Abstract
BackgroundPre-weaning diarrhea in mink, also known as “sticky kits”, is a syndrome and outbreaks occur every year on commercial mink farms in all mink producing countries. Morbidity and mortality can be considerable on a farm with huge economic consequences for the farmer as well as compromised welfare for the mink kits. Although efforts have been taken to identify etiologic agents involved in outbreaks, the syndrome is still regarded as multifactorial and recurring problems on the same farms draw attention to management and environmental risk factors. In the pre-weaning period from May to June 2015, a case control study was carried out on 30 Danish mink farms. Data concerning management, biosecurity, hygiene, feed consumption, antibacterial prescription and production efficiency were analyzed.ResultsThe proportion of 1-year old females, farm size (total number of females), energy supply per female in the late gestation period, and dogs accessing the farm area were significantly associated with being a case farm. Case farms were prescribed almost twice the amount of antibacterials per gestational unit (female and litter) as in control farms. Farmers on case farms spent significantly more time nursing and treating the animals and experienced more females with mastitis compared to farmers on control farms. No significant differences in cleaning practices or hygienic measures between case and control farms were found and there were no differences in drinking water quality, bedding material, composition neither of color types nor in management regarding litter equalization.ConclusionsResults from this study showed an association between the occurrence of pre-weaning diarrhea on mink farms and parity profile, farm size and feeding intensity in the gestational period. The access of dogs to the farm area was a significant risk factor, but needs further clarification.
Highlights
Pre-weaning diarrhea in mink, known as “sticky kits”, is a syndrome and outbreaks occur every year on commercial mink farms in all mink producing countries
Diarrhea in the pre-weaning period of mink known as “sticky kits”, “wet kits” or “greasy kits” is a syndrome, which has been known in Denmark for more than 60 years [1]
There were no differences in the percentage of barren females in the two groups, no significant difference in number of kits/female and the average number of weaned kits/breeding female in the case group was 5.6 compared to 6.1 in the control group, which was not significant (P = 0.2)
Summary
Pre-weaning diarrhea in mink, known as “sticky kits”, is a syndrome and outbreaks occur every year on commercial mink farms in all mink producing countries. Morbidity and mortality can be considerable on a farm with huge economic consequences for the farmer as well as compromised welfare for the mink kits. Diarrhea in the pre-weaning period of mink known as “sticky kits”, “wet kits” or “greasy kits” is a syndrome, which has been known in Denmark for more than 60 years [1]. Whole mink litters are affected and the morbidity rate vary from zero to more than 30% of the litters with a mortality of typically one or two kits per litter [3]. The syndrome is rather common in all mink producing countries the number of farms and the severity of outbreaks vary from year to year [3].
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