How to prevent and treat selenium deficiency in raccoon dogs? Detailed methods and key points

Prevention and treatment of selenium deficiency in raccoon dogs

Selenium deficiency has obvious regional characteristics. Generally, a selenium-deficient geological environment causes selenium deficiency in humans and livestock, especially in years with heavy autumn rain, when selenium in the surface soil is lost with the rainwater, and herbivorous or omnivorous animals find it difficult to obtain enough selenium from plants, thus developing selenium deficiency.

The narrow belt from northeast to southwest China is all selenium-deficient areas, with western Heilongjiang Province and Liangshan in Sichuan being the most deficient. In selenium-deficient animals, the selenium concentration in the organs and tissues of the body decreases. Under actual production conditions, liver necrosis may occur, or it may appear together with muscular dystrophy, mulberry heart, and white muscle disease. Clinically, various animals show different manifestations, but what they have in common is decreased productivity, reduced litter size, infertility, and movement disorders; mammals show retained placenta, etc. When raising animals in selenium-deficient areas, attention must be paid to selenium supplementation.

Raccoon dogs are omnivorous animals, and under artificial rearing conditions, plant-based feed accounts for most of their diet. In Heilongjiang Province @#@252@#@ there is more, and the plant-based feed is all produced locally (in selenium-poor areas). Therefore, trace element selenium and vitamin E must be appropriately added to the diet.

Clinical manifestations.

There are no obvious symptoms at the beginning of the disease, and it is often ignored. As time goes on, after dozens of days, due to long-term deficiency, there will be reduced appetite or complete loss of appetite, mental depression, a tendency to lie down, and inflexible movement of the hind limbs. The lower back is arched, and walking is difficult. During forced movement, the two forelimbs kneel down, and the hind limbs drag along the ground as it crawls forward, sometimes assuming a sitting-dog posture. Due to long-term malnutrition, the body becomes weak, until it dies of exhaustion. This disease mostly occurs during the rapid growth period of young raccoon dogs. If the diet during pregnancy lacks trace element selenium, the newborn raccoon dogs will not be able to suckle (wooden tongue disease) and die.

Necropsy changes. Degeneration of skeletal muscle and cardiac muscle; skeletal muscle is dry, pale in color, cloudy, with a rough and uneven cut surface, depressions, and necrotic foci, appearing pale yellow or white, and this is more obvious in the longissimus dorsi muscle and the muscles of the hind limbs at the buttocks. The cardiac muscle has reduced fat, a paler color, is cloudy, lacks luster, with ventricular dilation, and the heart wall becomes thin and soft. The tongue coating of the young animals is white. Prevention and control measures: feed a complete-price diet, and when mixing feed oneself, pay attention to supplementing selenium and vitamin E to prevent the occurrence of this disease. Treatment methods: first supplement selenium, using physiological saline to prepare a sodium selenite solution with a concentration of 0.1%. Treatment dose for those under 5 months of age: intramuscular injection 1.1 mg, oral administration 2.0 mg; preventive dose: intramuscular injection 1.0 ml, oral administration 1.5 ml. While supplementing selenium, intramuscular or subcutaneous injection of 5.0-10.0 mg of vitamin E solution per animal per day will enhance the therapeutic effect. Because the therapeutic dose of sodium selenite is very close to the toxic dose, the amount used must be especially cautious. A commercially available sodium selenite-vitamin E injection can also be used, but when using it, be sure to follow the instructions, or calculate the amount for each use based on its sodium selenite content before use, to avoid causing selenium poisoning. Long-term intake of 5-10 mg/kg feed selenium by various animals can produce chronic poisoning, manifested as weight loss, anemia, joint stiffness, loss of hooves (nails, claws), hair loss, and effects on reproduction, etc. A single intake of 500-1000 mg/kg feed selenium can cause acute or subacute poisoning; mild cases show blind, staggering movement, and severe cases die.