Firstly, this lovely young mother and daughter pair have been waiting for weeks for a loving new home together but have not had any luck. I just don’t know why they are taking so long to home-they are young, fun and playful and have a long life ahead of them. They are both under 3 years old.

 

They came from a situation where they were banished to the small patio most of the time although they would have loved to have been snuggled up indoors so will be delighted to find their forever home, preferably with some outside access. It would be fabulous if they could get a fresh start for Spring!

This is one of the busiest times for a fox rescuer and after a few weeks of treating a lot of adult foxes for mange and injuries, the last two weeks have brought a succession of fox cubs! At this time of year as fox cubs start to emerge from their earths, people often see a cub and assume they have been abandoned. In fact, very often the mother is nearby but unseen although it is often very hard to convince concerned folk that this is the case! We managed to reunite these two with their mother who despite what the concerned householder thought, was nearby all along.

 

Also, sometimes a vixen moves them and gets distracted or disturbed while doing so and one gets left behind-foxes are not great at counting! A judgement call has to be made and as long as the cubs look to be bonny and in good health, they are always better off with their mother so it is best to try to reunite them within 24 hours. If there appear to be any health problems, it is likely that they were indeed abandoned by their mother because that is what animals do.

As well as reuniting some of the cubs, I have also had to take a large number into care due to health concerns. This little one had upper respiratory difficulties and was no doubt abandoned because of it.

This one was found by a member of the public who took it home with him and let it sleep on his head! It was very small and again had upper respiratory problems with sneezing and a very runny nose as well as lots of ticks and fleas. It was very cold and lethargic but one warmed up had plenty of spirit!

This poor baby was running around in circles on a patio and I felt it could not see me as its reactions were different to normal-I suspected it had possible neurological problems.

 

With adult foxes, mange continues to be a serious problem and causes huge discomfort and eventually a miserable death. Without treatment they die within about 4 months but it is eminently treatable which is why I have been dashing round treating as many as possible. If you see a fox with mange-please get in touch with me and together we can help to treat it.

As you can see form the photo, this one was in a really terrible state, probably days from dying but I was able to treat it outside and it is making a great recovery with its fur growing back and returning to full health. As foxes have a very sweet tooth, I was able to hide medications in Swiss Roll-it is a big fan of Swiss Roll! (Obviously, this is not an advisable diet for foxes but is useful as a temporary method of administering treatment.)

I have recently started to have meetings for potential volunteers for rescuing foxes. It is a work in progress but they have been very successful. We are covering everything from hands on rescue to transportation and mange treatment. It is also a way of finding out a lot more about our urban foxes. If you would be interested in coming to the next meeting  on Monday 15th May in Holloway, N7, please email me at mamacattrust@googlemail.com