acute emotional stress can cause sudden loss of pigmentation.

Be sure your dog is given foods rich in tryptophan and tyrosine, notably eggs, cheese, cottage cheese and turkey. (But note, some dogs are allergic to eggs, which should always be lightly cooked.) These nutrients and others are destroyed by the heat processing of manufactured pet foods, and are deficient in low-grade animal protein ingredients.

(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 COVID-19 pandemic, while bringing out some of the best and worst aspects of human nature, has exposed the vulnerable underbelly of modern civilization. This underbelly -- beneath the superficial carapace of scientific, medical and technological progress and prowess -- is especially vulnerable because of a global economy dependent upon the wholesale trade of domestic and wild animals for human consumption. These animals are a significant source of a variety of diseases, viral and bacterial, which are zoonotic (transmissible to humans), causing epidemics and pandemics past, present and future.

It is time to reassess such wholesale exploitation, which entails much animal suffering and is endangering the survival of some wild species. For example, between 2014 and 2016, more than 50 million birds (egg-laying hens, chickens raised for meat, turkeys and others) were killed across more than a dozen states in an effort to contain a bird flu outbreak transmissible to humans. This did as much as $3 billion worth of damage to the U.S. economy, and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service spent over $900 million cleaning up the mess it describes as ”the most serious animal health disease incident in history.”

NO VETERINARIAN ON TRUMP’S ADVISORY, RESPONSE TEAMS

Journalist Phyllis M. Daugherty, in her Los Angeles CityWatch article “Animal ‘Wet’ Markets Reopen in China -- Veterinarian Missing From Trump’s COVID-19 Task Force,” raises an important point about the Trump administration’s limited approach to addressing pandemic diseases of animal origin. This should be rectified by the inclusion of a veterinary adviser, since future pandemics and epidemics of zoonotic diseases will be inevitable so long as billions of animals, wild and domesticated, continue to be slaughtered around the world for human consumption.

DEAR DR. FOX: I read your recent column regarding riding a bike with a dog on a leash. A number of years ago, a young neighbor of ours was riding his bike with the dog running beside him. When the dog yanked on the leash, the boy fell off his bike and as he fell, his arm yanked up and broke the dog’s neck. Ever since then, I have worried when I see people ride with their dogs. I did speak to one man I saw frequently, and suggested a harness rather than a collar for his dog, but I could tell he didn’t find my suggestion worthwhile.

Have you heard of this type of accident happening, or was this a strange fluke? -- S.L., Central Point, Oregon

DEAR S.L.: During the lockdown, I hope that people of all ages who are getting exercise on their bicycles with their dogs will take your advice and put their dogs in a harness. I also advise harnesses for small dogs, and for those who like to pull when being walked, to prevent injury to their necks and possible windpipe collapse.

DOGS BEING TRAINED TO DETECT CORONAVIRUS CARRIERS

Dogs trained to detect people infected with malaria have a high success rate. Now, researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine are crowdfunding a project to train dogs to detect COVID-19. The researchers think a COVID-19 infection changes human body odor in a way that can be detected by trained dogs. If successful, the canines could be deployed to transit stations, hospitals and long-term care facilities. (Bloomberg, April 16)

(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 applaud your recent article on COVID-19. You have rightly identified one of the root causes of this disease, as well as many other zoonotic diseases: our invasion of the natural world, leading to intermingling of species that were never naturally meant to mix. This is also intertwined with our climate crisis. One thing not noted is our increasing population, and its impact on the Earth by continually degrading the natural world. We must both curb our species growth and our demand for so many disposable material items.

I frankly fear that we are too late to stop it, and may only be able to slow the final degradation some. We, as a species, tend to go along with the status quo until the metaphorical gun is pointed to our head, and then we’ll act. But unlike movies that show an immediate return to normalcy, Nature doesn’t move that quickly.

After this pandemic’s crisis stage is over, and everyone starts to evaluate what went wrong and what to do in the future, I fear that the focus will only be upon disease testing and treatment. There will not be an examination of the true root causes. Thus, we will repeat this again, and likely with greater frequency.

Thank you for identifying this. Maybe it will spark someone to rethink their actions. -- R.M., Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania

DEAR R.M.: I have received several letters from readers expressing appreciation for my short postings on the coronavirus pandemic in my column. For more in-depth discussion, I refer readers to two related articles on my website (drfoxonehealth.com): “What SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Are Telling Us: A Holistic Veterinary and One Health View,” and also “From Conventional Medicine to One Health: An Essential Transformation.”

Your letter provides an excellent synopsis of this human-caused, anthropogenic health crisis. Indeed, there will be more pandemics, plagues and pestilence in the future, along with famine and war, if COVID-19 does not make us change our behavior on planet Earth!

Dr. Albert Schweitzer summed it up with prescience decades ago when he opined: ”We must fight against the spirit of unconscious cruelty with which we treat the animals. Animals suffer as much as we do. True humanity does not allow us to impose such sufferings on them. It is our duty to make the whole world recognize it. Until we extend our circle of compassion to all living things, humanity will not find peace.”

DEAR DR. FOX: I have a 19-year-old female inside cat who is in good health for her age. However, within the last year, she seems to have lost her hearing, which was confirmed by our veterinarian.

She used to sleep in our bed during the night, but gave up doing so approximately two years ago. For about the last six months, she has been crying out in the middle of the night (and of course, her cries wake us up). Now, for the past couple of weeks, she not only cries out, but gets up and down out of our bed several times a night. She will not lie down in our bed.

I recently saw your reply concerning a cat with other issues, in which you suggested using melatonin at bedtime. Is this something we could try on our cat to help her rest in the evening, and help increase our sleep, too? -- B.T., New Carlisle, Indiana

DEAR B.T.: Old cats like yours, who become restless at night, are often afflicted with the feline equivalent of senile dementia. In some instances, combined with this brain degeneration, there is painful arthritis. Give your cat 1 to 3 mg melatonin close to bedtime, mashed up in a canned sardine, which has anti-inflammatory benefits for possible arthritis, and may also help neurologic function.

Get some catnip from the pet store; if your cat enjoys it, nibbles some and rolls in it, some sedation may result. Alternatively, put a pinch of valerian herb, available in drug stores, in the sardine along with the melatonin. You should occasionally take one-week breaks from these medications to avoid over-challenging your cat’s liver.

In addition, my book “The Healing Touch for Cats” can teach you how to give your cat regular massage-therapy sessions, the therapeutic value of which is well documented.

(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.)