in

Love ItLove It CuteCute

The Challenges Involved In Raising a Fox Kit

It is likely that few people have ever thought of raising a fox and the chances of being able to do so are probably slim, at best. Still, our family raised one many years ago and I can say that they can be wonderful pets, provisionally. Since there are virtually no guides out there for raising baby foxes, I thought it might be fun and helpful to write one.

A fox kit is an adorable critter that a lot of people would fall in love with almost at once, whether the person prefers cats or dogs. The reason both cat-people and dog-people fall in love with it is because this is an animal that shows some traits of both cats and dogs. However, it is a good idea to have an idea of what you are getting into before you try it, even if you have the chance.

General fox traits

It would be more descriptive than ambiguous to say that a fox is a cat-like canine. Foxes are members of the canine family, but they exhibit many traits that cats have. Among these, they are exceptionally inquisitive, they can climb nearly as well as a cat and like many cats, foxes have a keen intelligence, which enables them to figure out how to live and survive in the wild. All of these things are not necessarily good things if a person raises them in a home environment, though it is an experience that should be treasured.

Young fox kits

If the kit is very young, people will probably note that they have a rather cat-like appearance. The kit’s ears tend to be small but upright and the nose doesn’t get long until they get older. The claws aren’t retractable, but they can be quite sharp, amazingly like those of a kitten. Perhaps that is why they call a young fox a kit, because of its resemblance to a kitten. The sound they make, though, tends to be either a whimpering or high-pitched howl, until they get older. They don’t meow.

In the wild, fox parents are normally quite attentive. They’ve been seen playing and frolicking with the young ones, rather like a house cat might play with her kittens. It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that raising a fox kit means that it will want almost constant attention. The whimpering and howling usually happens when they feel hungry, neglected or both. These are little critters that often demand more attention than a kitten or puppy would, and they can be quite vocal about it.

Fox food

Fox asking for its doggy friend to come out and play:

Foxes are quite opportunistic feeders. They love meat like most canines and felines do, but unlike many, foxes will eat almost anything that is available, including raw fruits and vegetables. They are also master scavengers. This makes a kit pretty easy to feed, except that they seem to be nearly always hungry. If they get too hungry, the whining and howling starts again, until they are fed, and then only for a couple of hours until they think they are starving again.

Leaving any food out on a counter is most unwise with a fox kit in the house because they can smell it and are nearly as good in agility and jumping ability as a cat is. Since they will try anything from onions to meat to fruit, a little fox is likely to devour the meal before the adoptive family can.

Not everything that they will eat is good for them, either, so they should be specifically given high protein foods like meat.

Curiosity

Fox kits are naturally curious animals, again a great deal like cats. They also possess a keen intelligence. Put together, this combination means that closed cupboards, containers or almost anything similar is an open invitation for a kit to figure out how to find out what is inside the container or behind closed doors. Despite their small size, they are surprisingly adept at finding solutions, too. Often, the fox seems to be less concerned about the actual contents than it is in the challenge of getting beyond a closed door or into a closed container. In the process of satisfying their curiosity, they often make a substantial mess. A person raising a kit should be aware of this, lest they find cupboards and containers forced open and the contents strewn all over the place.

There is a way to lessen the mess-making, at least somewhat, though many people probably wouldn’t think about the notion right off: Don’t leave anything tightly closed. Much of the damage a pet fox is responsible for can happen simply because the fox tries so hard to open something. By making cupboards easy to open or leaving them slightly ajar gives the fox easy access, which helps them curb their curiosity while minimizing the damage.

Play time

There are probably few animals that are more playful than a young fox, except possibly otters. This can create a few problems if a person isn’t aware and ready for what a fox sees as being fun. As my mother put it, in regard to the kit we raised, “I came in one day to find my curtains shredded. That blasted fox was climbing up one side, racing across the curtain rod, then down the other side, in an endless loop. Curtain fabric is no match for those little, needle-sharp, fox claws!”

Better mousetraps

Few people who have been around a fox kit don’t fall in love with them. They are admittedly cute and obviously intelligent. There is also another advantage to raising one.

When people think of ‘mousers’, they usually think of cats. However, despite their size and even from a young age, foxes are natural predators of small rodents. Their senses are attuned to catching and eating rodents and even the play has the purpose of honing the skills they will use throughout their lives to catch their prey.

It probably wouldn’t be very wise to raise a fox in a household with pet birds or pet rodents of any sort, but it could be a great thing if there is an infestation of mice or other rodent pests. These animals have such a strong hunting instinct that chances are, it won’t be long before there are no mice, rats or squirrels in the house.

Raising a fox kit is challenging and, at the same time, something that can be interesting and entertaining, creating long-lasting memories. The experience is likely to be one that a person will keep for the rest of their lives. I would recommend it as a wonderful experience. There are simply a few things that a person should expect before they attempt it.

Report

What do you think?

14 Points

Written by Rex Trulove

21 Comments

  1. I never knew anything or heard of an animal called a fox kit. Thanks for your post. My experience has been opened to another animal in the animal world.

    1
  2. they are a awesome animal I have to say cause of their smartness
    to live in the conditions they live in the wild to survive the odds in life
    but to raise one that would be a WHOLE new challenge in it’self.

    I loved the videos you have on here that was a plus in my book
    & the information you shared was a great mindset for those that
    MIGHT thought about raising one on their own (leave the wild wild)

    2
    • Quite true. They aren’t difficult to raise, but they are a constant challenge. They thrive on attention, but they can get it outside, too. All too often, people decide to make pets out of wild animals without giving any consideration at all to what that will entail. They are much more challenging than raising a cat or dog (which can involve their own challenges).

      1
    • They do indeed. They are incredible at figuring things out and that includes how to play on a person’s emotions. This article brought back some very fond memories.

      2
      • There was a youtube clip going around on facebook last month of a kit as it grew up, and how it would pounce and bounce and you could practically see it giggle.

        2
        • Well, there were times when our fox would do something and would clearly watch the reaction as if it was well aware of what he did and that there would be some kind of reaction. He usually got his way, one way or the other, because he’d do things like that and apply the reactions to something else. He was very ingenious. At the time, of course, we didn’t realize that, so he played us like a concert violinist.

          2
  3. People should always research the animals they get first, just as you have done.
    Sounds like a challenging animal to raise. My two cats would object!

    2
    • If raised from a young age, foxes are so playful that they tend to get along surprisingly well with cats (and puppies). They are also extremely adaptable.

      When we raised the fox, there really wasn’t much choice in the matter at the time and there weren’t many reference books on raising foxes. I have indeed researched them, but much of the part about raising them was first-hand knowledge that we learned the hard way. I suppose that I should write an article about how we came about raising that fox.

      2
    • I don’t think it is a nationality thing but rather based on who is talking. Some textbooks and references call them kits, some call them cubs, some call them pups, and some even call them kittens. Personally, I prefer ‘kit’ because they are cat-like, with some obvious differences. They are decidedly not bear-like (cub) and though they are canines, they really don’t act like typical dogs (pups). Yet, there *are* differences when compared to cats, so I’m thinking that ‘kitten’ is taking the similarities a bit too far.

      1
  4. They are cute little critters. There is a family of foxes which live not too far from my house and I have seen them when I was out taking photos in one of the city’s parks. We do get more coyotes than foxes, however.

    2
    • They are fun to watch and they are amazing when you get to see them hunt. They are so cat-like in so many ways. Even their eyes are cat-like; slitted rather than having round pupils.