DEAR READERS: Please see the following excerpt from a recent study about the ways that diet, public health and the environment interact.

The study's conclusion states: “This paper offers an in-depth analysis of the intricate relationship between evolving dietary practices and the health trajectories of non-communicable diseases, with particular emphasis on pressing global concerns such as the obesity epidemic, climate change, and eco-environmental sustainability. ...

"An increasing amount of scientific evidence supports the role of planetary health diets in facilitating sustainable food transitions, as demonstrated by comparisons between resource-intensive animal-based food production and more sustainable plant-based alternatives. These comparisons also reveal the ecological footprints of different dietary patterns within the framework of planetary boundaries. Furthermore, plant-based diets have been shown to reduce the prevalence of diet-induced obesity.

"The Earth’s finite resources -- particularly in relation to food and water security -- pose significant challenges to global public health, necessitating further exploration. The interplay between food production systems, dietary patterns and environmental sustainability calls for a reimagining of nutritional health transitions to promote both human health and eco-environmental resilience in the Anthropocene.”

See the full study: "Planetary health diets: sustainable nutrition transition for obesity epidemic and eco-environmental sustainability in the Anthropocene" by Alice Li, published in Academia Nutrition and Dietetics, 2025.

DEAR DR. FOX: My cat, nearly 18 years old, has a megacolon. I refuse to put him down, as he’s showing no signs of pain or nausea. I have been giving him IV fluids (at the vet's direction) and laxative powder. The vet gave him an enema and also prescribed cisapride. He’s been on it for just over 24 hours and still hasn't pooped, but I think it can take a few days.

Any advice would be welcome. He is eating wet food and currently drinking lots of water, which is good. -- S.A., Sydney, Australia

DEAR S.A.: Cisapride is a commonly used and effective medication for treating mild to moderate feline megacolon and chronic constipation by stimulating the smooth muscles of the colon. It helps move feces through the digestive tract, preventing painful impaction.

It’s great that your senior cat is drinking fluids. It may also help to add cooked pumpkin or pulverized lima beans to his wet food. Begin with one half-teaspoon of each mixed in with his food, daily, then increase to a teaspoon of each.

As per my book “The Healing Touch for Cats,” giving your cat a deep, gentle abdominal massage for five to 10 minutes, three or four times a day, can be a helpful complementary therapy to encourage evacuation. Adding some physical activity, like chasing a laser pointer or feather toy, could also help.

ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS OF FLEA AND TICK INSECTICIDES

Isoxazoline flea and tick treatments for pets might contaminate the environment and harm insects that feed on dung, according to a study in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. Researchers found the drugs in pet feces even after treatment had ended. They said fluralaner and lotilaner pose significant risks to insects and ecosystems.

“Our preliminary assessment suggests that pet ectoparasiticides may be detrimental to the environment,” the researchers write in their conclusion. (See the study "Prolonged fecal elimination of isoxazoline antiparasitic drugs in dogs and cats: Is there a risk for nontarget species?" by Philippe Berny et al., published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 2026.)

This is bad news for bugs, but also for the wider ecosystem. Insects are essential for processes like nutrient cycling, soil health and pest control, so falling victim to environmental contaminants may disrupt the already-delicate equilibrium that exists.

As I have advised repeatedly in this column, the use of these external insecticides on companion animals should be prohibited since they also put children (and anyone else who pets the animals) at risk.

DOGS CAN LEARN NEW WORDS BY OVERHEARING

Some "gifted" dogs can not only learn the names of hundreds of objects, but they can learn new words just by listening in on conversations between human family members, new research shows. These abilities put them on par with the language-recognition skills of toddlers at about 18 months old.

Only a few animals, including bonobos and an African grey parrot, have been observed to recognize objects through unique names. Learning words indirectly through watching human interactions is even harder.

CLEVER COW USES TOOLS TO SCRATCH HERSELF

Veronika, a pet dairy cow who lives on an Austrian farm, can use a utensil to scratch and groom parts of her body -- the first documented instance of tool use in cattle. Over the years, she’s advanced from sticks to implements as large and heavy as brooms; she switches between using the handle and the bristles to scratch different areas of her body. The use of a single tool for more than one purpose has only been seen before in chimpanzees and humans, says cognitive biologist Alice Auersperg. I would add crows to that list!

(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 continuing news reports about the Trump administration's dismantling of environmental protections -- primarily, cutting back on regulations in order to eliminate compliance costs for various polluting industries -- should be a wake-up call for all citizens. Putting profits before public health and the environment is an unconscionable crime against humanity.

The latest instance is the Environmental Protection Agency's abandonment of a rule that would have strengthened limits on fine-particle pollution. The particles in question come from burning fossil fuels -- notably from vehicular traffic, oil refineries and power plants. They can exacerbate asthma and have been linked to heart attack, stroke and lung cancer. Their potential contribution to Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases is also considerable. The public health costs of this change far outweigh the savings to polluters.

According to the EPA, these particles "can be carried over long distances by wind and then settle on (the) ground or water. Depending on their chemical composition, the effects of this settling may include: making lakes and streams acidic, changing the nutrient balance in coastal waters and large river basins, depleting the nutrients in soil, damaging sensitive forests and farm crops, affecting the diversity of ecosystems, and contributing to acid rain effects."

For more details, visit: epa.gov/pm-pollution/health-and-environmental-effects-particulate-matter-pm.

The impact of these fine particles on wildlife, especially in the burning of the Amazon forest, may play a significant role in many species' declining numbers. Air pollutants can poison wildlife, causing endocrine function disruption, organ injury, increased vulnerability to stresses and diseases, lower reproductive success and even death.

For more details, visit: canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/air-pollution/quality-environment-economy/ecosystem/wild-animals.html.

On Jan. 27, the U.S. withdrew from the Paris agreement on climate change, becoming the only country in the world to abandon its commitment to slow global warming. Climate change is not a “hoax,” as many claim, but a reality, and extreme climatic events cost the U.S. billions of dollars annually.

Rather than bringing more federal police into America’s cities and allowing ever-more petroleum-burning traffic, it would be prudent to bring in more trees. We should restore our forests and construct towers of irrigated greenery to improve air quality and public health.

The traditional Japanese practice of forest bathing (deliberately spending time in nature) is good for our health because forests are cooler and less polluted than cities. Researchers suggest that the misty air near sources of moving water, such as forest streams, can inundate us with beneficial microbes and charged ions. Also, the phytoncides that plants release, which give wood its smell and repel certain parasites, might also have immune benefits for people. For details, visit: nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00105-x.

Some readers may recall the "deep ecology" movement and one of its founders, John Seed. I recommend the 1988 book he co-authored, "Thinking Like a Mountain: Towards a Council of All Beings."

DOGS AS DISEASE DETECTORS

We know that dogs can help heal us emotionally, and that some of them can sense when we are physically ill. Anecdotes abound about dogs "sniffing out" cancer in a human before a diagnosis was made. But now, dogs can help other dogs!

Five dogs previously trained to detect the scents of human and animal diseases correctly identified 70% of blood serum samples from dogs with hemangiosarcoma, suggesting that trained dogs could effectively screen other dogs for the aggressive cancer, according to a study in The Veterinary Journal. The findings also suggest that hemangiosarcoma has a distinct scent profile, and that identifying specific compounds associated with the disease could lead to the development of an “electronic nose” for annual screenings, says veterinarian Cynthia Otto, director of the Penn Vet Working Dog Center. (Full story: University of Pennsylvania, Jan. 15)

FAMILY DOGS MAY ALTER TEENS’ MICROBIOMES

Owning a dog may support adolescents’ mental health by altering their microbiomes. Researchers found that 13-year-olds with a dog at home had lower delinquency and aggression scores than their peers who didn’t have dogs. Saliva samples from dog owners contained more Streptococcus and Prevotella species; a higher abundance of Streptococcus has been linked to a lower likelihood of delinquent behavior.

See the study "Dog ownership during adolescence alters the microbiota and improves mental health" by Eiji Miyauchi et al., published in iScience, December 2025.

(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: My wife and I appreciate your columns and their frequent references to climate change. We now have snow in northern Florida, but this does not meet the satisfaction of the climate change deniers! What is your response? -- K.K., Gainesville, Florida

DEAR K.K.: Snow in Florida is indeed part of climate change, linked in part with perturbations in the jet stream and the Atlantic Ocean current.

For more on this topic, please see the article I have excerpted below. From meteo24news.gr:

"Iceland has officially classified the potential collapse of a major Atlantic Ocean current system as a national security issue and an existential threat, prompting the government to prepare emergency response scenarios, according to statements made by the country’s climate minister to Reuters.

"The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is a vital ocean current system that transports warm water from the equator toward the poles and returns cold water southward. This circulation helps keep European winters mild. However, the warming climate is accelerating the melting of Arctic ice, releasing vast amounts of cold, fresh water from Greenland’s ice sheet into the ocean -- a process that could significantly disrupt this critical current.

"Scientists warn that a collapse of the AMOC could trigger a 'mini ice age' in northern Europe, causing winter temperatures to plummet to unprecedented levels and bringing heavy snow and ice. The AMOC has collapsed before, most notably just before the last ice age, about 12,000 years ago.

"A collapse of the Atlantic current would have far-reaching global impacts, potentially destabilizing rainfall patterns that sustain agriculture across Africa, India and South America, and accelerating the melting of ice around Antarctica." (Full story: meteo24news.gr/english-edition/iceland-raises-national-security-alert-over-possible-atlantic-current-collapse/46457)

Another issue lies with the deep ocean current in Antarctica. Per a July post by the International Environment Forum: “A major reversal in ocean circulation has been detected in the Southern Ocean for the first time, with key climate implications. Using Earth observation satellites, a study led by the (United Kingdom's) National Oceanographic Center and published in PNAS shows that, since 2016, a sustained increase in surface salinity has been detected in the region between the polar and subpolar gyres of the Antarctic Ocean. This change in water composition suggests that the deep ocean circulation in the Southern Hemisphere -- known as the SMOC -- is not only being altered, but has reversed. That is, instead of sinking into the depths, surface water is being replaced by deep water masses rising to the surface, bringing with them heat and carbon dioxide that had been trapped for centuries.” (Full story: iefworld.org/SMOCreversal2025)

Last year has been confirmed as the third-warmest year on record by the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service and by the California research nonprofit Berkeley Earth. This is despite the cooling effects of the La Nina weather phenomenon. “The warming spike observed from 2023-2025 has been extreme, and suggests an acceleration in the rate of the Earth’s warming,” reads a report from Berkeley Earth.

The burning of fossil fuels remains the main cause, but the situation is probably being made worse by hot seas and changes in cloud patterns. It is “hard to describe just how serious the risks to humanity are,” says atmospheric scientist John Marsham.

"Climate change is not just another issue. It is the issue that, unchecked, will swamp all other issues," wrote journalist and activist Ross Gelbspan more than 20 years ago. "The only hope lies in all the countries of the world coming together around a common global project to rewire the world with clean energy. This is a path to peace -- peace among people, and peace between people and nature."

REASONS TO AVOID OVERCOOKED FOODS

High-heat cooking methods such as grilling, frying and baking generate large amounts of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) through the Maillard reaction. AGEs are harmful compounds that damage the cardiovascular system. They bind to blood vessel walls, triggering inflammation, reducing flexibility and modifying cholesterol in ways that accelerate the formation of arterial plaque.

A randomized clinical trial demonstrated that switching to moist-heat cooking methods, such as steaming and boiling, can slash blood levels of these damaging compounds by nearly 50% in just two weeks and improve cholesterol profiles. For details, see the study "Cooking methods affect advanced glycation end products and lipid profiles" by Judith Wellens et al., published in Cell Reports Medicine in 2025.

DEAR DR. FOX: In your column about stomatitis, you discussed prevention, but I am wondering if you can give treatment suggestions for animals in my cat’s situation.

At 3 years old, he has been given a full dental extraction and is on Atopica daily. While the stomatitis had slightly improved, he will stop eating if we reduce the Atopica below an 8-pound dose (he is a 10-pound cat).

The current plan is to keep him on Atopica for life. We have him on wet food (seafood and turkey flavors) and dry kibble. I am also trying a natural supplement that has good reviews online, but I am pretty sure it’s not working.

I would love to know your long-term suggestions for a chronic condition in such a young cat. -- M.P., St. Louis, Missouri

DEAR M.P.: I would try AdorePet’s gel or spray (adorepet.com), which you can apply with a gauze strip around one finger. This contains anti-inflammatory botanicals that may enable you to reduce the dose of Atopica, or eventually even eliminate it.

(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.)