DEAR READERS: While many people are facing food shortages under our current dystopian politics and economics, the critical issue of climate change cannot be denied. We all have agency to help alleviate this environmental crisis.

A vast tonnage of food and beverage waste from manufacturers, grocery stores and homeowners is an issue many municipalities are beginning to address. In-home kitchen sink food-grinders should be prohibited, since the discharge is a burden on water treatment plants. Food waste should not go to landfills, either, because it often emits the greenhouse gas methane into the atmosphere, exacerbating climate change.

Large volumes of food and beverage waste can be retained in biogas-producing anaerobic digesters or fermentation tanks, and the methane generated can be used as an energy source. Biogas is considered a renewable energy source because it is produced from organic matter such as agricultural waste, municipal solid waste, sewage and food waste, which are continuously generated by natural processes. (See group.met.com/en/mind-the-fyouture/mindthefyouture/biogas.)

Dried food-waste residue, often high in phosphates, may be recycled into fertilizer if tested free of heavy metals and other harmful chemicals. This is an issue with sewage slurry, which is prohibited under organic farming standards in the U.S.

Sewage, including excrement and food waste, contains a trove of valuable nutrients including ammonia, a key ingredient of fertilizer. Now, researchers report a way to use sunlight to recover ammonia from wastewater. The cheap, efficient process is a practical way to reuse the nutrient on farms and keep it from reaching the environment, where it can cause harm.

PET FOOD PANTRIES STRUGGLE TO COPE WITH DEMAND

Pet food pantries are seeing an increase in demand as families in need across the U.S. experience delays and disruptions in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program payments. SNAP funds cannot be used to buy pet food, but can help families afford to keep their pets.

Per an Associated Press story: “We do know a lot of people will feed their pets before themselves,” says Kim Buckman with Feeding Missouri, a coalition of food banks in the state. “In some cases, that is their emotional support animal.” (See apnews.com/article/pets-food-snap-government-shutdown-65d27162199dfe7d8e41f9b8039bb356.)

Economic strain is a leading reason pets are surrendered to shelters, and shelters are preparing for another influx of animals.

PESTICIDES PUSHING MONARCH CLOSER TO EXTINCTION

A study entitled "Pyrethroid insecticides implicated in mass mortality of monarch butterflies at an overwintering site in California," by Staci Cibotti et al., was published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry in 2025.

From the study's summary: “Since the 1980s, monarch butterfly populations across North America have declined by 80% to 95%. Although several studies have implicated pesticides as a contributing factor to their population declines, our understanding of monarch exposure levels in nature remains limited. In January 2024, a mass mortality event near an overwintering site in Pacific Grove, California, provided an opportunity to analyze dead overwintering monarch butterflies for pesticide residues. ... On average, each monarch butterfly contained seven pesticides, excluding transformation products if the parent compound was also detected. Notably, three pyrethroid insecticides -- bifenthrin, cypermethrin, and permethrin -- were consistently detected at or near each chemical’s lethal dose.”

These beautiful butterflies are a warning of the health hazards of pesticides to us, as well, but the powerful agribusiness lobbyists have been blocking prohibitions for decades. Pesticides are linked to a variety of diseases, including neurological conditions like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, various cancers, respiratory problems such as asthma, and metabolic disorders like diabetes. They are also associated with reproductive issues, birth defects and kidney and cardiovascular diseases. For details, see epa.gov/pesticide-science-and-assessing-pesticide-risks/human-health-issues-related-pesticides, as well as panna.org.

The costs of these health issues outweigh the benefits of using pesticides, but amount to significant profits for the medical-pharmaceutical industrial complex. Multiple kinds of harm following prenatal exposure of children to insecticides, fungicides and herbicides call for more rigorous transitions to organic production and the prohibition of toxic pesticides in agriculture.

The Environmental Working Group’s “Dirty Dozen” list explains which foods are most heavily sprayed with pesticides -- notably apples, strawberries, grapes and kale. If you can’t get USDA Organically certified foods, peel fruits and wash vegetables thoroughly in a baking soda solution to remove surface residues. However, because neonicotinoids are often applied systemically, meaning they are absorbed by the plant and present throughout its tissues, they are very difficult, if not impossible, to remove completely.

(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: My recent column, "Nihilistic Violent Extremism," calling for the removal of online content about harming animals, described the tip of an iceberg of human depravity. In 2023, Antonio F. Carvalho et al. wrote up a detailed assessment of this issue, entitled "Profiting From Cruelty: Digital Content Creators Abuse Animals Worldwide To Incur Profit."

From the study's summary: “With the increasing interest of people in profiting from cruelty on the Internet and the failure of platforms such as YouTube in removing content related to this practice, to recognize who is funding animal suffering is imperative to combat this serious problem for sustainability, conservation and animal welfare. Here, we investigate how content creators exploit animals to incur profit. ... Removals generated by YouTube correlated with cruelty Category 6 (Staged rescues), proving that the diligence of the platform in taking content down is paramount for more or less monetization. We propose advertiser-imposed legal standards on social networks to compel content removal, and that audiences report crimes to police, aiming (for) legal penalization of animal cruelty content creators.”

See the full study at doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2023.110321.

According to the nonprofit World Animal Protection, Facebook hosts the most animal cruelty content. From a writeup on the group's website:

"In 2024, the public submitted over 80,000 links showing suspected animal abuse. Of these, 87.5% were found on Facebook. Monkeys, cats and dogs feature heavily in the disturbing content. Facebook and Instagram together were linked to more than 71,000 reports submitted by the public. The most common themes were 'monkey hatred' on Facebook (33.4%) and 'wild animals as pets' on Instagram (33.8%). ...

"The researchers identified 53 species in the flagged videos, representing nearly 1,000 individual animals on Facebook alone. Of these, at least 108 belong to species classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, including critically endangered orangutans and gorillas, endangered chimpanzees and long-tailed macaques, and vulnerable species such as cheetahs and lions. Primates, especially macaques, appear most frequently, followed by dogs and cats."

For details, go to worldanimalprotection.org/latest/news/facebook-leads-in-hosting-animal-cruelty-content.

This information is disturbing, but it is a call for us all to be vigilant and to support animal protection organizations. The 2010 law signed by President Barack Obama that banned videos showing animals being subjected to torture was expanded in 2019. Now, intentional acts of cruelty shown in the videos are also felony offenses. The penalty for committing this crime is a federal prison term of up to seven years and/or a fine. Clearly, this law is in need of more enforcement and greater vigilance by operators of social media platforms.

DEAR DR. FOX: My husband and I have adopted a boxer from a puppy mill. She was kept there as a breeder, but they said she had no pups, so she was put up for sale.

She is housebroken and settling in well, but we are concerned about her breathing. When she sleeps on the bed with us or takes a nap between us on the sofa, she snores a lot, and sometimes seems to stop breathing. It's like she is gagging. Should we see the vet about this? -- G.W.M., Winston-Salem, North Carolina

DEAR G.W.M.: What you are describing is sleep apnea, which can have serious health consequences in humans and dogs alike. It is especially common in dogs with "pushed-in" faces/muzzles. This flat-face condition is called brachycephaly, and it can be extremely pronounced in pugs, bulldogs (American, English and French) and boxers.

In such instances, surgical intervention is needed to improve the quality of life, health and exercise tolerance of these afflicted dogs -- all a consequence of thoughtless selective breeding.

(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: I read your article on the necessity of keeping cats indoors to prevent the spread of pernicious feline diseases. However, I have a question about your position on barn cats.

Four years ago, because of a rat problem, we adopted a barn cat through a local animal shelter that has a special placement program for these types of felines. He is outdoors most of the day, and sleeps in a well-appointed cat condo in our garage at night. He is in excellent health, beloved by all our family members and dogs. He is very social and has never run away.

He also has done a stellar job as a rat exterminator. Keeping him indoors 24/7 would be counterintuitive to his purpose. Your thoughts? -- L.L.P., North Palm Beach, Florida

DEAR L.L.P.: Many cats are simply not good “ratters,” unable to kill the larger adults (who continue to breed) and essentially failing to eliminate the problem. Rats can spread diseases, along with the fleas they carry, which in turn can infect cats, which in turn can transmit disease to humans they contact. The transmission of plague in this manner has a long history.

At this time, the highly infectious H5N1 avian influenza virus is circling the planet. Studies are finding both cats and rodents being infected, as well as other species, including humans. This is a potential risk for your outdoor cat and your family.

Rather than relying on cats to hunt rodents, all stored food materials should be rat-proofed and storage sheds effectively sealed, with quick-kill rat traps set inside as a precaution. Never use poison rat bait, which causes a horrible death and can poison any animal who might consume it -- especially owls, foxes and free-roaming cats.

I would have your veterinarian check your “working” cat for internal and external parasites. You should seriously consider making him an indoor cat, since he gets on well with your dogs; he may adapt well to a safe, enriching social life indoors.

RABIES RISK WITH FERAL CAT COLONIES

Please see the following release from the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA.org):

"In the U.S., rabies is most often found in U.S. wildlife species -- including raccoons, skunks, bats and foxes -- but cats remain the most frequently reported rabid domestic animal. In 2023, for example, 222 rabid cats were identified nationwide, compared with 33 rabid dogs. Cats’ prevalence in both urban and rural environments, combined with their tendency to interact with wildlife and humans alike, makes them a key species of concern for public health. ...

"An incident involving a rabid feral cat thought to have exposed numerous people to the deadly virus underscores the need to educate the public about health risks associated with feral cat colonies, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Following a review of the 2024 event, authors of a CDC report concluded that maintaining high rabies vaccination coverage within feral cat colonies can mitigate the disease threat. A better understanding of urban cat ecology and its role in rabies transmission and human exposure is also needed, the authors say in the article, which appeared in the CDC’s Aug. 21 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report."

Feline rabies vaccinations are only effective for one year, and it is a challenging responsibility to revaccinate feral cats. Even with the best management, such colonies still pose a risk to public health and to wildlife from other diseases, some flea-borne.

TOY ADDICTION IN DOGS

If your dog can’t go a minute without bothering you to throw their ball, or they refuse to give up their squeaky toy, research shows that they may be displaying a high tendency for addictive behavior, such as craving and a lack of self-control. This is particularly prevalent in breeds like shepherds and terriers.

“Addiction means actually it has negative consequences for the individual,” said Stefanie Riemer, co-author of a recent study, to The Guardian. “If the dog cannot cope with the toy being unavailable, then it may be more something like addictive-like behavior.” (See the study "Addictive-like behavioural traits in pet dogs with extreme motivation for toy play" by Alja Mazzini et al., published in Scientific Reports, 2025.)

Just like many people who chew gum to relax, and children who find comfort in a cuddly toy, dogs also derive pleasure from chewing and playing with toys. More anxious dogs, and those showing separation anxiety when left alone, are most likely to develop addiction-like behavior toward various toys as a coping mechanism.

(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.)