Follow up to Seizures in Fox Cubs

I need to clarify what I wrote yesterday about getting to the bottom of collapse and seizures in foc cubs. There are various possible reasons such as Teratogenic viruses. Teratogenic virus is "defined as an environmental agent which causes developmental defects during pregnancy through a direct effect. on the fetus.' This includes severe abnormalities which. may lead to embryonic or fetal death, and less severe symptoms."

We have seen cubs with Hydrocephalus which is a neurological disorder caused by an abnormal buildup of cerebrospinal fluid in the ventricles (cavities) deep within the brain. This excess fluid causes the ventricles to widen, putting harmful pressure on the brain's tissues.

There is a very interesting technical paper on the subject of hydrocephalus worth noting.

Hydrocephalus in Animals

Guest Editor (s): Giuseppe Cinalli, M. Memet Özek, and Christian Sainte-Rose

Pediatric Neurosurgery, Santobono Pausilipon Children’s Hospital, Naples, Italy

Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Acıbadem University, School of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey Pediatric Neurosurgery, Hôpital Necker-Enfants Malades Université René Descartes-Paris V, Paris, France Giuseppe Cinalli, Martin Schmidt and Nele Ondreka

National Library of Medicince, PMC Public Med Central Published online 12th 2019 

"Internal hydrocephalus is the most common brain malformation in dogs. Pathological studies documenting changes of the ventricular dimensions and associated clinical signs in canines have been described for almost 100 years . However, the pathomechanism behind the abnormal ventricular distension was largely ignored, and the prognosis was generally assessed as poor.

" A classification of hydrocephalus was and still is limited to communicating or non-communicating and congenital or acquired forms. From today’s clinical perspective and with the experience of the last 10 years, we are aware of the diversity of underlying pathomechanisms, concurrent defects, and clinical presentations. With increasing experience in diagnosis and treatment of hydrocephalus, determination and observation of subgroups that differ in their potential clinical outcome, complication rate, and long-term survival is essential for the future."

Foxes being wild canids the above is well worth noting as is the below.

In a research article titled Inbreeding as a Cause of Congenital Hydrocephalus Tanya T Kitova Anastasia V Bailey wrote that:

"The fetus from a mother being a close relative 'marriage' is at a 6 times increased risk of developing hydrocephalus associated with the agenesis of the corpus callosum leading to the fetal third-grade inbreeding, and the risk is significantly high [OR = 30.000 CI 95% (1.410–638.150)]."

We are seeing the UK fox population under severe threat. Foxes are being killed in many ways (legal and illegal) and cars do the most damage. The estimate of 60,000 plus killed on roads each year is sadly not far off the mark (in Bristol alone from January to 18th May 2023 we have had 105 reported fox deaths). 

Foxes are being wiped out almost on a par with how badgers are (though, ignoring the illegal killings the most are killed "legally") and the badger population has, I believe hit crisis point if not gone over the line into endangered species and foxes likewise. There are fewer foxes to mate and that means that related animals are breeding which is not good for offspring. Those turned out by fox rescues each year are probably the only reason why foxes have not become a rarity to see but that point is not far off.

The Reader can see that healthy cubs suddenly having seizures -noted by rescues also- and dying or needing to be put down is far from a rare event and could be called a common event. It may be that long term research is needed to get to any core problem but rescues do not submit these cubs for post mortems so we are losing valuable data.

We need to look at wildlife and foxes in particular more closely.