Dam characteristics associated with pre-weaning diarrhea in mink (Neovison vison)

Abstract

BackgroundPre-weaning diarrhea (PWD) in mink, also known as “sticky kits”, is a frequently occurring syndrome in suckling mink kits on commercial mink farms. Outbreaks of PWD result in weakened kits, increased mortality and reduced growth and welfare as well as considerable economic losses for the farmers. The syndrome is regarded as multifactorial with a complex etiology, and studies have focused on associations with environment, management and dam characteristics. The present study was conducted from May to June 2015 and included 70 dams with mink litters with and without PWD. The aims were to examine associations between PWD and mastitis (bacterial infection and histological signs of inflammation or other lesions in the mammary gland), and to examine associations between PWD and other dam-related characteristics (age, litter size, body mass index, and weight and number of active mammary glands of the dam).ResultsUsing multivariable mixed logistic regression analyses with farm id as a random intercept, we found that the odds for PWD in the litter were significantly higher in 1 year old dams versus > 1 year old (OR = 13.3, CI 2.0–90.2, P = 0.01), higher if litter size observed after birth was > 5 kits versus ≤ 5 kits (OR = 16.5, CI 2.2–123.7, P = 0.01), higher if the number of active mammary glands per kit was ≤ 1.5 versus > 1.5 glands per kit (OR = 6.5, CI 1.2–36.0), P = 0.03), and higher in farms with high prevalence of PWD versus low prevalence (OR = 16.8, CI 2.9–97.6, P = 0.002). There were no significant associations between PWD and bacterial infection, histological signs of inflammation or other lesions of the mammary gland, body mass index or weight of mammary gland per kit.ConclusionPre-weaning diarrhea had a statistically significant association with age of the dam, litter size and the number of active mammary glands per kit. However, PWD was not associated with mastitis, body mass index and weight of mammary gland tissue per kit.

Low concentration of serum immunoglobulin G is associated with pre-weaning diarrhea in young mink kits (Neovison vison)

“…One-year old dams were selected based on the increased risk of PWD [5, 7]. The mink kits on the case farm showed typical clinical signs of PWD, a profuse yellow/white foamy diarrhea, dehydration, greasy skin as a result of increased secretion from the cervical apocrine glands in the neck region, and a red and swollen perianal region [8, 11, 25], while no litters on the control farm showed any of these signs. All the mink in this study were housed in separate cages with conventional nest boxes and the adult mink dams were fed a commercial mink diet (Sjællands Pelsdyrfoder, Højby Sj., Denmark) with free access to water.…”

“…The total weight of the whole litter was rounded to the nearest tenth of a gram and the mean mink kit body weight was obtained by dividing total weight of the litter by the total number of kits in the litter. The mink kits were scored (present/absent) for clinical signs of PWD syndrome in regards to presence of red and swollen perianal region, signs of dehydration, “greasy” neck region, and if there was defecation; the consistency (runny) and color (beige-white) [25]. All signs had to be present for the kits to be considered affected by PWD.…”

Analysis of body weight in various color varieties of American mink (Neovison vison) and the relationship between female body weight and reproductive performance

“…The common practice of maximally rapid slimming of the animals shortly before the copulation period, as can be observed on many farms, is an error which may lead to fatty liver, one of the more frequent causes of deaths [Dick et al 2014], as well as to an increased mortality of young mink associated with the occurrence of the preweaning diarrhea (the so-called "sticky kits", see Birch et al [2018]) or the inanition referred to as nursing sickness. The factors of this sickness include suboptimal body condition of the female prior the mating season (too obese or, contrary, emaciated) or stress resulting from labor and lactation [Rouvinen-Watt 2003].…”