Question:

I''m undergoing chemotherapy, and when my white blood cell count went low I was told to stay away from babies who recently had the polio vaccine.I recently had my cat vaccinated for rabies and feline leukemia, etc., and was curious if I should have a similar concern with recently vaccinated animals. The vaccines my cat had were "killed" or "modified live." Are some "live"?.

C.M., Clovis, CA Apr 25, 2004

Answer:

I hope that the chemotherapy will help restore your health. You should also stay away from children and their teachers, and from any crowded and poorly ventilated public place.However, you need not worry about being around healthy animals since they do not carry the same kinds of viruses and bacteria that most often make us sick. The same holds true for their vaccinations, a few of which (like parvovirus vaccine) are briefly shed by recently vaccinated animals.Even so, you should wash your hands after petting and grooming your cat and before preparing food. Ideally, you should have someone else clean out the litter box, or you should wear gloves when you do so.If your cat is an indoor-outdoor feline, have her tested for toxoplasmosis (an infection caused by a parasite) because, with your compromised immune system, you are more susceptible.GOLDFISH IN MOURNINGPsychologist Dr. Emmanuel Bernstein writes: "A goldfish I knew had an obvious relationship with a parakeet (Pierre) who would visit her daily, pecking o

Question:

In your column, I read about the cat that had a "cuddle pet." Well, I have a cockatiel that has a "cuddle mouse." He thinks it is his mate, the way he behaves with it.I find my cockatiel very interesting, but feel sorry that he seems a little lonely. I gave him a small, safe cosmetic mirror so he can look at a "mirror friend." This seems to have helped -- he doesn''t seem quite so frustrated. What do you think?.

B.P., Neptune, NJ Apr 25, 2004

Answer:

Thank you for sharing the touching story of your lonely cockatiel having a cuddle toy that he treats as his mate. I''m sure he''s very entertaining and I am glad that you found that a mirror seems to help him (and probably you) feel better.Cute, touching but basically abnormal substitute behaviors (like making a mate out of a mirror image or stuffed toy) give pause for reflection. Is it cruel to deprive any highly social, healthy and intelligent animal the right to associate with his/her own kind? Does it make for an entire lifetime as a biological misfit, a poor creature out of place while the flight and songs of wild birds touch their hearts as well as ours?I would adopt a healthy cockatiel from a local shelter or cage-bird rescue and rehabilitation facility to come and live with your lonely avian friend.

Question:

A friend of mine who is active in animal rights issues recently told me that I should not feed my dogs and cats certain pet food brands because the companies conduct cruel laboratory tests on animals for nutrition purposes. Is this common? Do most other pet food companies experiment on animals, too? I don''t really have time to make homemade food for all my animals. Do I have any other options?.

T.S., Brookeville, Md Apr 25, 2004

Answer:

The exposure of cats and dogs to cruel experiments and alleged poor care in feeding trials has caused a firestorm of concern. Most major pet food companies conduct food tests on live animals, and it is a tragic fact that many dogs and cats who were once family pets finish up their lives in laboratory cages, being used for various experimental and product-testing purposes the ethics and real scientific/medical value of which are highly questionable.Some animal protection organizations have lists of pet food companies that are not involved in such animal experimentation. I suggest you seek them out.

Question:

In response to a recent letter in your column, I was surprised to see your advice on not feeding dry cat food to cats. I have been a certified veterinary technician for nine years, working the past four years in the ICU at a specialty hospital. The health care professionals I have worked with advocate feeding dry food over wet in almost all situations.An animal brought up on dry food alone usually accumulates less tartar on their teeth than an animal eating wet food. What are the varieties of health problems you refer to in your article? I''ve never heard of any. Certain special foods are warranted if an animal is diabetic or has urinary problems, etc. But the average cat thrives on dry food alone. Please tell me what health issues you''re referring to.

D.S., Norwalk, CT Apr 18, 2004

Answer:

Certainly, special diets are necessary for cats who become diabetic or obese, or develop urinary problems, chronic constipation or irritated bowel syndrome. But these problems can often be prevented and, when they develop, significantly ameliorated by feeding cats moist food (including some raw foods and home-prepared diets) rather than dry.While an all-dry-food diet (to which many cats become addicted to the point that they refuse any other type of food) will help keep tartar from building up on the teeth, it is also too high in starches and thereby contributes to the health problems mentioned above. These are compounded by cats not being good drinkers and having a poor thirst-sensitivity; on an all-dry diet, they simply don''t get enough water.This is one reason why urinary problems are so common in cats. Hence, I advise feeding some dry food and adding water to the dry food for cats who refuse to eat any other type of moist food.

Question:

I had an unusual thing happen to my kitten that I would like to share with your readers.I have a 10-year-old cat and I use clumping litter in his litter box. When I acquired our new kitten at about the age of 5 to 6 weeks, I added another litter box. One day, I noticed that the kitten seemed to be having difficulty urinating. He kept going to the litter, box but nothing was happening. I suspected a urinary or bladder infection and was preparing for a visit to the veterinarian.After several unsuccessful trips to the litter box, I looked at the kitten and noticed a crust around his penis. I scratched at it and a drop of urine appeared. I put him in the litter box where he urinated a small amount. I washed the area and he immediately went to the litter box and urinated quite a lot. It seems he was "cemented" shut from the litter. Have you come across this problem before? Your readers should be advised not to use clumping litter for very young kittens.

B.P., Fairfax, Va Apr 18, 2004

Answer:

Clumping cat litter can cause various problems, from fur becoming matted on cats'' hind legs (this is a particular problem for furry cats like Persians) to allegedly causing constipation and intestinal obstruction when cats lick and swallow the litter sticking to their fur and paws.Frequent handling of a kitten during play and petting should always include a general body-check so the kind of difficulty your kitten developed (which could have been fatal) can be nipped in the bud.

Question:

My question concerns the feeding of wild birds. Many neighborhoods are now forbidding the use of birdfeeders due to rat infestations. Is there any way that I can continue to feed wild birds in my suburban backyard without potentially luring rats to our neighborhood?.

K.H., Derwood, Md Apr 18, 2004

Answer:

Rats are usually only a problem in highly populated urban areas. In suburban and rural areas, birdfeeders do attract rats and other rodents, but also natural rodent predators like foxes and owls that help maintain nature''s balance.But a lot of people have "rat-phobia" that leads them to put out poison bait to kill the rats, which then also kills dogs, cats and other wildlife. Surely this is more harmful than having a few rodents around the yard.Put up minimal-spill birdseed dispensers and hanging containers for lard and bread, ideally over a table that birds can clean up but that rats can''t climb. Avoid the temptation to overfeed. Put feed out at the same time every day; if the bread and seeds haven''t been consumed in a couple of hours, you may be overfeeding. Also be aware that attracting large numbers of birds can increase the chance of them spreading diseases amongst themselves.

Question:

I have a story that boggles my mind each time I think of it. First I must give the history of our little dog Radar.We understand that his prior owner had him for nine years. The owner was moving to another house and he was intending to have him put to sleep. Our daughter found out about the situation and told the owner, "No, bring him to me and I''ll take care of him." My husband and I first started caring for him while our daughter worked 12-hour days as a registered nurse.During the first month we cared for him I had to call 911 twice, as I thought my husband was in serious medical difficulty. Radar witnessed the emergency medics working on my husband. Since that time, Radar has watched my husband like a hawk. If he thought things weren''t going right he would get my attention so I could check on my husband.Last month, we had to put Radar in the care of our veterinarian, as we would be away on a cruise. We missed him terribly. One morning on the cruise I awoke at 5:00 a.m. thinking I heard Radar''s scratching

L.S., Hurst, TX Apr 18, 2004

Answer:

Thank you for your vivid and moving account of your dog''s "non-local" communication with you that probably saved your husband''s life. The quantum theory of universal consciousness and of what I refer to in my book "The Boundless Circle" (Quest Books, 1996) as the "empathosphere" certainly seems to be confirmed by your experience.Other readers may wish to share similar experiences -- I know of some that have occurred even after an animal companion has died. It''s all part of the great mystery, indeed!

Question:

I want to express my concern about a tick-borne disease just coming into our area that is fatal not only for animals, but humans, too. It is called Ehrlichia. A lot of people and vets are unaware of this disease and don''t know how to treat it or how deadly it can be.Unfortunately, I found out about it the hard way. On Nov. 13 of last year, I lost my precious dog Dukie (who was only 13 years young) from this disease after she was sick for only two weeks. She had Lyme disease for about three years and was always treated for it, so we never thought to look for anything more serious until that time. Her red blood cells and platelets went dangerously low, and her white blood cell count was too high. Our vet figured she was only in the first, or acute, stage of the disease. We immediately started her on treatment of doxycycline and vitamin K (to help keep her from bleeding to death due to low platelets). She died in just three days and was, it turned out, in the last deadly stage of the disease.The only was to kno

L.H., Dover Plains, NY Apr 18, 2004

Answer:

Your letter raises an important public health issue that more veterinarians and physicians are on the alert for -- namely, the increasing incidence of "exotic" diseases, many of which are transmitted by ticks and other insects. In addition to Lyme disease and Ehrichiosis, here are some other tick-related conditions: Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Q fever, theileriosis, babesiosis, trypanosomiasis, borreliosis, tularemia, anaplasmosis, heartwater disease, yellow fever, Colorado tick fever virus, Central European encephalitis virus, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus and tick paralysis.The more that people (and their animals) travel, the more these tick-borne diseases spread. Global warming and climate changes, coupled with pesticide resistance in ticks and pesticides killing off birds and other tick-eating/tick-controlling creatures, all call for greater vigilance and more effective methods of tick control.

Question:

I am writing to ask if an 8-year-old Maltese mix with congestive heart failure should have been given a distemper vaccination. He was taking Lasix (10 milligrams) and enalapril (2.5 milligrams) twice daily.My dilemma is that I took him to a veterinarian (in training) to get an update on his rabies and was told it would be OK to give him the distemper vaccination. We discussed my dog''s condition and I was told he''d be better off to have the vaccination. Five days later he went into cardiac arrest and died.I''m questioning this because, about a year ago, the same veterinarian also gave my dog prednisone, and that seemed to increase his difficulty breathing. About three days later I took him back and the regular, resident veterinarian took him off of the prednisone.Would you please answer my question and advise as to what are the side effects of a distemper vaccination?.

S.LM., Clio, MI Apr 11, 2004

Answer:

The cavalier attitude of some veterinarians toward vaccinating dogs and cats is slow to change. My sympathy goes out to you over the loss of your dog. It would have been prudent not to have given him the rabies booster vaccination, and for you to be provided with a note from the veterinarian saying that, because of your dog''s health problems, the mandatory rabies vaccination was not given.Giving your dog a distemper vaccination at the same time was ill advised. It is best not to combine the rabies shot with other vaccinations. Your vet could have had a blood titer performed to check if any re-vaccinations were actually needed, which is a wise decision for dogs and cats with health problems and who have had booster shots in the past.

Question:

Please offer advice on treating a domestic shorthaired cat with frequent and prolonged bouts of sneezing. She is otherwise healthy in every other regard, and has never lost her normal appetite.I adopted my calico cat from a rescue agency almost four years ago. Information was presented documenting her previous veterinary care, but from her first days with us she has been troubled with sneezing. A local veterinarian suggested that the problem would possibly be temporary in duration, and was most likely associated with a combination of factors such as the trauma of being displayed for an extended period of time at a local pet store awaiting adoption and moving into a new home environment with recently installed carpeting. Scented kitty litter seems to aggravate the malady, so I''m careful to use litter with low-dust components.Her condition seems to have worsened since we recently had the furniture cleaned with dry chemicals and then treated with Scotchguard. Although I did my best to shelter her, I have concer

J.W., Alexandria, Va Apr 11, 2004

Answer:

Your cat, who most likely suffered from a respiratory viral infection during her stressful kittenhood, evidently has an impaired immune system.You mention that she is given "immune system boosters" (which I hope includes vitamins A, C, E and B complex, plus zinc and selenium under veterinary supervision), but give no mention of your cat''s basic diet. It may be helpful to add a teaspoon each of kelp (powdered seaweed) and safflower oil to her food, and give her some surface-scalded (to kill potentially harmful bacteria) slices of raw turkey or chicken, ideally from free-range, organically raised birds.A room nebulizer in the area where your cat sleeps, to which you add a few drops of essential oils such as hyssop and cedar or sandalwood and lavender, will help ameliorate her sinusitis and clear others'' stuffy noses as well.Finally, there are chemicals in new carpets, and the other household chemicals you use create an environmental health problem for your cat that you must avoid in the future by not using them