Treatment Methods for Vitamin A Deficiency in Fox Farming

[Cause] Vitamin A in the feed fails to meet the fox's requirement, or the vitamin A in the diet is destroyed due to prolonged storage, oxidation, spoilage, or improper mixing, or the absorption of vitamin A is affected by digestive tract diseases. These are the main causes of this disease.

[Symptoms] This disease mainly manifests as keratinization of the skin and mucous membranes. When silver foxes (silver-black foxes) suffer from this disease, degeneration of the myelin phospholipids of nerve fibers occurs, follicular degeneration occurs in female foxes, and degeneration of the seminiferous tubule epithelium occurs in male foxes, thereby affecting the reproductive function of the foxes.

The clinical manifestations in young foxes and adult foxes are basically the same. Generally, when vitamin A is insufficient, clinical symptoms appear after 2 to 3 months. The early symptoms are neurological disorders, convulsions, head tilting backward, and the sick fox losing balance and falling down. The sick fox's stress response is enhanced, and it becomes highly excited by minor stimuli, circling along the cage with a staggering gait. The intestinal function of the cubs is damaged to varying degrees, with diarrhea symptoms appearing, and the feces mixed with large amounts of mucus and blood; sometimes pneumonia symptoms appear, with retarded growth and slow tooth replacement.

[Pathological Anatomical Changes] The dead carcasses are generally relatively emaciated and anemic. Cubs often have tracheitis and bronchitis. Young foxes also often show gastroenteritis changes, with ulcers in the stomach and stones found in the kidneys and bladder.

[Diagnosis] The vitamin A content in the blood of sick foxes and the liver of dead animals is measured, and a therapeutic diagnosis can also be made by adding vitamin A to the diet for confirmation.

[Prevention and Treatment] To prevent the occurrence of this disease, first of all, the supply of vitamin A in the diet should be ensured, and attention should be paid to the supply of vegetables, fish and liver in the feed. For treatment of this disease, vitamin A can be added to the feed, with the therapeutic dose being 5 to 10 times the requirement, and 3000 to 5000 IU per animal per day for silver foxes and Arctic foxes.