“Can you imagine living in a space the size of a bathtub?” Dr. Kate Hurley,  Director of the Koret Shelter Medicine Program at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, asked. “It’s ridiculous, but that’s what shelter cats kept in standard cages have to do.”

Not only are closely confined cats uncomfortable; they’re also much more prone to respiratory disease, a leading killer of shelter cats. That’s because feline upper respiratory infections — URI — are triggered not just by infection, but by stress.

“Feline URI is very closely related to stress,” she said. “Cats who get URIs are by definition experiencing severe stress, so it’s usually a marker for welfare as well as health. It gives us an idea how well shelters are doing not just in keeping cats healthy, but also how well we’re meeting their needs.”

Shelter medicine experts suspected that crowding and the resulting stress were at least partly to blame for high rates of URI in shelter cats, so the Morris Animal Foundation funded a study by Dr. Hurley:

[The study] is assessing disease incidence, cage layout and sanitation methods to determine how shelter housing affects stress and stress-related illnesses. Her research shows that prevalence of feline URI varies wildly across the country—with anywhere from 5 percent to 60 percent of shelter cats getting sick. Environmental risk factors explain some of the variation, and so far, shelters with the lowest URI rates seem to be those with high-quality housing for cats.

The first stage of the study, which was just completed, involved gathering data to find out what shelter management practices resulted in the lowest rates of feline URI.

All the cats coming into shelters had similar health levels, but the cats housed in the most crowded conditions had the highest rates of URI — often extremely high. So the second phase of the study involves comparing cats in typical crowded shelter conditions with cats housed much less intensively.

Dr. Hurley’s team is overseeing a remake of the cat housing at a nearby shelter, the Yolo County Animal Services facility. “We ripped out the old traditional small cages and put in 11 new improved units,” she said.

The new cages are multi-level cat-condos with an elevated resting shelf, multiple hiding places, and enclosed litter boxes. The cages are made of stainless steel, which can be a noisy material for feline housing, but has the best acceptance by shelter directors.

“We wanted something shelters would actually use,” Hurley said. “Steel can be noise-reflective, so the manufacturer replaced some of the parts with polymer components that are easily replaced but quieter to open and close. There is also sound-dampening on the cages, and the resting bench is also polymer, which is quieter and warmer, but can still be cleaned.”

Most importantly, the cat condos are twice the size of a standard cat cage, allowing each cat a full three feet to stretch out. “This is a big push, so this is why it’s important to document that cats really do need at least three feet of space,” she said. “Imagine not being able to stretch for a week, or two, or three. This is the minimum size we think is functional.”

The outcome of the second phase of the study could protect as many as a million cats a year from respiratory disease.

“We know URI in most shelters is number one or number two reson for euthanasia of cats,” Hurley said. “We know it’s costing shelters a tremendous amount of money. The Association of Shelter Veterinarians listed it as the number one health issue in shelters.”

Hurley acknowledged many shelters think that giving cats twice the space means they won’t be able to save as many cats, but she thinks they’re doing the math wrong.

“Setting the bar where cats have good quality care does not mean shelters can’t save as many cats consistently,” she insisted. “In fact, they may save more. Cats who are too stressed to cope can’t show their true colors, or show if they’re already great candidates for adoption or need some special help.

“Healthier cats can go to to offsite adoption,” she said. “Sick cats can’t. Healthy cats can go to rescue, and rescue groups can move more cats if they aren’t having to take time to nurse the cats, and use up foster care space.

“And as long as the shelter has the capacity for all the cats who are on hold or are waiting to go out to rescue groups, as well as a good selection for adopters, then having fewer cats just means they have more time to spend on the cats they have, and on developing good programs to care for those cats and cats in the community.”

Hurley’s project is one of three Helping Shelters Help Cats studies funded through the Morris Animal Foundation’s Happy Healthy Cat Campaign. An international team from the United States, Canada and Australia is also working to develop effective behavioral interventions to minimize the spread of URI.

I am a big believer in pet health insurance (even more after I got the very nice check for McKenzie’s recent malady), but fear-mongering? Not cool, dudes.

Especially with everyone already in a near freak-out over anything having to do with any flu, as the excellent science reporter Edie Lau writes for the VIN News Service:

Had the new canine influenza vaccine come out in ordinary times, veterinarians may have had little trouble deciding whether, when and to which owners’ dogs to offer the shot. Clients might easily have grasped that the shot is appropriate for dogs that congregate in places such as boarding kennels and shows, but not necessary for stay-at-home pets.

But times are not ordinary.

With a human pandemic flu in full swing and fresh evidence that the virus in people has passed to pet ferrets and a house cat, flu viruses of all varieties are stoking high anxiety. That’s translated into unusual — some say unwarranted — public interest in the dog flu shot and a heightened sensitivity among clinicians on the subject.

The canine influenza vaccine is not a “core” vaccine, but rather a “lifestyle” immunization, to be used only under certain conditions. Since its release, practitioners have been puzzling over just what conditions warrant it. For instance, they wonder, is it appropriate for a boarding kennel to require the shot in a region where canine influenza is not known to be circulating?

She goes on to write about who should be considering the vaccine for their pets, and why people looking at boarding over the holidays may not feel they have a choice but to vaccinate, since some kennel owners are mandating it:

[University of Florida researcher Dr. Cynda] Crawford [who discovered the virus] said she understands both veterinarian and kennel-owner perspectives on the issue. “As a veterinarian, I would prefer that policies like that be made on evidence,” she said. “At the same time, I have seen a few boarding establishments here in Florida just wiped off the face of the Earth financially (after an influenza outbreak).”

Like boarding establishments, [veterinary] clinics may have an interest in playing it safe, Crawford added. “Now (that) there’s a vaccine, what is your liability if you don’t tell clients about it?” she said. “If I do not tell clients whose dogs are socially active in the community, and they go out and get canine flu, they may come back and say, ‘Why didn’t you tell me there was a vaccine?’ ”

[Dr. Steven] Barta, a Michigan practitioner wondering how to broadcast the availability of the vaccine without inciting panic, ended up preparing a short letter for clients on the subject. It reads in part:

“This vaccine does not prevent the disease but it lessens the severity of the disease. After careful consideration and research we feel that this is an important vaccine to be given to any dogs that fall into the following categories:

• Kenneled dogs or those that visit doggie day care

• Frequent visits to the groomer

• Dogs that play at dog parks

• Out-of-state travelers

“In essence, dogs that receive the Bordetella vaccine are also candidates for the Canine Influenza Vaccine.”

The letter apparently met his goal of being informative without causing a panic. Two and a half weeks after he sent it out, Barta said the demand was “surprisingly low.”

Canine influenza originally was discovered among racing greyhounds in Florida in 2004. Before that, dogs were not known to be susceptible to the flu. The flu subtype, H3N8, evolved from a virus that infects horses.

Crawford said the virus has since reached 29 states and the District of Columbia, with urban areas in Colorado, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Florida particularly hit hard.

Read the rest here. And read Christie’s earlier blog post — from August, please note — here.

I have a dog who was a victim of canine influenza. He got it a massive dog show in Houston as 6- or 7-month-old puppy, probably from dogs brought in from Florida. The Texas A&M vet school didn’t realize what they were dealing with at first, so Woody might have been the first case in Texas — a dubious honor, to be sure. He survived thanks to A&M and is a robust, healthy dog now. Because my dogs do go to places with lots of other dogs, I will be vaccinating them. I do not, however, vaccination them for “kennel cough” because in healthy dogs it’s a minor, self-limiting disease.

But you need to look at the risk/benefit equation for yourself, talk to your veterinarian and make your own decisions — based on science, not fear.

Image: Damn, that’s a good-looking dog! Smart and hard-working, too.

Bugsy took to life as a neutered cat with free food and massage on demand, but becoming “my” cat didn’t change who he was at heart: a pugilistic street cat who still tries to pick fights with one of my other cats. If he gets bored, he jumps on the computer keyboard, paws at me, or just stares until I get up and play with him.

The Western veterinarian and scientist in me sees this as the personality he developed while living on the streets. But there is another way to look at Bugsy, using a system thousands of years old that originated in a very different land than ours.

Animal constitutions

While I remain a critic of many alternative medical approaches including Chinese medicine, when I do find something that works and has at least the potential for a rational scientific basis, I delight in the discovery. One of the most fun and empirically useful of the Chinese medical techniques involves sorting patients into “biopsychotypes.”
Seeing patterns arise out of an individual’s composite biological and psychological characteristics tells a story about who they are inside and out. Often, a resonance becomes apparent between their personality, their inclinations toward certain foods, preferred climates, physical tendencies, and more.

When I learned this approach first as a human physician-acupuncturist, it was striking to watch patterns emerge in my patients based on their appearance and emotional demeanor, their medical and social histories, and their physical manifestations of health or disease.

Now that I am practicing veterinary medicine, too, I apply it not only to my furry patients, but also to the humans who care for them. I note how “types” interface in a household – do they nurture or irritate one another? Medically, it aids in my ability to anticipate medical challenges that my patients may encounter in the future; it may prompt me to probe more deeply and ask about unstated ailments based on biopsychotype expectations.

History of five phases

The ancient Chinese healers called their system the “Five Phases,” because through this philosophical framework, much of what they observed in nature as well as in medicine fell into five general categories. They developed the approach millennia ago as one of several ways to understand and predict natural phenomena.

These laws of “systematic correspondence” described how patterns in nature – the macrocosm – found parallel expressions in us, the microcosm. The simplistic yin and yang idea based on only two complementary influences gave way over time to a broader complexity based on five elements, capable of more precisely corresponding to natural processes like the seasons.

The five categories of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water represented changes these ancient naturalists witnessed over the day, the year, and the life cycle as well as interrelationships between organs, emotions, people, and climate. The model embraces, expects, and accepts metamorphosis.

Much like the personality profiles of modern psychology, Five Phases analysis groups people and animals into constitutional categories based on psychological and physical manifestations. While not yet a scientifically validated means of determining Chinese medical treatments for humans or animals, identifying a predominant phase out of balance in an individual seems to provide clues about what a patient needs to restore homeostasis.

For example, a task-oriented metal-type dog needs a job to do, while the earth-type cat needs a warm lap.

The five elements

Wood types come across as confident and assertive; they typically excel as athletes or pioneers. They enjoy holding leadership positions and thrive in competitive environments.

When unable to direct their goal-focused energies into positive and physically challenging outlets, wood natures become corrupted. They can turn arrogant, reckless, impulsive, and aggressive. Hypertension, headaches, and heartburn can accompany pent-up muscle tension and frustration.

Wood dogs may bully others, no matter the size differential. They make themselves known through their loud and insistent barking.

Don’t get in their way of food, as wood dogs can show strong territorial possessiveness.

Wood dogs have well defined, muscular statures. They are prone to liver and gallbladder disorders, skin and ear infections, doggy odor, and bloodshot eyes.

Bugsy, my pugnacious street cat, is a wood cat. I work to assure him that there’s no need to fight with the other cats, though he needs frequent reminders. Today I caught him twice staring down my other cat, Woobie, while Woobie was trying to sleep. They’re both strong males, but Woobie’s a “water” cat (see below) who backs down and hisses in fear unless he gets pushed past his limit. Then he will fight.

When I took Bugsy in to be neutered at my friends’ practice, we discovered that his ears were teeming with tens of thousands of ear mites, the worst case they’d ever seen. He also had uveitis, an inflammatory eye condition, and his coat was greasy and matted. Bugsy was a typical wood with a hard start in life.

Fire types are charmers. They crave attention and will do whatever it takes to earn yours and win their way into your heart. They passionately plunge into life and seek emotional, physical, and mental stimulation. Their attractive and magnetic personalities make them the life of the party.

Fires can become confused or anxious; they restlessly move about even when sleeping, kicking and running as they dream. Physically, with the heart as the main fire organ, an imbalanced fire type may experience arrhythmias, palpitations, and insomnia. They overheat easily. Jack Russell Terriers often exhibit fire tendencies, performing endless tricks for applause and laughter.

Snowball, a charismatic fire cat, came into my life the day after I had a dream about a white kitten playing on a farm. I received a call from the clinic the next day asking if I had room in my house for a rescued grayish, long-haired stray cat, about two years old; it felt like destiny, and I said, “Of course.”

When I saw him, I fell in love. Once established in our household, Snowy’s zest for life filled the house. But one day, the play he ordinarily immersed himself in so completely made him pant and cough.

The subsequent workup revealed the heritable disease of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy; the cardiologist predicted that he would live another four, maybe six, months. He was a heart-breaker, this formerly neglected feline who became a big, all-white gorgeous boy.

After he was placed on medication, Snowball’s lightning-fast reflexes returned; even after his diagnosis, we were out for a walk one summer evening when he leapt into the air and caught a low-flying bat, much to my dismay.

He lasted two more years, until the dysfunctional heart formed a blood clot that left him paralyzed and purple, but still alive and fighting. Snowball yowled in pain, fighting against his impending but unavoidable departure from life for the entire car ride until I reached the clinic, driving through twenty-five minutes of heavy 5 o’clock traffic.

I used the time to prepare, but nothing readied me for the way our bond moved me physically. As life left his body after the barbiturate overdose, I felt tugged forward. Then his body dropped and he was gone.

The absence of Snowball’s fiery personality left a gap in our household that I couldn’t bear. For the first time ever, I adopted another long-haired cat that next day to fill the void; it worked, thankfully, though it’s not something I casually recommend. Such is the impact of the fire personality.

The earth type is a warm hearth that welcomes you back home.

Earths are solid and sociable, agreeable and sympathetic, attentive and relaxed.

Dubbed the “peacemaker,” earths’ diplomacy helps everyone get along. They care about what others think about them and they love being needed.

Their concern for those around them, however, might ultimately work to their own detriment. Obsessing about others can make them overprotective and overbearing. They may worry themselves sick, ingesting too many cookies for comfort, as they crave sweets and carbohydrates. Their digestive tendencies lead them to chronic diarrhea and potentially diabetes.

The yellow Lab typifies the earth dog, contentedly dreaming of Dairy Queen, watching TV with mom, and hanging out with the family.

As I’ve been writing, Frankie, my earth cat, has been nuzzling my hand, interrupting my typing. He has a plate of cat treats next to my computer mouse (that way I can refill them as needed). He’s been in my lap and off, bumping foreheads now and again, and he has become particularly clingy as I wrote the part about Snowball.

Frankie has an odd habit of eating twigs in the backyard that he later regurgitates onto my carpet.

Frankie is our ambassador. He’s the first one to meet the new rabbit and the dogs from next door. His hunger for cuddles and contact causes him to climb repairmen or other human visitors who stand still for too long. He sleeps next to me under the covers every night.

Metal types are fastidious and operate best within a structured, orderly environment. Not other-focused like an earth, metal creatures exhibit self-control and self-reliance like military or police dogs. They may even appear aloof and distant.

Metals would rather analyze a problem and solve a puzzle than lay on the couch eating cookies. They are clean, calm, and precise. Excessively perfectionist metals can become ritualistic and even obsessive-compulsive. Needing everything just so exacts a toll on one’s constitution in a world filled with uncertainty.

Metal imbalances manifest in the skin, sinuses, lungs, and large intestine. Especially during the dryness of the metal season of autumn, these individuals may experience constipation, dry skin and a dry cough, runny nose, and depression. Some cats with chronic sinusitis or asthma fall into the metal category; their skin flakes and their fur feels dry. Although metals don’t readily bond, the attachments they make are for life, and grief hits them particularly hard.

I have a stray cat who hangs around whom I suspect is a metal. He supposedly has a home, but he wanders the neighborhood, isn’t neutered, and comes around for food and warmth fairly regularly.
Because of his health unknowns, if I do let him in I keep him away from the other cats, especially because he sneezes now and then. He seems otherwise healthy except for a dry coat.

He’s a good cat, but not an attention seeker or show-off. He’s friendly, not fearful, and seems to do best with a regular schedule – when will I leave food out for him, when will I be going out with the other cats so he can come in, etc. Who wouldn’t want some predictability when left out to fend for oneself?

Water types are loners. You’ll find them off on their own, curious and introspective, more comfortable with solitude than in crowds. They prefer to sit and watch from a remote location than join in on a group activity.

When challenged, a water type responds with fear and withdrawal, if not violent outbursts. Some develop phobias.

Water cats may fear other cats, hissing and running to safety or hiding.

With the kidney and bladder representing the water organs, urinary tract disorders can befall water cats. Back pain and arthritis can afflict geriatric waters. The cold weather associated with winter, the water phase season, makes these problems worse. Water cats can exhibit chronic thirst, seeking water in the bathtub or self-serving from the toilet.

Woobie, the water cat I mentioned earlier, hisses and runs from Bugsy, the wood cat. Woobie prefers to stay by himself on the front porch where he can survey the neighborhood goings on.
When Bugsy came to live with us, Woobie began urine-marking my house; the olfactory imprint in certain locations reminds me of his displeasure.

Woobie waits for his bowl of freshly filled drinking water in the bathtub, where he feels safer from the other cats; he has at least three protected sides and a curtain. Sometimes he attempts to drink from the toilet but tends to fall in because he’s a bit heavy. He has arthritis in his back and elbows.

This past summer he developed chylothorax, a buildup of fluid in his lungs, which required a multi-step, highly invasive surgery. Fortunately, my special boy has made a full recovery.

A Family Affair

In addition to evaluating an individual patient’s constitution, complexity enters the equation in terms of the Five Phases dynamics between family members. Who’s the boss? Who’s needy? Who’s withdrawn?
When conflicts arise between individuals, is it because one “type” doesn’t mix well with the other?

Is the human companion a metal who insists on order while the fire bird, dog, or ferret desperately wants attention and will act out in whatever way necessary to get it? Is the earth dog or rabbit starving for intimacy and support from a water caregiver lost in isolation?
When we understand those around us, we can better see why we choose to bring certain mates or animal friends into our lives, and why some match-ups don’t work.

Champ, a cat who belongs to a good friend of mine, came down with hepatic lipidosis a few weeks ago. Also known as “fatty liver disease,” it’s a condition triggered when cats, for a variety of reasons or unknown causes, stop eating for a time.

Champ is still sick, but has benefited from some excellent veterinary care and a surgically implanted feeding tube. His owner, however, is still struggling with guilt that she missed the signs he wasn’t feeling well:

The vet told her that Champ had probably not eaten for as long as two weeks by the time she brought him in.

“How could I have missed it?” she wondered. “He sleeps on my bed. I don’t ignore him. I couldn’t understand how this could have happened without my seeing it.”

Dr. Vicki Thayer, a board certified feline specialist and president-elect of the Winn Feline Foundation, a non-profit organization that is one of the leading funders of veterinary research into cat health, said such feelings are common, but owners like Hoffmann who miss signs of serious illness in their cats shouldn’t feel guilty.

“Cats are masters at disguising illness,” she said. “This ability kept them from appearing vulnerable to other predators in the wild.”

Cat owners, she cautions, must try to see through pets’ attempts to hide illness or injury, and stay vigilant for “subtle signs of sickness.”

Many vets jokingly say that the first symptom cat owners can spot is something they’ve dubbed “ADR”: Ain’t doin’ right.

It’s an easy-to-miss and hard-to-measure lack of interest, energy and appetite — and often the only early warning sign that cat owners will get of impending heart or kidney disease, cancer, a urinary tract infection, as well as the liver disease that struck Champ.

“In our busy lifestyles, it can happen to even the best of us where we don’t pick up the clues our cats are trying to tell us,” Thayer said.

And, however subtle they are, there are plenty of clues if you know what to look for.

Find out what to look for, and read the rest, here.

In case you’ve been under an Internet rock, you might have missed the news that the FDA has issued an alert about Vetsulin, an insulin product for diabetic dogs and cats, warning that is formulation may be incorrect and it might thus fail to act correctly in patients who are using it — which in the case of diabetes is not a minor problem.

The short version: If you’re using it, call your vet. She might not actually know about the alert yet, so if you’re the first to tell her, you might want to have the alert handy, as well as this FAQ from the drug’s manufacturer, BigPharma giant Intervet/Schering-Plough.

So, I was mulling over the wording of the alert when an email popped into my inbox, cc’d to Marion Nestle. It was a reader, asking if either of us had any thoughts on the fact that Wysong Pet Food is saying that they didn’t issue an press release about their ongoing pet food recall because “the matter was of small enough consequence that we have even been told by the FDA that a news release is not necessary.”

Huh, I thought. Good question.

That was on Saturday, and I figured that Monday morning I’d talk to the FDA and see if that’s true. And then reality, in the guise of a “wake up and smell the coffee!” note from Marion, reminded me that getting comments from the FDA is getting to be right up there with getting them from, well… industry.

Worse, actually, because sometimes industry will actually talk to you. FDA? Not so much.

It’s not just us pet food junkies getting the cold shoulder. From the Society of Professional Journalists:

The Association of Health Care Journalists and SPJ are fed up with federal agencies’ use of public information officers to chill the flow of information. The two groups sent a letter this week to the FDA urging the agency to stop requiring interviews between reporters and government employees to be approved by PIOs and attended by PIOs.

This practice has become widespread throughout all levels of government, and it needs to stop. While PIOs play an important role in answering questions and facilitating interviews, they are hampering the flow of information when acting as delaying middle-men or go-betweens. Having information transmitted through a middle person is hearsay and fraught with accuracy problems – a disservice to the public.

If you cover an agency that practices this form of information control, don’t put up with it. Request that the higher-ups put an end to it. And if they don’t see the importance of direct communication, then circumvent the Big Brother channels and talk to people directly, as journalists must do to ensure accuracy. It’s our duty to get it right.

So wish me luck as I call a government agency and attempt to pry information out of it without having to file a Freedom of Information Act request.

Although, on the other hand, that’s not actually a terrible idea…

There has also been a confirmed case in at least one ferret. While the ferret case isn’t too surprising — ferrets are notoriously susceptible to influenza viruses — the cat’s illness is causing concern among veterinarians and cat owners.

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) sent out a letter to its member veterinarians an hour and a half ago, informing them of the feline case. They also posted a public announcement on their website:

A cat in Iowa has tested positive for the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus, state officials confirmed this morning, marking the first time a cat has been diagnosed with this strain of influenza.

The cat, which has recovered, is believed to have caught the virus from someone in the household who was sick with H1N1. There are no indications that the cat passed the virus on to any other animals or people.

Prior to this diagnosis, the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus had been found in humans, pigs, birds and ferrets.

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) are reminding pet owners that some viruses can pass between people and animals, so this was not an altogether unexpected event. Pet owners should monitor their pets’ health very closely, no matter what type of animal, and visit a veterinarian if there are any signs of illness.

The AVMA is actively tracking all instances of H1N1 in animals and posting updates on our Web site at www.avma.org/public_health/influenza/new_virus.

Pet Connection’s Dr. Tony Johnson acknowledges the concern that many people may feel about this, but asks them not to over-react. “The humans who gave the virus to their cat, and the cat, all recovered,” he said. “And there is no evidence H1N1 goes from cats to people; it was the other way around.”

I asked him why, if a virus can be passed from humans to cats, we shouldn’t be worried it can pass the other way, too.

“The answer is, we don’t know for sure,” he told me. “But sometimes a virus can make a host sick, but not reproduce and become infectious in that host. So far there is no evidence that this virus can be passed from cats to humans, although that doesn’t mean it can’t.”

The bottom line: “Think about this critically, and don’t make knee-jerk reactions,” he said. “Common sense and a cool head are better than flipping out and putting your cat out with the garbage.”

The AVMA said that owners who have the flu should try to avoid close contact with their cats. If your cat shows signs of respiratory illness, seek immediate veterinary care.

We’ll update as more information is available.

We promised you details about Thursday’s edition of “The Dr. Oz Show,” and here they are. Check your local listings for channel and time.

Our Dr. Marty Becker is a member of Core Team Oz, and on Thursday America’s Veterinarian  and Dr. Oz are sharing information about the diseases your pet has that you can get. They’ll let you know who is most at risk  — the very young or very old, along with the immunosuppressed.

Rather than just talk about the scary stuff that could happen, they’ll offer  preventive solutions that go beyond washing your hands and using a pooper scooper. Did you know that MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus) is eight times more likely to occur in homes with cats, and that it can ping-pong back and forth between pets and people? They’ll talk about why that happens. They’ll also provide information about why you shouldn’t let your pet lick you in the mouth (no matter how much fun it is for both of you), why parasite control for the four-footers benefits our health, and skin infections (ringworm anyone?).

And for those of us who forget to do poop patrol at least every other day (we know who we are) Dr. Becker will remind us why that’s important.

Both doctors have a simple solution: Get rid of the risk and keep the pet! We know that the health benefits of having a pet far outweigh the risks.

On Dec. 3, Dr. Becker will be back for another visit to Oz, taping a segment on what to do in a pet health emergency. Pet Connection blogger and Purdue U  vet school emergency and critical care expert Dr. Tony Johnson provided the background to make sure only the latest and greatest information is offered.

We’ll let you know when the next can’t-miss segment will air!

We don’t like declawing, and we don’t recommend it as a first reaction to any behavior problems in cats.

That said, we understand how in some cases it’s a cat’s last chance to stay in a good home rather than face uncertain prospects at a shelter. And we know, too, that a well-done veterinary declawing with full pain control is no worse in the short-term than many other surgeries. But we still don’t recommend it as anything except a last-chance alternative to losing a good home. In other words: It shouldn’t be a preventive or immediately reactive approach to a behavior problem that can be dealt with in other ways.

That’s because scratching is a natural and satisfying behavior for cats. It provides a good stretch, marks territory and keeps the claws in good shape. If at all possible, we’d rather a cat be allowed to be a cat in all ways, and that includes enjoying the pleasures of scratching.

More on cat scratching and declawing here.

Dr. Becker and Mikkel Becker Shannon report on the high cost of service dogs:

Care for therapy and service dogs can be pricey. Trained service costs range from $5,000 to $50,000, with some organizations donating dogs free of charge to those who need them, although the waiting list is usually long. Regardless of how the dog is acquired, the patient has the responsibility of keeping the dog fed, groomed and healthy. An average yearly food and routine veterinary bill is $1,500, according to Canine Companions for Independence — and of course any health problems beyond routine care can increase the veterinary bills considerably. The high costs associated with service animals present a real challenge to many of those who rely on them, since 70 percent of disabled people are unemployed.

Want more? Read the entire Pet Connection for this week, or download the PDF file exactly the way we send it to our client newspapers!

I am seeing many bad and scary comments on the Internet. Who am I to believe?

The Internet provides a means for anyone to say anything without regard to merit. We have provided the facts with regard to this incident. We are the only ones who know them.

Is that not totally awesome? I mean, how many companies really are willing to come right out and say something like that?

It seems Wysong took exception to some earlier internet reporting (including, apparently, ours) about its handling of the recall and what some saw as inadequate efforts to notify those who might have purchased the affected foods. And just who was the authority the company invoked to demonstrate it had handled the matter with the highest standard of responsiveness?

The FDA.

No, really:

We did all we could think of to do as fast as we could. This includes contacting the FDA. After days of review by them at our corporate and manufacturing sites, they advised that we could not have reasonably done more than we did. The matter was of small enough consequence that we have even been told by the FDA that a news release is not necessary.

Yes, the villains of the pet food recall themselves, whose efforts to track sick and dead pets were called out in Congress as a national disgrace, who completely failed to keep melamine and related compounds out of the human food chain, who still don’t inspect imported foods even after the seemingly unending series of contamination incidents involving human foods and drugs as well as pet food.

Let me be blunt here. The fact that processed foods can become contaminated is not exactly breaking news. And even companies with good practices and strong quality assurance systems can have problems. In fact, sometimes food we make ourselves at home spoils or becomes contaminated. That’s not the issue here.

The issue is transparency. The issue is rapid and effective corporate communication and good citizenship. The issue is protecting your customers. It’s an issue that’s bigger than the pet food industry — in fact, it’s bigger than industry itself, as it applies to corporations, government, and all kinds of communities.

Do you have a problem? Did something, big or small, go wrong? Be honest. Be fast. Be open. When things go wrong, stand up and make them right. That’s what sets the great institutions apart from the rest.

Whining that bloggers are mean? We call that FAIL.

Which is a greater threat to your pets at Halloween: ritual satanic sacrifice, or your kids’ trick or treat bag?

Yes, it’s that time of year when the flood of cult cat sacrifice stories start piling up in the inbox, with that breathless “forward this to everyone you know!” tag line. (Note to my readers: Pet related or not, there has never been a message that should be forwarded to everyone you know. Trust me on this.)

Which means it’s also that time of year when I wish that the people who worry about cat sacrifices would instead worry about far more common and preventable holiday threats to our pets. Like the fact that chocolate, while a wonderful and healthful food for humans, is toxic to dogs and cats. Or that the sweetener xylitol, while beneficial to human blood sugar levels and dental health, can be fatal to dogs and cats even in very small quantities.

Or the biggest threat of all, the way that superstition and prejudice about black cats stops a lot of people from adopting them, any time of year:

While tales of cult sacrifice are the stuff of urban legend, and there is no evidence at all to support them — check out the myth-busters at Snopes.com if you don’t believe me — cats, especially black ones, might be “borrowed” to provide atmosphere at someone’s haunted house or holiday party, or become the victims of Halloween pranks.

Concern over this issue is why it was once fairly common for shelters to ban black cat adoptions around Halloween. Today, shelter directors realize that homelessness is a far greater threat to black cats than Halloween is, and the practice is on the decline. I called several Bay Area shelters, and none restricted black cat adoptions in October.

“We have no special policy or restrictions on Halloween black cat adoptions,” said Bobbe Bartlett, development director for Tony La Russa’s Animal Rescue Foundation in Walnut Creek. “Our regular screening procedures are enough to provide safeguards for the cats we adopt.”

“So many cats need homes, particularly the black ones who are often stuck in shelters the longest, that the whole idea of banning their adoption strikes me as ridiculous,” said Scott Delucchi, senior vice-president of communications for the Peninsula Humane Society. “Our mission is to get cats into homes, so we’d be more likely to do a Halloween promotion than a ban.”

Here’s the rest.

And why yes, this was pretty much just an excuse to use those two fantabulous Halloween photos. Diesel the devilishly handsome Pharaoh Hound is owned and photographed by the amazingly talented Renee Needham, who posts her work on DogHobbyist.com. Timmy the Halloween kitty is owned by photographer Julie Olsen, who I discovered on Flickr.