The old fox seems to be developing a slight routine, turning up around midnight. If he keeps it up, we'll be able to treat him properly over the next few weeks, but I'm not counting any chickens yet. He's liable to disappear again for a few weeks if past experience is anything to go by. Meanwhile we're making him welcome when he does show up.
The young male is also around somewhere (I spotted him in the garden yesterday morning briefly, stark against the snow and no camera to hand…. aargh!). The two of them have seemingly divided the territory by time (the youngster more visible in daylight hours, the old feller appearing under cover of night). And if there are vixens around they are keeping well hidden.
Back to last night, and some photos.
Looking reasonably good from this view. The facial scars are old.
Grazing on sultanas
The impact of the mange is clear in this shot
Go to work on an egg
Dudley
25 Jan 2007Whoa, that mange is nasty.
Words
26 Jan 2007Unfortunately it is. But he's not in fact in as bad shape as the vixen we treated successfully last year. So if he shows up and takes his medicine, I'm quite hopeful.
sprogger
26 Jan 2007He`ll be feeling the cold on that leg.
anonymous
27 Jan 2007Zachary writes:
Hi Words, great pictures as always, I look forward to seeing them.
I was wondering about the mange: in the majority of photos of foxes infected with mange that I have seen, the mange starts on the tail and ends up on the flank. I've never seen mange that starts near the forequarters. Have you?
I was wondering if mange is contracted through the ground when the fox accidentally sits on a nest of mites? Or for mange mite eggs, are they laid on the ground, and are picked up when the fox brushes them with the tail or hindquarters?
Words
27 Jan 2007Hi Zachary,
Yes it generally seems to start at the rear, though it can affect the whole body and head. I've seen thinning of the hair on the forequarters but in that case it was doubtful that the fox had mange. There's a risk of reinfection from proximity to other foxes, which is possibly why it is prevalent in urban areas (or maybe we just see it more often).
SittingFox
27 Jan 2007May I add my $0.02?
Agreed that it almost always starts on the rump (I have seen one case where it was present only on the face). When I was a student and had access to lots of scientific papers, I tried searching for technical information on this disease but depressingly little was available. I did find an appalling "study" where two captive foxes were deliberately infected with mange and then monitored to see how long they took to die. All in the name of science, I guess 🙁
Questions I have: where did mange originate, what makes one fox more susceptible than another (there is a theory put forward by a charity stating that diet is a factor, but I have very serious concerns about how these data were analysed) and why does it appear, on ancedotal accounts, to be more serious in UK wildlife than in North American individuals. Many mysteries here.
Words
27 Jan 2007Thanks for adding to this thread. I've seen the diet theories, but even those promoting them suggested they were somewhat speculative. I do suspect that the impression of high prevalence in the UK is partly down to visibility. Sick animals get spotted (and treated). That's unlikely outside an urban area, so monitoring is very uneven for comparative purposes.
Do you know if Stephen Harris' crew down in Bristol are looking into any of these areas?
SittingFox
27 Jan 2007Unfortunately I'm getting a bit out of the loop when it comes to current research but mange isn't mentioned on Bristol Uni's research page. I would hope someone is doing a thorough study of these issues. I could ask the professor who supervised my dissertation if she knows.
The susceptibility issue still baffles me. Of my garden group, the Ginger Vixen never got it, the Fringe Vixen was exposed time and again until she finally caught it, Takahe mated with the Old Dogfox when he was infected, didn't catch it…yet the Survivor Vixen twice nearly died from it. :confused: I note that both our alpha dogfoxes have had it.
Not sure if I've posted this before or not, but here's a coyote I photographed with mild mange in Jasper in 2003. (Note the tail.)
anonymous
28 Jan 2007Zachary writes:
Hi Adele,
Thanks for the extra information. Were the foxes in the [cruel but thorough?] study penned in an outdoors area? (I thought the primary cause of death from mange was from exposure after all the fur falls off.) Will mange also cause infection? I remember a while back when Thickbrush and the Survivor Vixen had mange and you said they seemed to have caught colds.
SittingFox
28 Jan 2007Hi Zachary,
I think they were inside kennels and killed after a number of weeks. I believe that you are correct and that death is usually secondary (hypothermia, loss of hunting ability due to immobility and eyesight issues – mange is associated with conjunctivitis, though certainly not in all cases).
Yes, Thickbrush in particular developed a strange "hiccup". I cannot say for sure whether it was connected with mange but it's certainly a possibility.
Adele