Fox Diseases: Human Health Risks & Dangers

2 years ago
by Heather Whitney
fox

Content:

Foxes live amongst humans in towns and cities because they find it easy to scavenge for food in these areas. Most foxes will avoid you whenever it detects your presence. However, foxes may not run away from you if they think you can provide them with food. 

Some of the foods luring foxes to human environments include unsecured garbage, pet foods, and thrown away remains. For this reason, you may see foxes visiting your backyard from time to time. 

Typically, the best way to respond to foxes is to leave them alone, even if you encounter one during the day. However, it is essential to protect your pets from foxes because they can transmit diseases to the pets, attack, or even kill them.  

Do Foxes Carry Diseases? 

Whether or not foxes carry diseases can affect how you may relate with foxes and the boundaries you may want to put between foxes and your backyard. Pets like dogs may not fear foxes. However, small animals such as rabbits, cats, and guinea pigs may feel threatened when foxes approach them.  

Foxes are famous for harboring various disease-causing parasites, both external and internal. Some of these parasites include flukes, heartworm, mites, lungworm, intestinal worms, and ticks. Other parasites affecting foxes may be protozoans, fleas, fungi, and bacteria. 

Humans can also contract fox diseases, such as Echinococcus multilocularis, trichinella spirals, and Toxocara canis. However, most of these diseases are rare in the United States and globally. Scientists link these diseases to originate from foxes. 

In most cases, fox diseases and parasites get into your pets and then transmit to humans when you interact with your pets. 

Pets and Foxes 

Regardless of the type of pets you keep at your home, you may feel concerned whenever you see a fox wandering around while your pets are outdoors.

The best precautions to take in such occurrences are the same as those appropriate for pets with or without having foxes around. These precautions include:  

  1. Keeping Your Pets Safe

Typically, an adult cat has almost the same weight and size as a fox and can defend itself from most foxes. Therefore, a fox is not likely to take on a fully grown cat. However, small cats (kittens) are smaller than foxes and remain vulnerable to attacks. 

Keeping your cats indoors protects them from encountering foxes scavenging in your backyard. Additionally, keeping your cats indoors protects them from other hazards like diseases, fights, and traffic.  

Foxes are not likely to attack your dog unless it threatens to attack their young ones. However, avoid leaving them outside unattended because they can contract fox diseases and carry them to your home. 

  1. Protecting Other Small Animals and Pets

Small pets like guinea pigs and rabbits should stay indoors for their safety and health, particularly during the night. 

During the day, you can let them wander around your backyard but keep an eye on them to protect them from foxes and other predators like eagles. 

You can protect birds and other poultry using pens or sturdy hutches that can withstand break-in attempts by foxes and other predators. 

  1. Repellents

Most of the repellents you use to repel dogs from your yard can effectively keep away foxes. Use the very same products whenever you wish to keep away foxes from visiting your yard. You may even choose not to take precautions for repelling foxes if you have already dealt with dogs.  

  1. Fencing

Fencing your backyard can keep away foxes from getting into your yard and maybe interacting with your pets. Electric fences work best when reinforced with other permanent fences. 

You may also use an L-shaped fence to protect foxes that may tend to dig burrows under your fence to gain access to your backyard. 

Diseases Carried by Foxes

Rabies, Mange, and Tularemia are some of the most common fox diseases globally. Humans and pets are highly vulnerable to contracting rabies, Mange, and Tularemia through fox bites and mites from an infected fox.  

Some of the symptoms of rabies include discomfort, painful or itchy wound in the bitten area, fever, and headaches.

Humans and pets should get prompt medical attention if suspected of having transmitted rabies.     

Tularemia can exist in both live foxes and carcasses of the foxes. You or your pet can get the disease through skin contact. Some of the symptoms of Tularemia include swelling, skin ulcers, and fever. 

Fox Removal and Prevention of Fox Diseases

Humans and pets should avoid approaching, handling, or touching wild or stray foxes, whether alive or dead. 

You should contact animal control agencies, police departments, or health departments when concerned with fox problems. 

Professional wildlife controllers can effectively remove foxes from your backyard to ensure safety for humans, pets, and the fox. Controlled removal of foxes from human environments can prevent the transmission of fox diseases. 

What to Do if a Fox Bites Your Pet? 

Foxes carry diseases and parasites that can be transmitted to your pet whenever they have an encounter. Getting a fox bite can be dangerous to you and your pet. So, what action should you take if a fox bites your pet? 

It would help if you immediately carry your pet to a veterinary officer for evaluation and clinical examination such as treatment or vaccination. 

Moreover, you can contact the animal control agency or department within your locality to monitor your pet at your home or in a veterinary institution. 

A thing to note: rapid foxes may act contrary to the natural actions of normal foxes. More so, mangy foxes may not even be concerned about your presence. Therefore, you should be careful when you see any fox that acts unnaturally. 

Rabies and Mange in Foxes

Typically, foxes do not attack humans unless they have rabies, which scientists believe is very rare. 

Foxes can succumb to rabies. However, the rabies strain in foxes has rare chances of getting transmitted to humans. More so, you can get post-exposure treatment which is 100% effective when administered promptly. 

More importantly, it would be best if you got all your domestic animals and pets vaccinated to protect them, you, your family, and others against the rabies disease. 

Notably, it is common to see foxes loitering around during the day; hence it may not cause an alarm. 

Foxes wander around during the day to prey on chipmunks, birds, squirrels, and several other small animals that are active during the day. Therefore, foxes have to get out of their caves and burrows during the day to hunt these prey. 

You may think of looking for the following signs in the fox’s behavior before reporting a fox to the authorities or calling for assistance: 

  • Self-mutilation
  • Acting unnaturally domestic
  • Staggering or circling like a drunkard
  • Inability to walk well or to show partial paralysis
  • Showing signs of aggressiveness without being threatened or attacked

You or your pet can get exposed to rabies through saliva, bites, or contact with blood from a rabid animal. Therefore, you should avoid approaching a fox that shows one or more signs listed above. 

The best way to deal with such a fox is to contact the police, health, or animal control agency when you encounter a fox portraying the above-listed behaviors. 

Mange

Sarcoptes scabiei mites are microscopic parasites causing a disease called Mange. A mangy animal experiences patches or whole-body hair loss. 

Mange results in severe skin irritation causing foxes (or any other affected animal) to chew their tails or skin, attempting to relieve themselves from the itching. 

When the disease is at the advanced stages, the affected fox can be seen traversing your yard during the day. The animal may even seem to be unafraid of your presence. 

What if a Fox Bites You? 

If a wild, stray, or tamed fox bites you, thoroughly wash the bitten region with water and soap. Contact your doctor or visit the nearest hospital, clinic, or dispensary immediately. 

Immediate medical attention can prevent, treat, or vaccinate a rabies infection. 

More so, remember to report the incident to your local police department, health department, or animal control agency. 

How to Differentiate Rabid and Mangy Fox? 

Both mangy and rabid animals appear sick and may seem not to fear humans. But you can know if a fox is many-stricken or rabid if you are keen on these differences: 

  • Mangy foxes seek warm places to maintain their body temperatures. Death of mange-stricken foxes may arise from causes such as hypothermia and starvation. 
  • Like many other animals, foxes need furred skins to protect themselves from harsh winter temperatures; however, mites enjoy attacking animals with less fur. Therefore, mangy foxes find it rough when the condition worsens as more and more mites attack it, leading to death. 
  • Rabid foxes are highly aggressive and may attack humans and other animals. 
  • Rabid foxes may act unnaturally tamed when in reality, it is not. 

Most veterinary institutions can effectively treat Mange disease. You may opt to take responsibility for helping a mangy fox by contacting the local animal control agency if you encounter one.   

Other Notable Fox Diseases

Foxes may also suffer from diseases such as pneumonia, paradontal disease, hydrocephalus (water in the brain), choking, and jaundice, leading to cub mortality. 

Foxes can also carry cerebral diseases causing some sort of madness, mental disorders, or brain damage.  When affected by such illnesses, foxes may tend to stagger, walk in circles, and seem not to fear the presence of humans even when they shout at it. 

Also, in areas where humans feed on foxes, bioaccumulation of heavy metals can cause dangerous effects to human beings. 

Humans that feed on foxes with bioaccumulated heavy metals risk causing central nervous system damage such as limb paralysis, motor, and sensory disorders, tremors, ataxia, and various visual impairments problems. 

Final Thoughts

Foxes carry various diseases as well as external and internal parasites. Some of these diseases and parasites can impact human health. Pets are also highly susceptible to contracting fox diseases.

However, these diseases are rare and may not pose a significant threat to you and your pet. But it is essential to seek medical attention whenever a concern arises. 

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