hey pennsylvania help us treat foxes for mange more easily.

A fox I snapped a photo of in 2020. You can see this fox has a small patch of bare skin on it’s shoulder? That is mange. It’s common with foxes, sadly.

One of my favorite animals in my gardens and woods are my foxes. I do not feed them or the deer (and deer are NOT welcome in my garden.) But I admire and watch for my foxes. They bring me joy.

Every year we have new litters of fox kits. One vixen in particular, will show me her kits. from a distance. I do not approach, but sometimes early in the morning, there she is with the babies. This vixen in particular is one of my favorites. She keeps down the rodent population. IU saw her today for the first time in a while. She has a patch of mange on her right shoulder in the front. She looks otherwise healthy. No scabs around her eyes and other mange symptoms. (CLICK HERE.)

Mange will spread by direct contact. So if a fox gets too close who has mange, or you have a dog who chases foxes, it’s pretty easy for your dog to get mange. You can treat your dogs under veterinary care, but ironically you can’t really treat the source, like a fox with mange. Mange is caused by a mite. (I forgot to mention that.) Essentially our domestic animal vets are not allowed to treat foxes and wildlife. And most wildlife refuges etc will tell you when you call they don’t really treat foxes.

But while it should be common sense in Pennsylvania to be able to treat our local wildlife for a very treatable thing, Pennsylvania as in the state, doesn’t seem to want vets to treat wildlife even if they wanted to. I think they should be able to within reason. Maybe not every vet, but maybe a selection of vets or say an SPCA or animal welfare league or humane society.

Mange can be fatal to an animal if it goes untreated for a long time. Here is something I found about mange in red foxes:

So Bravecto which is kind of expensive is a very effective drug. People also use ivermectin, although I am told an incorrect dosage can harm a fox.

Now I am sure all remember ivermectin. That was the drug that the crazies were sure cured COVID-19 which it does not. So I think in part we can thank stupid human tricks for not being able to now treat foxes for mange.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission has an entire page devoted to foxes as beautiful wildlife. (CLICK HERE.)

Mange is nasty – Penn Vet has written a big thing about it too. (CLICK HERE.)

So Pennsylvania, maybe doing something decent here and help us treat foxes as a source of mange when we see it. Don’t perpetuate stupid human tricks to the point that an otherwise healthy animal can spread this and lose it’s life eventually. That is not the cycle of life, I think that is cruelty.

That’s it, that’s my plea.

9 thoughts on “hey pennsylvania help us treat foxes for mange more easily.

  1. You can keep them over there on your side of Morstein. The other night they dug almost 3 feet underground to get in the chicken pen and got four of my girls. Sorry to say but if we see them, they are goners. Sorry!!!!

    • I don’t think my foxes go that far and I am so sorry they got your girls. For doing that they don’t deserve nice things.

  2. https://www.livescience.com/27168-foxes.html
    A neighbor had 4 hens – a raised house with a wire fence around it. Over a 4 week period, all 4 hens had disappeared. Was it the fox we all heard at various times of day and night? Nope. The dog came through the woods and two roads away….late at night.

  3. I’ve heard meds can be placed inside a hard boiled egg and left out for the foxes to help treat mange

  4. Just wanted to let you know that your vixen, Fantasia (Fanny), your three legged fox was here visiting just a while ago, but our dog, Harmony, kindly sent her on her way back to Toms Circle. She safely ran across Morstein .

    • As long as Harmony didn’t come in direct contact with her because she has mange. Thanks for letting me know you have seen her. Hopefully I will see her in the next few days and be able to give her meds.

      • She did not come in contact. We occasionally have a dead fox on the property over the years and they have all had mange. Cause of death though has always been due to being struck by autos. Always had game warden check it out. Two had rabies too !$

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