I was out cutting pastures today and noticed a scrawny red fox who didn’t stray far from me for quite awhile…he was either a mangy, sick fox…or a gangly youngster. He was almost as big as the red foxes I see on my farm often…but had short hair…like a Doberman, rather than golden retriever!!! His tail was long, but looked like a possums…no brush. I"m worried…is he sick or young???
Mange.
CSSJR
It sounds like mange to me. Without quick access to treatment, he will die. Talk with a local wildlife rehabber about treating him with a low dose of liquid (not paste) ivermectin. The rehabber can tell you if it is mange and how much ivermectin he needs and how often. In our area, some rehabbers hot dog train the foxes so they learn to eat hot dogs with a few drops of ivermectin if needed.
Two-tenths of a cc of ivomeck two weeks apart was the treatment I used per vet for mange. Inject into a hot dog or chicken neck (no training required, but you do need to know the fox’s route of march well enough to leave it in a place where the fox will get it before some other critter does.
Note mange is a parasite and foxes likely will pick it up again when using an infected den. It isn’t the mange that kills them, it’s exposure.
he rehabber can tell you if it is mange and how much ivermectin he needs and how often
How am I going to get the ivermectin in him?? He’s wild!! (not to mention I currenty have a broken right arm?) I will call the wildlife folks if I can get them out here…thanks.
That’s what I suspected. With a name like Florida Foxhunter, you’d have thought I’d have known!@!
Leave him alone.
You put the Ivomec in a piece of hotdog or chicken neck, it will not require that you capture him. Just find his regular runs. Better do it sooner rather than later if you hope to save him. They do suffer so, we had to shoot one when we lived in Loudoun County because it was laying all curled up and would not/could not move it was so cold from being naked, also they get too weak to hunt.
Hope you can help the poor critter.
My understanding of hot dog training is that you put a hot dog out in his usual path every night. After a few nights, ivermectin can be added to the hot dog as he will expect his hot dog, will gulp it down and won’t notice the taste of the ivermectin. You may not have a lot of time to “train” your fox. If the mange gets too bad, he can get an infection from scratching and die of sepsis. I guess if he isn’t trained to look for his hot dog every night, another fox could beat him to the hot dog with ivermectin. You may have to put out a hot dog with ivermectin every couple of nights until you see him get it and eat it. I think the dose does need to be repeated in a week or two. Talk with the rehabbers to get the details.
hope it works!
Good luck!:lol:
Just my idears!
Just a thought from my own experience here…I’ve found you need to use the smallest needle possible to inject otherwise the ivomec may leak back out the needle hole. Watch ffor this. This happens a LOT with hot dogs. I suggest chicken with the skin on. Pull the skin over a bit - then inject and let the skin slide back over the injection hole to kindof “seal” it in. It stays in the chicken muscle better than in a hotdog I’ve found. Also - inject it at an angle.
I agree that establishing a “feeding station” is fairly easy with wild foxes and then they will accept and come to anticipate even. Thats a good & bad thing of course!!
I called a fellow foxhunter who is a very prominent person in “Game and Freshwater Fish” here in FL…he didn’t know of anyone I could call in the government for help…said it’s sad, but it’s nature…I haven’t seen the fox in the past few days.
