DEAR DR. FOX: Thank you for your reference and support of indigenous and alternative treatments in a recent column. Since you mentioned you’ve received criticism for this, I felt I should write and express my appreciation. Indigenous wisdom often creates harmony and well-being in our relationships with the Earth and the animal world -- needed especially now!

Our pet is a 5-year-old tuxedo cat, Vinnie, found in an intersection by workmen. Mostly domesticated, he spends his days on our Florida porch defending us from lizards and keeping us fit by demanding we perform doorman duties for him. -- E.C., West Palm Beach, Florida

DEAR E.C.: I appreciate your support of the more holistic approach to health that I advocate. In my mind, that means we cannot live in the absence of the sacred. The dire consequences of not living in such a mindful state are beautifully and succinctly shared by Pulitzer Prize winner N. Scott Momaday, a Kiowa American Indian, in his book “Earth Keeper: Reflections on the American Land.”

I wish for all the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court to read this book, then read attorney Christopher D. Stone’s book “Should Trees Have Standing? Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects.” There can be no justice when we do not honor all our relations, human and nonhuman.

The Trump administration’s plan to auction off parts of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas exploration should be seen as not just a crime against nature, but as a crime against humanity. We are related to and interdependent on ALL life, biologically and ecologically.

E.C., you will enjoy this next letter from another reader.

DEAR DR. FOX: We would appreciate you posting this notice, which may interest many of your readers. -- Zoe Weil, co-founder and president of the Institute for Humane Education

HUMANE EDUCATION GRAD PROGRAMS WITH ANTIOCH UNIVERSITY

“Imagine immersing yourself in the interconnected issues of human rights, environmental sustainability and animal protection, and learning how to educate others to be ‘solutionaries’ for a just, humane and healthy world for all. Our unique online graduate programs with Antioch University will prepare you to be a humane educator who ignites positive change. The application deadline for spring semester enrollment is Dec. 15. For more information, please visit humaneeducation.org/graduate-programs or contact Mary Pat Champeau, Director of Graduate Programs, at marypat@HumaneEducation.org.”

(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: Your appeal to indigenous wisdom was a big disappointment. Your biases sure do come through. When these systems are actually scientifically tested, they fail, and by promoting them, you give false hope to people who use them instead of real science and medicine. Just ask Steve Jobs. Oh, you can’t -- he used naturalistic treatments instead of real medicine, and by the time he realized it did not work, it was too late. -- M.J.P., West Palm Beach, Florida

DEAR M.J.P.: Your declaration that I am somehow “biased” in referencing indigenous wisdom as a contributing element in One Health philosophy is understandable, considering your own evident biases of scientism and rationalism. Indigenous wisdom includes, in modern parlance, evidence-based medicine in our ancestral determinations of harmful and beneficial herbs. It is also a source of complementary therapies in holistic human and veterinary medicine.

Science alone cannot be the basis of disease treatment and prevention. For instance, there was no scientific basis established until relatively recently for the analgesic benefits of aspirin. Aspirin contains salicylate, a compound found in plants such as the willow tree and myrtle. Its use was first recorded around 4,000 years ago. Hippocrates used willow bark for relieving pain and fevers, and some people still use willow bark as a natural remedy for headaches and minor pain.

Hippocrates also advised us to let our medicine be our food, and our food, our medicine.

People in the U.S. spent some 8% of their income on food and 11% on medicines and health care in 2019, according to one review. Other reports put per-person annual food costs at around $7,700, and $11,170 for medical expenses.

Healthful food and its production are more costly, but are the first principle of preventive medicine. This is being realized by ever-more enlightened vegan, vegetarian and organic-food advocates.

Albert Schweitzer spoke of the physician “awakening the healer within,” which is also one of the aims of the practitioners of indigenous healing wisdom, as was told to me personally by Fools Crow, the well-known Sioux leader and medicine man. In psychodynamic terms, this is stimulating the will to live, which all good physicians and veterinarians look for in their patients when deciding on a course of treatment or prevention.

All of this sounds “unscientific” to the Big Pharma pill-pushers, who have neuroscience evidence of the effects of various psychotropic drugs on brain and behavior -- convincing many doctors to market antidepressants, anxiolytics, sedatives and sleeping pills. I say this is nuts.

DEAR READERS: The medical and psychological benefits of animal companionship have been well documented: Children with pets often have fewer allergies and infections, and adults can relieve loneliness, depression, anxiety and high blood pressure just by walking outdoors with their dogs. And this fall, researchers at the University of Leeds in England reported that watching cute animal videos for a half-hour reduced blood pressure, heart rate and anxiety in medical school students studying for end-of-term exams.

“I was quite pleasantly surprised that during the session, every single measure for every single participant dropped some,” said study leader Andrea Utley. (Full story: CNN, Sept. 27)

The restorative power of spending time in some natural setting -- such as a wooded park, lake or prairie -- has been long recognized, as I detail in my book “Animals and Nature First.” New research has shown that “forest bathing,” another name for the Japanese practice of shinrin yoku that began in the 1980s, is highly therapeutic, helping alleviate depression and boost the immune system.

While spending time in wooded areas, we inhale compounds called phytoncides that are produced by various trees. Phytoncides have antibacterial and antifungal qualities that help plants fight disease. When people breathe in these chemicals, our bodies respond by increasing the number and activity of T-cells, a type of white blood cells that are the immune system’s first responders to any virus.

Of course, not everyone has access to a forest, prairie or even an urban arboretum, but Mother Nature can still provide some therapeutic support. Sound recordings of falling rain, ocean waves, birdsong and insect noises can put one in a meditative, relaxing state, as can essential oils derived from various trees and herbs. Essential oils of cypress or pine in a diffuser are potent sources of phytoncides. Such aromatherapy is also used widely for the medical and behavioral/emotional benefit of companion animals. Burning frankincense (resin from the Boswellia plant) or inhaling its essential oil can reduce chronic pain as an anti-inflammatory, and can also activate poorly understood ion channels in the brain to alleviate anxiety or depression. This suggests that an entirely new class of depression and anxiety drugs might be right under our noses!

Getting out of our usual home, office and urban environments -- and away from the related exposure to harmful nonionizing radiation, electromagnetic fields and “electro-smog” from computers, traffic-monitoring systems and smartphone telecommunications -- may prove very therapeutic indeed for our ailing population. Conserving, protecting and restoring green spaces in and around our communities is probably as important to our physical and mental health as it is to reducing the global climate and extinction crises.

DEAR DR. FOX: I need advice on my almost 10-year-old cat, who has recently started having seizures. Maybe her diet isn’t good. She eats Whiskas dry food, plus one pouch of wet food. As a vegetarian because of my love for animals, I don’t like cooking meat, but if it is better for her, I will.

After the seizures, she is very disoriented, which lasts quite some time. She walked up to my barking dogs, who are used to her but who are not friendly (and who were also agitated at the time after witnessing her seizure). Once, she tried putting her nose in the open gas flame of the stove.

I hope you can advise me. I am in India. My cat has had a blood test that showed slightly low levels of platelets, but nothing else wrong. She has been prescribed tonics and something to increase platelets. -- R.D., Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India

DEAR R.D.: There are many causes for cats’ seizures that may not be revealed by routine blood tests, which typically only rule out acute infections, diabetes or other endocrine diseases. Among these other causes are trauma, migrated parasites, stroke and cancer.

Any application of (or exposure to) anti-flea insecticide could cause seizures in cats. A friend of mine told me her cat started to have seizures after being given a cat treat (Temptations); eventually, even the rustle of the package triggered a seizure. One of the ingredients listed on the treat package is “natural flavors,” which could mean monosodium glutamate -- a neuro-excitatory chemical! (So is aspartame, the artificial sweetener.)

I am sending you my home-prepared diet for your cat which may help improve her condition over the dry kibble and moist cat food you are feeding her, as well as instructions on safe flea control. Ideally, your cat should always be kept safely indoors.

(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: With regard to the possibility of cats from COVID-infected families infecting other cats and wildlife if allowed outdoors, I recently wrote a letter to the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (a highly respected organization, of which I am an Honor Roll member), calling for a lockdown on cats being allowed to roam free. This letter was met with the editor’s comment that “excessive speculation is not particularly helpful right now.”

With that in mind, it was good to see this Nov. 9 press release from the AVMA, which I have abbreviated below.

IF YOU GET COVID-19, WHAT’S YOUR PET CARE PLAN?

From the AVMA:

"During the pandemic, many Americans have become new pet owners, bringing home a dog or cat to keep them company and lift their spirits when stay-at-home orders were issued. With the country now in the midst of a mounting wave of infections, the American Veterinary Medical Association is reminding pet owners to have a plan in place for caring for their pets in the event they contract coronavirus.

“Dr. Douglas Kratt, president of the AVMA, recommends that, if pet owners become infected, they should identify another member of the household who will take care of feeding, walking, playing with and otherwise caring for the pet, and make sure they are willing and have everything they need to do so.

“COVID-positive pet owners who don’t have someone else available within the household to care for their pets should wear a cloth face covering; should not share food with, kiss, or hug their pets; and need to wash their hands before and after any contact.

“Pet owners should make sure they have identified a person or a facility that can care for their pets if they are hospitalized. If they are unsure of who can care for their pets in these circumstances, their veterinarian may have recommendations.

“’While this is primarily a human disease, we have seen a small number of cases in pets,’ said Dr. Kratt. ‘These cases in pets appear to be uncommon, and are mostly mild or asymptomatic, but they can still happen. To be safe, and until we know more about the virus, the AVMA recommends those ill with COVID-19 restrict contact with their pets, just as they would restrict contact with other people.’

“In general, it’s a good idea to not let your pets interact with people or other animals outside the household, especially in places with community spread of COVID-19. Cats should be kept indoors, when possible, to prevent them from interacting with other animals or people. ...

“Dr. Kratt stressed that pet owners shouldn’t panic or consider abandoning their pets during the pandemic. Instead, he hopes pet owners plan for emergencies, understand the actual scope of the problem and take simple steps to protect themselves and their pets.

“For more information on veterinary medicine and COVID-19, visit AVMA.org/Coronavirus.”

Dr. Fox here: I would stress that above all, cat owners should not panic and get rid of them. This would risk repeating the insanity of the Black Death plague of the Middle Ages, when cats were wrongly blamed and exterminated. Just like dogs, cats should not be allowed to roam free. See the article “Keeping Cats Healthy and Happy Indoors” on my website.

DEAR DR. FOX: I am writing to you because I have run out of options to help my cat with her stomatitis. I have had all of her teeth removed, and she has been on steroids for almost a year. My vet has told me that she will develop diabetes if she continues on the steroids. The steroids have helped her tremendously, but when we try to wean her off, the stomatitis flares up again. It seems to affect the back of her throat the most. My vet ordered Atopica to transition her off of the steroids.

I recently read your article on stomatitis because my vet wants her to go to a dental specialist to scrape her gums, but I’m not sure that is the path I want to take. I am open to an integrative approach, and would love to hear your opinion on using Atopica. -- D.P., Hanover, New Jersey

DEAR D.P.: Your cat is afflicted by a complex disease seen in many cats. You can make your own herbal salves to soothe and help heal the gums; rub them on with a finger wrapped in gauze. These natural remedies, human-tested and verified for decades as gingivitis treatments, include green tea and aloe vera. These are gifts from Mother Nature that Big Pharma wants us to forget!

Regarding Atopica, I have a posting about that on my website (DrFoxOneHealth.com).

(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.)