DEAR READERS: We inhale particulate air pollutants, a serious health hazard, from fireworks. Forest fires, which are mainly started by humans, are another major source of these pollutants. Climate change is upon us as we wake up and realize we have committed ecocide, accelerating the natural metabolism of life on Earth by burning fossil fuels.
I am glad that Minneapolis, and a few other cities, put on a laser light show in celebration of July 4 instead of the traditional fireworks this year. But for several nights around our home, explosive fireworks were being set off in various communities. Some delinquent youths were arrested for throwing fireworks -- even at police vehicles!
Is it coincidence that so many people in the U.S. are shot on July 4 and 5, I wonder? July 4 also sees more pets panic, run off and get lost, and more people treated for burns and fires, than any other day of the year.
We engage in many other activities of escalating violence against nature, the natural order and each other. The climate crisis has brought us other crises -- economic, social and environmental. The world sees millions of refugees, devastating loss of wildlife and habitat, and more suffering and hardship for our own kind and other species, wild and domesticated.
Exploding fireworks should be prohibited since they upset wildlife and pets, not to mention military veterans with the burden of PTSD. Experts warn that excessive noise has health impacts including elevated blood pressure, stroke, heart failure and anxiety. These are all related to the fright response, with which we and other animals are innately programmed.
When will we sing "Silent Night" and enjoy the stars, no longer obscured by our light pollution and associated carbon footprint? Perhaps when we can temper our infantile impulsivity and lack of consideration of others, and manifest a grain of empathy.
DEAR DR. FOX: I learned about raw-feeding cats and dogs through your articles when I was a young girl. We started raw-feeding our dog and we had amazing results!
I now have two American shorthair indoor cats. One cat, Milo, is a neutered male, age 7. He has been raw-fed since he was 2, and his fur and teeth have been great ever since!
A problem came just over a year ago. Milo was still eating like normal, but would run around the house while he was defecating. It was often diarrhea, and quite smelly. I grew concerned and brought him to the vet, where they did blood work and a fecal analysis. Nothing conclusive came up. They decided it was IBD and wanted to put him on a prescription diet that contained only by-products, and I did not agree.
I did my own research and found a paper from UC Davis that also dealt with diarrhea in seemingly healthy cats. One way they cleared it up was with probiotics. I bought the same kind mentioned in the article, and it cleared up Milo's problems in a few days.
Now fast forward to this spring and Milo is having the same problem! This time it isn't really diarrhea: The poop is formed, but soft, dark and smelly. He is still raw-fed. The probiotics haven't helped. I tried slowly changing his food over the past six weeks, but he's still having problems. He's gone in his litter box a few times, but every couple days, he starts running and crouching and poops somewhere around the house (often in multiple locations while he's running).
All other behavior is normal. There's no vomiting, and he has a good appetite, healthy fur and gums. He uses the litter box for urinating just fine. I've tried many other probiotic additives and adding some fiber, but nothing has worked.
Have you ever seen this kind of behavior in a raw-fed cat? -- M.K., Snoqualmie, Washington
DEAR M.K.: The growing veterinary consensus is that feeding raw foods to dogs and cats is not without risk because of bacterial contamination of animal ingredients. Some of these bacteria can cause acute diarrhea and chronic health problems; some can be transmitted to human family members; and some are resistant to antibiotics.
In some instances, cats develop food intolerances or allergies, so one must do the detective work and find out which ingredient is causing the problem. Beef, dairy and fish are common causes in cats. I know of one cat who was allergic to rice!
If your cats get outdoors, the scope of possible causes is significantly increased, including giardia and internal parasites. Having the veterinarian test another stool sample from your cat would be advisable.
If the issue is not bacterial contamination or a food intolerance/allergy, low fiber may be an issue, as you have mentioned. Mix a half-teaspoon of psyllium husks or crushed canned lima beans into the food, and feed the cat four or five small meals daily. Most cats do better when given small meals, rather than twice-daily feeding, as for dogs.
(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.)