When Dr. Mark Peterson started veterinary school in 1972, feline hyperthyroidism didn’t seem to exist. He treats nothing else today. This article traces the beginnings of research into the condition, to the treatment and to the links it may have to our own health.
Source: New York Times Magazine, May 16, 2017 (paywall).
A steady drumbeat of research links the strange feline disease to a common class of flame retardants that have blanketed the insides of our homes for decades. But even as the findings may answer one epidemiological question, they raise another it is place. If household chemicals are wreaking havoc on the hormones of cats, what are they doing to us?
INSIGHTS: This article is featured the NYT Magazine’s, “The Health Issue: What Animals Are Teaching Us About Human Health.” You’ll find interesting reading. It may well be worth the $10.50 for a month’s access so you don’t use up all your free views. There is plenty to read.
Also see: Zoobiquity at NAVC. Animal Health Digest, January 19, 2016. Dr. Barbara Natterson- Horowitz and Kathryn Bowers, co-authors of Zoobiquity, shared a presentation of their experiences with connections between human and animal health at last year’s NAVC.