DEAR DR. FOX: One of my wife's clients had adopted a nice whippet, named Carly, last year. This lady rescues dogs and gets them here to Belgium to start a new life. She had about eight dogs at the time, a big field for them to play in, etc.

Her daughter is a vet tech at a local practice. The dog was given NexGard last year and ended up with seizures. She knew our dog Obi's story -- he developed seizures on NexGard Spectra, which the local vets dismissed as the cause -- and asked how we had treated him. (His treatment was thanks to you and some other holistic veterinarians with whom we consulted.)

Despite all advice given from our side and pointing out the danger of these products, the vet practice urged this lady to bring Carly in for the next round of flea/tick drugs earlier this month. The dog was given Simparica about two weeks ago. Last week, the owner reached out to us saying Carly had started over with more seizures, despite the Keppra/phenobarbital she was still taking.

This morning, we've been informed she had to let Carly go over the rainbow bridge as vets told her she probably had a brain tumor, hence the massive seizures. No questions on the pesticide intake.

I just have no words for this. It makes me angry -- both on the vets' knowledge and continuing taking these risks, ignoring warnings, and some pet owners not questioning anything. -- D.A., Antwerp, Belgium

DEAR D.A.: I think that so many vets around the world have been brainwashed by Big Ag, by the pet food industry and by Big Pharma. These institutions influence vets' training, and vets must objectively examine their curriculum content. The focus should be on animal behavior, animal welfare and rights; holistic and integrative preventive medicine and nutrition; and the human-animal bond. There is no place for profit-driven and cognitively challenged minds in any of the healing professions or the arts, humanities and sciences.

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, when I was giving talks advocating animals' rights and holistic health, I faced sudden cancellations of speeches on some college campuses, removal of my books at local bookstores, even police security at some presentations to farming organizations!

Most veterinarians do not wish to become involved in politics, whether local, national or global. But I believe they have much they could contribute.

COALITION'S EARTH DAY RALLY INSPIRES ACTION

Earth Animal is a leader in the pet industry in sustainability. To help focus its attention on creating meaningful change through actions big and small, the company supported the Pet Sustainability Coalition's (PSC) 30-day Earth Day Rally all April. By taking microactions that take between two and 20 minutes, Earth Animal's hope is to motivate its employees and participants from other companies to have an impact now, lay the groundwork for long-term improvements and be inspired to carry these simple actions into their day-to-day lives. For details, go to petsustainability.org.

The PSC's community of more than 200 companies offers measurable proof that through education, tools and sharing best practices, improvement is possible. Not only that, but when done well, sustainability creates stronger and healthier businesses. PSC members take action year-round to earn consumer trust little by little, but this April, the pet industry had a bigger and bolder opportunity to claim its place as an active participant in the global shift toward sustainable business practices.

(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: According to a study published in March in the journal Science, zebra fish become afraid when they see other members of their species in distress. This fear mirroring is regulated by oxytocin: Fish that lack the genes to produce and absorb the hormone fail to detect others' anxiety but regain the ability when they receive an oxytocin injection. Oxytocin has the same effect in mice and is known to affect humans' social responses.

Oxytocin is the "bonding" hormone we humans associate with the subjective feeling of love toward others and is elevated when we hug our dogs -- in both us and our dogs! It's likely that the oxytocin empathy mechanism evolved many millions of years ago, before fish and mammals diverged on the tree of life.

This is groundbreaking research that advances our understanding of animal sentience (although I am not an advocate of such genetic engineering to selectively knock out specific genes in animals). I have always felt that catching fish on a hook is cruel and that there is no nobility in catch-and-release fishing. Like earthworms, fish have opiate pain-responsive neurochemistry when injured. Many hooked-and-released fish die from the stress and injuries. Why make any animal suffer in the name of sport? And what of the live bait skewered on the hooks?

For more insights about fish and helping in their conservation, visit fishfeel.org.

BEES ARE SENTIENT CREATURES, TOO!

Entomologist Stephen Buchmann's book, "What a Bee Knows: Exploring the Thoughts, Memories and Personalities of Bees," shows that bees have sophisticated emotions resembling optimism, frustration, fear and playfulness. Experiments have demonstrated bees can experience PTSD-like symptoms. Also, they can recognize different human faces, process long-term memories while sleeping, and maybe even dream. Young bees, through observation, learn how to dance from older bees to convey where to go to collect pollen, and the buzz of bees makes some flowers open for them.

DEAR DR. FOX: I eat mostly veggie foods, but sometimes meat. With the Jewish holiday of Passover recently happening, I would like to know your opinion of kosher meats: Are they better than non-kosher meats? Are the animals treated better? -- J.M., West Palm Beach, Florida

DEAR J.M.: I think we need to "pass over" all meat and seafood to help reduce climate change and loss of biodiversity. (For details, see drfoxonehealth.com/post/changing-diets-for-healths-and-earths-sake.) Consumers who wish to begin by being more selective can look for organically certified animal produce and see if there is any indication of the animals being raised humanely as per the Certified GAP.org, Animal Welfare Certified label. Earth Animals' Wisdom Dog foods have this label.

In my professional opinion, having witnessed ritual Jewish and Islamic animal slaughter, eating meat from these animals is not humane. For details, read this article on my website: drfoxonehealth.com/post/farmed-animal-slaughter-ritual-and-conventional.

DEAR DR. FOX: I would like your opinion about this project (article below) that fits cows with "intelligent" methane-monitoring masks. -- L.H., Cleveland, Ohio

From The Defender (childrenshealthdefense.org), March 20:

"The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation this month awarded a $4.8 million grant to a company that sells 'smart' face masks for cows. ZELP, which stands for Zero Emissions Livestock Project, claims its artificial intelligence mask technology for livestock will reduce methane emissions -- considered to be a main greenhouse gas -- and curb climate change.

"Cows and other ruminant animals emit methane in the process of digesting their food. The mask goes around the cow's head and captures the methane gas exhaled by the animal, oxidizing it and then releasing it into the air as carbon dioxide and water vapor, according to ZELP. It also has sensors that continuously collect millions of data points on the animals that are processed by machine learning algorithms.

"'Our AI is trained to detect heat, flag welfare conditions, and identify the most efficient animals with a high-level of accuracy,' said a ZELP spokesperson."

DEAR L.H.: This is a classic example of potentially profitable "technofixes" like geoengineering and genetically engineered and patent-protected insect-, flood-, salt- and drought-resistant crops rather than addressing the central issues of climate change and biodiversity loss. This calls for many initiatives, and most especially for us to adopt plant-based whole-food diets as one significant corrective.

(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: From my daily inbox, I select various animal, environmental and public health reports from scientists around the world. Here are some recent ones that I hope you will appreciate.

-- Two puppies, one 15 weeks old and the other 6 months, are being treated for salmon poisoning disease at Washington's Humane Society for Tacoma and Pierce County. The disease is caused by eating raw fish infected with a parasite that hosts pathogenic bacteria. While rare, the disease is nearly always fatal if left untreated. (Full story: KIRO-TV Seattle, March 22)

-- A highly virulent form of toxoplasmosis -- caused by COUG, a strain of the microscopic parasite Toxoplasma gondii -- caused the deaths of four California otters, researchers reported in Frontiers in Marine Science. The otters were found in separate locations between 2020 and 2022. COUG, which had never been detected anywhere near the California coast before, was first discovered in Canadian mountain lions in 1995. Veterinarian Devinn Sinnott, a co-author of the study, says the findings raise concerns about the potential effects on this threatened species, as well as the health of other animals that are susceptible to Toxoplasma parasites. (Full story: The Hill, March 22)

-- Kaytee Products recalled one lot of Birders' Blend wild bird feed in 8-pound bags due to potentially high levels of aflatoxin, which can harm birds if consumed in large amounts. (Full story: PetAge.com, March 21)

-- Pet food recalls often begin relatively small, only to be expanded shortly thereafter. Three examples: On Feb. 8, Purina issued a recall for their Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets EL Elemental Dry Dog Food due to excess vitamin D. More than a month later, Purina expanded the recall. On March 3, 2021, Bravo Packing issued a recall for All Performance Dog and Ground Beef Raw Pet Food due to salmonella contamination, then expanded the recall two weeks later. And on Dec. 30, 2020, Midwestern Pet Food issued a recall for multiple brands due to aflatoxin contamination, then expanded the recall about two weeks later.

For details on this troubling practice, read "Expanded Recall: A Twofold Failure" truthaboutpetfood.com/expanded-recall-a-twofold-failure.

-- The first cases of a new disease caused solely by eating plastics has been discovered in wild seabirds, according to a study recently published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials. Researchers examined the stomachs of young flesh-footed shearwaters in Australia and found that the more plastic the birds had ingested, the more scarring they had in their digestive tracts. The disease, which the researchers named plasticosis, could make the birds more vulnerable to infection and hinder their digestion. "While these birds can look healthy on the outside, they're not doing well on the inside," says study co-author and ecologist Dr. Alex Bond. (Full story: The Guardian, March 3)

DEAR DR. FOX: Your essay on our relationships with animals was outstanding! Thank you so much for clearly communicating the understanding that having a compassionate and respectful relationship with all living things makes us better humans. I will be sharing this far and wide! -- L.B., La Conner, Washington

DEAR L.B.: I appreciate your kind words. I write from the heart to help improve people's understanding and respect for all creatures great and small. You might enjoy my book "Animals and Nature First" and some of the essays under "Ethical Issues" and "Spiritual Issues" posted on my website (drfoxonehealth.com).

Public attitudes toward other animals are significantly improving, along with the realization that many species are close to extinction because of us. In my many decades of advocating reverential respect for all sentient beings and presenting scientific evidence of the intelligence and emotions of many species, the main opposition that I have faced has come from individuals who simply did not want to know about the true nature of the animals they were exploiting.

(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.)