DEAR READERS: The COVID-19 pandemic has given the public a greater understanding of the nature of compassion fatigue, especially that of front-line health care workers, for whom I have the greatest sympathy and respect.

Compassion fatigue has both physical and psychological consequences, including: protective emotional distancing, exhaustion, frustration, anger, guilt, disrupted sleep and appetite, weakening of the immune system, psychosomatic disorders, anxiety, depression, despair, substance abuse and suicidal ideation. It must be recognized early as a situational and relational psychophysical crisis. Supportive intervention must be provided by understanding staff, friends and relatives, as well as professional stress-management therapists.

While compassion fatigue may include a diminution of empathy, it is the antithesis of the "empathy deficit disorder" I have often described. The latter is an endemic psychopathology of varying degrees of desensitization, objectification, separation and disassociation exemplified by killers, bullies and predators of all stripes.

Compassion fatigue needs to be more widely and sympathetically acknowledged. It has been an issue for decades for many caring souls working in animal shelters and in the veterinary profession, as well as in wildlife protection and conservation. Those caring in-home for a child, parent, spouse or companion animal may also suffer some of the symptoms of compassion fatigue. This can cloud end-of-life decisions, but affordable and effective palliative and hospice care, and support from visiting nurses and veterinary assistants, can be of significant benefit for all concerned.

Coping with the burden of empathy for others, be they human or nonhuman, can be a challenge; it calls for personal vigilance and self-care so we can better care for those we love and those we strive to heal.

DEAR DR. FOX: We are regular readers of your column, having a dog and two crazy cats. My teenage son, taking a break from online school, looked over your website and found your DVDs. We ordered two of them on cat and dog behavior and pet massage therapy, and we really enjoyed them.

Others look interesting, too, and we will look at them later. I wish you would let your readers know about these educational videos! -- D.G., Tulsa, Oklahoma

DEAR D.G.: I am glad you enjoyed these DVDs. I put them together several years ago, after my research and development of a system of massage therapy for dogs and cats -- many of which come to demand it on a regular basis! Here is a synopsis of the DVDs available on my website. They will be of educational value for all ages:

-- "Animals, Nature and Religion." A narrated slideshow that looks at animals and nature from various religious and cultural perspectives, which will interest people of all faith traditions and those who believe in compassion and reverence for all life. This presentation is an excellent classroom discussion point to debate the nature of our duties toward animals and the natural world.

-- "Cat Behavior and Psychology Plus Massage Therapy." A narrated slideshow that explores feline communication, body language, behavior, play and socialization, and looks at various emotional and behavioral problems, along with their prevention and treatment.

-- "Dog Behavior and Psychology Plus Massage Therapy." A narrated slideshow that explores canine communication, body language, behavior, play and socialization, and looks at various emotional and behavioral problems, along with their prevention and treatment.

-- "Eating With Conscience." We are what we eat. As a nation, we are unhealthy, and many of our health problems are due in large measure to the kinds of food we eat and how that food was produced. This DVD takes you into factory farms on a journey to expose animal sickness and suffering, crop diseases and toxic pesticides, and to find solutions. These issues will take generations to resolve. The sooner we act, by eating and farming with conscience, the better.

-- "The New Creation." The advent of genetic engineering biotechnology, with its new crops, foods and drugs, cloned and bioengineered farm animals and organ donor pigs, marks the new millennium. Its profound risks, harmful long-term consequences, and what we can do to stop this corporate insanity are detailed in this narrated slideshow and video presentation.

(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 use of flea-control insecticides on pets needs closer examination, considering the recent discovery of some of insecticides in water sources. Widely used anti-flea topical insecticides, including fipronil and imidacloprid, have been found in wastewater (from bathing pets) and in rivers and streams (from allowing treated dogs into the water) in both the U.K. and the U.S. Both the British and American Veterinary Medical Associations (I am a member of both) have reported these concerns in their professional journals.

These insecticides are highly toxic to aquatic invertebrates and pollinators in parts-per-trillion concentrations, and the toxic degradates have half-lives of up to several hundred days. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency needs to take action.

Dog owners and groomers bathing dogs, and hunters allowing dogs to enter freshwater ecosystems, should not do so if these animals have been given topical insecticides or are wearing repellant insecticide collars. In addition, the feces of dogs given oral insecticides and antiparasitic drugs should always be picked up and disposed of with other household waste.

DEAR DR. FOX: We have a small 6-year-old dog who was vomiting a lot. Our veterinarian said he was allergic to either chicken or beef, so we changed his food to lamb and duck. It was mostly kibble and a bit of canned food. He still had allergies, but wasn’t vomiting anymore, so the vet put him on Apoquel.

As time went on, his allergies got worse and our vet had us switch to venison (still kibble and some wet food). He still has allergies; he licks his one paw continuously. He is still on the Apoquel.

We are using Hill’s Science Diet now. The fresh food you recommended is all chicken recipes. I would love to get him off the meds, but have no idea what to feed him. -- J.M., Naples, Florida

DEAR J.M.: I have expressed my concerns over many veterinarians prescribing the immune system-suppressing drug Apoquel on my website (drfoxonehealth.com).

In my opinion, it is no remedy for your dog’s apparent food allergy. There are so many additives and byproducts in many manufactured dog foods, including the costly (and generally unpalatable) prescription diets, that could cause digestive problems and the so-called “leaky gut” syndrome and irritable bowel disease. Apoquel could make things worse.

Try my home-prepared diet (posted on my website) and vary the main protein every three to five days. This “rotational” diet will enable you to identify which major protein/animal product is causing problems. It is quite likely that transitioning to a home-prepared diet with known ingredients could resolve his various health issues.

There may be other environmental allergens affecting your dog, so I would give him 1 teaspoon of local bee pollen daily with his food.

Do keep me posted as to your dog’s progress, and stop the Apoquel. If he is on any anti-flea insecticides, which could cause sickness, discontinue them. Visit ahvma.org to find a veterinarian in your area who can offer a more holistic approach to your dog’s health and well-being.

OLDER PEOPLE ADOPTING ANIMALS

About 1 in 10 adults in the U.S. between 50 and 80 years old adopted a pet between March 2020 and the end of the year, according to researchers at the University of Michigan. As of January 2021, pet ownership was 12 points higher than in 2019 among people in that age group who live alone, according to the National Poll on Healthy Aging. (Full story: HealthDay News, March 24)

It is my hope that when the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, and families spend less time at home, that the shelters will not fill up with dogs who suffer from separation anxiety. Such animals may house-soil, bark and howl, disturbing neighbors and destroying things in the home. There are ways to prevent these problems, and all dog owners should consult with their veterinarians and animal behaviorist referrals.

(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: Nicholas Black Elk, a holy man of the Oglala Sioux, wrote: “The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers; and when they realize at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that its center is really everywhere -- it is within each of us.”

It is such spiritual vision that inspired Dr. Albert Schweitzer’s philosophy of “reverence for life” -- a universal concept of ethics that could reconcile altruism and egoism by advocating and upholding respect for the lives of all beings. Schweitzer wrote, ”Ethics is nothing other than Reverence for Life. Reverence for Life affords me my fundamental principle of morality: namely, that good consists in maintaining, assisting and enhancing life, and to destroy, to harm or to hinder life is evil.”

Reverence for life is the moral compass for those values that act like genes, influencing our perception, cognition and behavior. Humane education in grade school and bioethics in high school and college would be the best investment in securing a life of meaning and purpose for all, and a safer and more sane society better able to resist totalitarianism and constrain consumerism. To see the living world as a communion of subjects and not a collection of objects, as my friend the late Father Thomas Berry was fond of saying, is an important evolutionary step. Our mutual mentor, Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin -- a Jesuit theologian, philosopher and paleontologist -- saw this step as the point “when humanity will realize that biologically it is faced with a choice between suicide and adoration.”

Basic education in self-care and health care -- from good nutrition and Hatha yoga to baking your own bread and making your own dog food -- is seeing significant progress thanks to people who choose to embrace the basic principles of One Health in their personal and professional lives. (For more details, visit onehealthinitiative.com.) I see an emerging generation of informed consumers and kitchen anarchists demanding organic whole foods so the world will be made green again.

I hope that, from the COVID-19 pandemic, greater international collaboration will be established -- especially in prohibiting wildlife trafficking, live animal markets and animal factory farms, which are the main sources for such pandemics. The healthier our environment, the healthier our immune systems, cognitive functions and children.

(The full “Musings” series is posted, with supportive reference citations, at drfoxonehealth.com.)

PROTECTING NATURAL BIODIVERSITY PROTECTS PUBLIC HEALTH

The risk of infectious diseases jumping from animals to humans rises in areas where natural forests are wiped out. Researchers found that, from 1990 to 2016, increases in outbreaks of zoonotic and vector-borne diseases were linked to deforestation. The effect was present even where trees remained but biodiversity was lost, such as at palm-oil plantations. The loss of predators and habitats allows disease-carrying animals, such as mosquitoes, ticks and sandflies, to flourish, say the authors. (Full story: The Guardian, March 24)

DEAR DR. FOX: Your recent “Musings” piece referring to our present-day dilemma in this country was spot on! In all my 88 years on this planet, there has never been so much hate, greed and delusion. My hope is that the Biden crowd can rectify most of the obvious transgressions of the previous administration and proceed to important things like climate science and human well-being. -- C.H.S., naturalist, Bonita Springs, Florida

DEAR C.H.S.: Your words of support are much appreciated. It is challenging in these times, but an ethical imperative no less, to speak truth to power in order to avert corporate hegemony and authoritarianism. I like to think we can yet evolve and embrace trans-species democracy. Respect for all life is the hallmark of a truly civilized species.

(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.)