56 BULLETIN 1151. U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
feet development of fur. Proper feeding is essential to a building 
up of resistance against disease attacks. The thorough cooking of 
meat, fish, and offal is an important measure in preventing infec- 
tion with many kinds of bacteria, and of various parasites, such as 
tapeworms. 
PARASITES. 
The chief parasites that affect foxes are hookworms, ascarids, 
lung worms, tapeworms, coccidia, and mange mites. Sanitation is 
just as essential in preventing parasitic diseases as those of bac- 
terial or protozoan origin. The droppings of foxes should be fre- 
quently and thoroughly removed from the dens and pens, since they 
carry the parasite eggs. As previously pointed out, good drainage 
is necessary in the pens and dens, as dryness is unfavorable to para- 
sites and other harmful organisms. 
Young foxes are very susceptible to disease and should be given the 
cleanest possible surroundings in order that they may develop and 
attain the relative immunity afforded by maturity. 
PREVENTIVE MEASURES. 
In maintaining the health of foxes preventive measures against 
disease must be chiefly relied upon. Dry, well- ventilated quarters 
are a prime essential, and these must be kept clean. Foxes are natu- 
rally clean animals and can not thrive in insanitary quarters. 
In addition to cleanliness in pens and dens, close attention should 
be given to the feed and methods of feeding. Nothing should be 
fed that will convey disease organisms. Animals that have died 
from disease should not be fed to foxes unless the meat can be made 
safe by thorough cooking. 
Feeding and drinking dishes should be clean, and the water sup- 
plied should be pure and fresh. After each feeding all dishes should 
be thoroughly cleaned and then boiled. 
Holes in the pen soil should be drained and filled up as often as 
necessary. Wherever possible the surface soil should be scraped off 
periodically and replaced with clean soil. It would be well to spade 
up and turn over the soil, stirring it up with a rake to permit the 
sun to purify it. At least once a month during seasons when it is 
possible the quarters should be disinfected with air-slaked lime or 
a 5 per cent solution of some effective coal-tar disinfectant. These 
precautions will be found a valuable aid in the control of various 
animal parasites as well as a protection from other serious troubles. 
New stock should be quarantined and examined for infection of 
any kind, and if necessary treated before being placed with clean 
animals or on clean areas. Sick animals should always be isolated 
at once to prevent the spread of disease. Foxes returning from 
shows or from neighboring ranches should be kept separate from 
the other animals for at least three weeks. If they have been exposed 
to any disease, it will usually be apparent in that time. 
If disease breaks out in the neighborhood, the rancher should 
maintain a strict quarantine against it. Dogs, cats, rats, and birds, 
as well as people, may carry infection from ranch to ranch, and this 
should be remembered and visiting discouraged and trespassing pre- 
vented so far as possible. 
