DEAR DR. FOX: I saw the warning from the Better Business Bureau about online puppy scams in your column. I think many people are aware that there are a lot of purebred puppy scams out there, but I didn't realize how many dubious mixed-breed adoption sites there were until recently.

I was trying to adopt a small dog after my 16-year-old Chihuahua mix died. All my previous dogs have been adoptions (whether from a shelter or from a friend or a vet giving me a puppy), going back 50 years. This was the first time I've had to go through the new adoption process of multiple-page forms and high fees, some as high as $950.

I was looking for an adult or senior dog: mixed breed, on the smaller side, and female. It took me over three months, lots of searching, filling out forms and honestly just luck till I was finally able to adopt a suitable dog. She's an 8-year-old Chihuahua mix and a real sweetheart. My other dog just loves her; they got along right away. Her fee was $350, which I thought was very reasonable, since she was spayed, up to date on shots and tested for heartworm and distemper.

Petfinder.com is an easy way to search for adoptable pets, but do your homework -- check out the rescue's reviews on Yelp and other review sites. Many of these dogs come from crowded high-kill shelters, and are not treated for distemper and parasites as advertised.

Adoption is the way to go, and while most rescues are run by legitimate, caring people, there are still those people out there who are only looking to make a buck. They really don't care about the dogs' welfare. -- L.D.R., Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania

DEAR L.D.R.: I hope that all readers who are looking to bring a dog or cat into their homes will follow your advice and exercise due diligence when going online to find a suitable animal. There are scams around every corner these days, where money over morality is the driver. Those who exploit our love and concern for animals are especially despicable.

Yes, adoption is the best way to go. In many communities, there are networks of foster care providers, who can give adoptable animals a better environment than most shelters can. Conditions at overcrowded, understaffed long-term rescue facilities can lead to PTSD, separation anxiety and other behavioral problems in cats and dogs.

DEAR DR. FOX: Your recent article about dogs having summer "hot spots" described what our schnauzer Max experiences. But he does not have any fleas, so I am thinking that his hot spots must originate with an allergy or some other source. What is your recommendation for canine hot spots that don't come from fleas?

We enjoy your column immensely, especially when you relate personal anecdotes, and have learned much about how to be better caretakers for our four-legged friends! -- H.M., Clemmons, North Carolina

DEAR H.M.: Canine hot spots are red, itchy and weeping sores most often caused by an allergic reaction to flea bites. Seasonal occurrences can also be due to other allergens, such as grass and various pollens. Bathing affected dogs weekly can help, along with having them wear a coat when outdoors, running free in brush and grass.

Many dog owners have found that putting some local bee pollen or honey in the dog's food -- about 1 teaspoon daily for a 40-pound dog -- can help. In some instances, veterinary-prescribed antihistamines can help reduce the allergy. This is a safer alternative to anti-inflammatory corticosteroids and immune-suppressing Apoquel.

DEAR DR. FOX: The owner of my local pet supply store is convinced that prescription diet foods from the vet's office are garbage, and are to be avoided. I conveyed her opinion on a local Facebook page and a vet replied, contradicting her -- saying that the food is good stuff and that vets make almost nothing selling it.

What do you say about this matter? I want to believe the pet store owner, who is very knowledgeable about nutrition and sells only healthy, organic pet food and supplements. But the vet disparaged her for daring to have an opinion on pet nutrition when she had not gone to vet school! -- K.L., Ashland, Oregon

DEAR K.L.: Some special prescription diets do help cats and dogs with various health issues, but by and large, they are unpalatable and overpriced. Vets do profit from selling them. For a good review of these diets, see the contribution by veterinary college emeritus professor Marion E. Smart, DVM, Ph.D., in the book that I co-authored, "Not Fit for a Dog: The Truth About Manufactured Cat and Dog Foods."

For special prescription diet formulations, I advise veterinarians to look into the vet-formulated recipes from Balance IT (visit secure.balanceit.com or call 1-888-346-6362).

(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: Many of you will be sharing my dismay and disgust at the recent rulings from the Trump-centric majority in the U.S. Supreme Court with regard to expanding gun rights, undermining reproductive rights and eroding the wall separating church and state. Now, to cap it all, the Supreme Court has prohibited the Environmental Protection Agency from crafting broad regulations to drive the country's energy industry away from coal and towards cleaner sources such as wind and solar.

The court's ruling, as detailed by the science journal Nature, could make it much harder for the Biden administration and its successors to curb greenhouse gases as promised under the 2015 Paris climate agreement. And that spells bad news for the planet, because the United States is both one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases in the world and a crucial player among the countries tackling climate change.

This makes the Disunited States of America a pariah among the nations striving to prevent the looming catastrophic consequences of our collective contributions to climate change and the associated loss of biodiversity. Experts predict more frequent, more intense and longer-lasting floods, droughts, hurricanes, forest fires, crop failures, famines, plagues, political crises and losses of wildlife and habitat. The United Nations estimates there will be 200 million environmental refugees by 2050, and the true number will likely be much higher.

Without putting a cap on carbon emissions, the extinction of much of the life on planet Earth will be inevitable, with a percentage loss of biodiversity that will make existence even more of a challenge for our children's children. We can still avert, or at least minimize, this legacy and impact, but only if we choose to fight for justice for all.

The Supreme Court rulings violate the core principles of social, economic and environmental justice and the rule of law, failing to protect and serve the common good. While some may choose to live simply so that others may simply live, the fact remains that our fossil fuel-based economy -- and our expanding populace -- are limiting the options for future generations.

Some environmental changes, such as localized warming and destructive weather events, may be happening "naturally" due to alterations in Earth's solar orbit and the extent of the planet's axis tilt. But anthropogenic factors compound the severity and duration of such climatic events.

Climate change deniers need a reality check. The existential call for global collaboration to address the climate and species-extinction crises is louder than ever. I recommend that all concerned read David Wallace-Wells' book "The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming."

As Wallace-Wells asserts, "We have all the tools we need, today, to stop it all: a carbon tax and the political apparatus to phase out dirty energy; a new approach to agriculture and a shift away from beef and dairy in the global diet; and public investment in green energy and carbon capture."

Dystopian conditions will only intensify until we adopt the Seventh Generation Principle based on Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) philosophy -- namely, that the decisions we make today should result in a sustainable world seven generations into the future. This is the basic principle of empathic consequentialism on which I elaborate in my book "Brining Life to Ethics: Global Bioethics for a Humane Society." This is also a great resource: davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-do/top-10-ways-can-stop-climate-change.

(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 journal Emerging Infectious Diseases published an article last fall on cats and COVID-19. Researchers reported that serum samples from cats sent to a veterinary diagnostic lab for conditions unrelated to COVID-19 revealed SARS-CoV-2 antibody seroprevalence levels similar to those of people in the same geographic areas. This suggested that humans transmitted the virus to the cats. (Full story: News Medical, Oct. 27)

This summer, the same journal reports that people who share a bed with, cuddle and kiss cats and dogs while sick with COVID-19 are more likely to pass the disease to their pets. The study's lead author, professor Dorothee Bienzle from the University of Guelph, said the results suggest that cats have a higher rate of COVID-19 infection than dogs. She added that the team was surprised by the high prevalence of COVID-19 antibodies in cats: "We did not expect quite that many," she said. "Over half of the cats that live in a household with a person who had COVID had antibodies. That's very high." (Full story: The Globe and Mail, June 26)

This timely study confirms what I consistently advocate, as do others with veterinary, medical and scientific backgrounds and an understanding of epidemiology and zoonoses: All owned cats should be contained or enclosed and not be allowed to go off their owners' property. This would help prevent local wildlife and stray and feral cats from being infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus and becoming a public health risk as reservoirs of potential infection for years to come.

Also, cats infected by humans with this virus could pass on the infection to people, as has happened in Thailand. Virologists have established that a cat belonging to a COVID-19 positive family sneezed in the face of a veterinarian testing the cat for this disease, and that the doctor soon tested positive. Such cases of cat-to-human transmission are probably rare, and researchers emphasize that people should care for their infected cats -- taking extra precautions when handling them -- and not abandon them.

Another viral complication to be aware of is myocarditis. Amid the surge in COVID-19 cases late last year, veterinarians in the U.K. saw a higher-than-usual number of dogs and cats with depression, lethargy, poor appetite, abnormal heart rhythm and fluid in the lungs, all of which are signs of myocarditis. The owners of many pets with confirmed myocarditis seen at The Ralph Veterinary Referral Centre had confirmed or suspected COVID-19. Six of 11 animals tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 alpha variant or antibodies to the virus, researchers reported in Veterinary Record. (Full story: NBC News, Nov. 5)

DEAR DR. FOX: What is your opinion of Alley Cat Allies? I deal with stray and feral cats in my neighborhood constantly, and the TNR (trap, neuter, release) activities by some resident volunteers only make matters worse. -- J.H., Minneapolis

DEAR J.H.: The propaganda of Alley Cat Allies is well known, as are their activities. They are absurd from a science-based perspective, with regard to cats carrying diseases transmissible to humans, and from an ecological perspective of feral cat colonies' impact on wildlife. Cats outdoors are super-predators that, even after being fed by humans, will kill birds and small mammals in their domain.

The only ethically and biologically acceptable feral cat colonies are isolated from all wildlife, and their feline residents must be fed regularly by volunteers, provided with shelter, neutered, vaccinated and given veterinary care as needed. Few such colonies meet these basic standards of cat welfare, too often being open to other free-roaming, diseased and unneutered cats. These insufficient facilities then suffer the consequences of fights, infection and territorial competition.

Alley Cat Allies has, without local veterinary support and supervision, become a cult of well-meaning but misguided cat lovers. Human sentiment leads to the avoidable suffering of cats living outdoors and the wild animals who fall prey to them.

(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.)