You might attract more than just cats by leaving food outdoors

Dear Dr. Fox:

More fur could fly! Not yet mentioned in your columns regarding feral cats is the well-meaning but poorly advised habit some people have of leaving cat food outside in bowls.

Cats are not the only creatures attracted to cat food. Raccoons, coyotes, and rats and mice are, too. And these animals are fairly abundant here in western Prince William County, and perhaps in your area.

A lot of my neighbors leave trash, including meat and bones, in thin plastic bags on the curb for the twice-a-week trash pickup, rather than utilizing the solid plastic bins everyone is provided. The homeowners association, strict on many things, has been lax in this regard.

When I walk my beagle around the neighborhood, I see many of these trash bags ripped open, with bones strewn about, perhaps the work of cats or wild animals. The bones could cause choking in animals, and they attract flies.

Eventually, coyotes will catch on that there are free meals from these trash bags and cat food bowls. Once they do, it’s just a matter of time before small pets start disappearing, as has already happened in the western United States. Maybe then something will be done.

D.V., Prince William County

DF: Yes, it seems the fur must fly before people wake up and act responsibly on many fronts.

I have addressed the issue of people putting out food for free-roaming cats in earlier columns. It is one of many human activities that, as Dan Flores emphasizes in his excellent book “Coyote America,’’ create ideal conditions for some wild species to proliferate, so the war on wildlife will continue.

All garbage should be put in raccoon-proof containers: These masked bandits are the most dexterous of species in opening containers and spreading the contents out for all to share. More than one dog has died from eating the bones out of the garbage, but coyotes seem to handle such potentially hazardous fare just fine.

Those goodhearted people who put out food for stray cats and end up feeding raccoons, opossums and the occasional coyote — which will happily make a meal out of a cat — must realize that their concern for cats amounts to misguided altruism and does more harm than good, as you point out in your letter. Such feeding encourages cats to congregate and multiply. Even neutered “community colonies’’ of cats pose a serious threat to wildlife and to public health.

Real concern calls for responsible action, and with free-roaming cats, that means humane trapping, neutering and holding in quarantine or group housing in sanctuaries where rehabilitation and socialization can lead to many becoming friendly and adoptable.

Dear Dr. Fox:

Several years ago, you gave us excellent advice about our cat’s low neutrophil level. We followed your vitamin and food regimen, and Jacky Paper remains an active cat.

I’m writing because Jacky has always had a weird fetish. A friend recently suggested that it could be diet- or vitamin-related, so we’re turning to you once again. The cat has an obsessive need to gnaw on plastic, rubber bands, twist ties, ribbons, bows and any substance that is plastic or rubbery.

For example, when we bring home bottles held together by plastic rings, Jacky hears us separating the bottles and comes running into the kitchen, jumps onto the counter and tries to bite the plastic. When we throw the rings into the garbage, she claws at the can, trying to get at them. It’s like a cat version of pica.

A few weeks ago, we were awakened at 4 a.m. to the sound of Jacky Paper choking. I jumped up and was horrified to see that she had just vomited up a piece of plastic about 4 inches long by about 1 inch wide. We discovered that we had inadvertently left a plastic bag of oranges in the fruit bowl — we forgot to take out the fruit and throw the bag away. Of course, she zeroed in on the bag and chewed it up and swallowed the plastic.

What can we do to curb her plastic fetish?

B.K., Arlington County

DF: I always advise close examination of the animal's oral cavity to rule out inflammation or infection that can make some animals want to chew things to help alleviate the discomfort.

The second consideration is possible digestive or inflammatory bowel problems or internal parasites. All of these are possible triggers for pica, or abnormal appetite. But if there is no identifiable physical cause and only specific materials are chosen to consume, I would diagnose addictive behavior triggered by one or more substances.

In the case of plastic materials, extracts of animal fats (stearates) are used as a softener, and some animals may detect the odor or taste and find it irresistible. Some cats like to hoard and chew paper money, which is treated with a finishing coat containing animal fat extract.

Once a cat develops an addiction to these kinds of materials, the only thing to do is to keep vigilant and store such items out of the cat’s reach. Plastics, including those on food packaging, contain phthalates, which disrupt the endocrine system, along with bisphenol A (BPA), which is still used as a lining in canned foods for human consumption, as well as in most cans of pet food.

Many chemicals have been put into the environment and into the food chain with limited, if any, knowledge about their safety. A coalition of health-care professionals and scientists have posted a call-to-action statement called Project TENDR (Targeting Environmental Neuro-Development Risks) in the scientific journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Dear Dr. Fox:

Our local TV station runs a commercial showing an empty NHL arena and saying there are 20,000 empty seats. This is the same number of dogs euthanized in the area in the past year.

Where do all these dogs come from? They can’t all be from pets that weren’t spayed or neutered. Is this a result of puppy mills and breeders who can’t sell their puppies? I think local TV stations and newspapers should show the faces of the dogs they put down. This needs to stop.

L.J., St. Louis

DF: I appreciate your concern and applaud the local TV station for not too graphically giving the public a feel for how many puppies and adult dogs are killed every year in shelters. The number of kittens and cats would be many times more.

All of this is not entirely the fault of commercial puppy and kitten mills; rather, it’s the lack of understanding and concern among cat and dog owners who allow their animals to roam free and to breed. Some even say that it is educational for their children to see the “miracle of birth,’’ and thus justify not having their dogs and cats fixed.

Many animals are abandoned by people who find them too much trouble or difficult to care for, or whose kids have lost interest in them. Some are abandoned rather than surrendered to the shelter, because the owners fear the animals will be euthanized. Many animals in shelters had easy-to-correct behavioral problems; others were just too expensive to care for, especially popular and expensive purebreds with built-in health problems. Other dogs and cats filling those stadium seats are from owners who can no longer keep them because of housing restrictions.

“Full house’’ at the community animal shelter is a sad reflection of the times. Several years ago, a friend, the late Tom Hughes, who worked in municipal animal rescue and sheltering in Canada, was so aghast at the number of surrendered, abandoned and stray animals that were being euthanized that he took a week’s kill and piled the bodies on the steps of the government offices and called in the media.

More media coverage is needed today on many animal issues, and local stations can also help promote shelter adoptions and free, responsible animal care instruction.

Michael W. Fox, author of a newsletter and books on animal care, welfare and rights, is a veterinarian with doctoral degrees in medicine and animal behavior. Send letters to animaldocfox@gmail.com or write to him at United Feature Syndicate, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, Mo. 64106.

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You might attract more than just cats by leaving food outdoors