fed at all. Nevertheless the fox exhibits an appetite for a certain 

 amount of vegetable material, and is often observed to nibble 

 grass or the leaves of trees. This indicates in all probability a 

 real physiological need, and the deliberate provision of some leafy 

 materials from time to time might therefore be beneficial. Possibly 

 some kinds of desiccated vegetable could be successfully utilized. 

 Eggs are capable of supplying every requirement of a growing 

 animal, except possibly calcium, and will of course supply this 

 also if the shell is eaten. - Milk, in sufficient quantity, will rnake 

 good any dietary deficiency whatsoever, and the more extensive 

 use of milk, when necessary suitably modified, would perhaps 

 solve not a few of the nutritional problems at present confronting 

 the fox raiser. It is true that milk already occupies a place in the 

 diet list of practically every ranch I have visited. But it may be 

 questioned whether the amount fed is universally sufficient to 

 make good the defects of the meat and cereals which supply the 

 bulk of the nutriment. There exists among breeders some differ- 

 ence, of opinion as to the best form in which to administer milk to 

 foxes. The proper practice would probably be to use only raw 

 whole milk. To remove the fat is to remove an important nutrient, 

 in which the diet as a whole is already deficient, and with it the 

 associated fat-soluble accessory; while to heat the milk is to 

 destroy or diminish its vitamine content in general, and therefore 

 seriously to affect its growth-promoting and protective properties. 



When cow's milk is used for the feeding of very young foxes, 

 it ought, we may assume, to be so modified as to approximate in 

 composition the milk supplied by the vixen. Unfortunately the 

 exact composition of the vixen's milk is not known. There is on 

 record but one analysis, and that a very imperfect one, of a sample 

 which may or may hot have represented a fair average. So far 

 as it goes it indicates a much higher fat and a much lower sugar 

 content than cow's milk. This is quite in accord with what is 

 known of the milk of small animals in general. It would therefore 

 seem reasonable to use for the growing pup cow's milk of the 

 highest obtainable fat content, and even to enrich this by the 

 addition of a suitable amount of cream. But before the fox 

 breeder can be furnished with authoritative guidance in the adap- 

 tation of cow's milk to the successive stages of the young animal's 

 growth, it will be necessary to secure more comprehensive and 



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