Feeding wild foxes.......

Feargal as Luimneach

A fox passed by my house this evening. It looked a bit thin. I was thinking about giving it some feeding just to help it throught the harsh weather. Does anybody have experience/knowledge in feeding wild foxes.

PS I don't really want a lecture on why I shouldn't be feeding it. Thanks....

Trizo

I alwyas try and feed them things they would find in the wild such as fruit - apples, blackberries etc.. to be honest foxes will eat anything they are one of the ultimate scavangers. they like raisin's & currents too. if your able to dig up some worms they would love them ground is so hard they probly cant get any right now. eggs(protein and fat) , chicken slices(meat scraps) any leftovers you have from dinner they will gladly take although the human diet isnt always the best for them right now i figure they need all the extras they can get. oh and according to a few - custard creams ??? dont ask why but apparently they like them

E39MSport

Beware Rats.

Feargal as Luimneach

Trizo wrote: »

I alwyas try and feed them things they would find in the wild such as fruit - apples, blackberries etc.. to be honest foxes will eat anything they are one of the ultimate scavangers. they like raisin's & currents too. if your able to dig up some worms they would love them ground is so hard they probly cant get any right now. eggs(protein and fat) , chicken slices(meat scraps) any leftovers you have from dinner they will gladly take although the human diet isnt always the best for them right now i figure they need all the extras they can get. oh and according to a few - custard creams ??? dont ask why but apparently they like them

Followed the snow tracks of the fox in the fields behind the house. Left some food for him (Raisin's, apple, lamb fat and some dry dog food) beside a well worn track he was using. Went up this evening to see was the food was gone, It was. Unfortunately as I was going back to the house through the fields met two lads lamping. They found the tracks I was following:( Better not leave any more food out for him or the lads will definitely catch him..........

Trizo

Sounds like the perfect food for the fox hopefully that will keep him going and he wont respond to the distress calls from the lampers tonight

fryup

lamping, whats that? is it legal?

homerhop

its when a high powered light is used to hunt at night and yes it is legal for vermin hunting

Run_to_da_hills

Feargal as Luimneach wrote: »

A fox passed by my house this evening. It looked a bit thin. I was thinking about giving it some feeding just to help it throught the harsh weather. Does anybody have experience/knowledge in feeding wild foxes.

PS I don't really want a lecture on why I shouldn't be feeding it. Thanks....

If its a bit thin it probably has worms.

Mix some worm tablets with dog food and it should be fine. Try and leave food in the same place all the time and eventually you will have yourself a nice pet.:)

jwshooter

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

If its a bit thin it probably has worms.

Mix some worm tablets with dog food and it should be fine. Try and leave food in the same place all the time and eventually you will have yourself a nice pet.:)

why worm tablets ,,, how would you be sure at am in the morning a fox ,hedgehog ,,or buzzard would eat the required dose ...


wild foxes are just that wild .... hint in the title ...a wild animal that has become a pet is doomed .

John_Rambo

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

If its a bit thin it probably has worms.

Mix some worm tablets with dog food and it should be fine

I know you're joking, but some people might be stupid enough to think you aren't and feed wild animals domestic animal medicines, so stop posting stuff like that, thanks.

Feargal as Luimneach

John_Rambo wrote: »

I know you're joking, but some people might be stupid enough to think you aren't and feed wild animals domestic animal medicines, so stop posting stuff like that, thanks.

Foxes are physiologically extremely similar to domestic dogs. Although it would not be licensed for use in foxes, a drontal wormer (correct dosage) mixed in dog food would be helpful to the fox if it had a large worm burden.:D

kildare.17hmr

Feargal as Luimneach wrote: »

Foxes are physiologically extremely similar to domestic dogs. Although it would not be licensed for use in foxes, a drontal wormer (correct dosage) mixed in dog food would be helpful to the fox if it had a large worm burden.:D

Foxes have been gettin on ok in the wild for a long time without drontal tabs:rolleyes:

in answer to your original question, usually when i get a few rabbits ill leave one or 2 out for the foxes in the area to keep them around, that works in my favour 2 tho because they can usually be found in the same area as the food is left. I dont think cooked meat would be a good thing to be giving to wild animals used to eating raw? id never leave food scraps from the house or anything other than rabbits or crows or that, i think it would be inviting an unwanted guest that may cause a problem.

Trizo

I wouldnt worry about cooked or uncooked meats foxes will readily eat both as i have said they will adapt to anything hence why they are present throughout towns and cities and still around despit myxomatosis etc ..

As others have said if feeding them always do so away from the house as Rats will be the first thing to arrive to food left out usually .Even when feeding birds with peanut feeders you get the long tailed uninvited guests

kildare.17hmr

Trizo wrote: »

I wouldnt worry about cooked or uncooked meats foxes will readily eat both as i have said they will adapt to anything hence why they are present throughout towns and cities and still around despit myxomatosis etc ..

As others have said if feeding them always do so away from the house as Rats will be the first thing to arrive to food left out usually .Even when feeding birds with peanut feeders you get the long tailed uninvited guests

Myxomatosis affects rabbits not foxes, any mixi rabbits i shoot i feed to the dogs does them no harm ether. have only seen 2.

your talkin about invitin a wild animal around your house which is wrong, maybe you like the idea but what about other people livin around the place? they might not take too kindly to foxes bein invited in. its great for you to have the fox around and maybe get used to humans but thats not good for the fox at all

Trizo

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

Myxomatosis affects rabbits not foxes, any mixi rabbits i shoot i feed to the dogs does them no harm ether. have only seen 2.

your talkin about invitin a wild animal around your house which is wrong, maybe you like the idea but what about other people livin around the place? they might not take too kindly to foxes bein invited in. its great for you to have the fox around and maybe get used to humans but thats not good for the fox at all

You misunderstand what i said , the Myxomatosis reference is to the foxes source of food/diet they didnt starve when one of their primary food sources where removed/depleted(99% i believe), they adapt hence their success.

its often a misconception that we are inviting them in , most new developments were built on farm land/countryside already occupied by foxes,rabbits,badgers then people turn around and ask why is an animal that belongs in the countryside now invading their streets and gardens and choosing earths under garden sheds the truth is we are invading their territory if they are already present then they are already here.

an example is the development that i live in 6 years ago there were no houses or apartments here just wasteland surrounded by farmland its foolish to think that these animals were'nt present before we arrived

Feargal as Luimneach

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

Foxes have been gettin on ok in the wild for a long time without drontal tabs:rolleyes:

As I said if the fox had a heavy worm burden, the drontal would be of benefit too it. It doesn't matter if it's wild or not.

Half-cocked

I successfully treated a fox for worms and mange by carefully dosing its food and keeping an eye on it via a cheap infra red camera to make sure it ate the treated food. As I put out a lot of bird food I end up with mice and rats making occasional appearences and have seen the fox devour many unwanted rodents, which is why I like having it around.

bibio

Hi Fergal,

I know you dont want a lecture about feeding foxes but you are going to get one anyway. Ever heard of Trichenella? Thought not, check out this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichinella .
Basically foxes are vectors of this worm, and it is picked up by foxes feeding on waste food, notably pig products, such as Ham etc.
This parasite in humans, or the commerical pig populations can and will cause major health issues and could wipe out our pig agriculture. I attended a brilliant lecture <Mod Snip> in UCD on the subject and the bottom line is dont feed foxes period. Better safe than sorry, foxes got on fine without us ever feeding them and will continue to do so.

bibio

Fergal, lest you be in any doubt: "Trichinella infection can be prevented. In addition, by not allowing pigs or wild animals from eating uncooked meat, scrapes, or carcasses of any animals, which may be infected with Trichinella, the parasite infection in animal populations can be prevented."

Mothman

bibio,
What outbreaks of Trichinella have there been in Ireland?

Birdnuts

bibio wrote: »

Hi Fergal,

I know you dont want a lecture about feeding foxes but you are going to get one anyway. Ever heard of Trichenella? Thought not, check out this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichinella .
Basically foxes are vectors of this worm, and it is picked up by foxes feeding on waste food, notably pig products, such as Ham etc.
This parasite in humans, or the commerical pig populations can and will cause major health issues and could wipe out our pig agriculture. I attended a brilliant lecture by Kevin Dodd, senior vetinary lecturer in UCD on the subject and the bottom line is dont feed foxes period. Better safe than sorry, foxes got on fine without us ever feeding them and will continue to do so.

I'd be concerned about passing on mange to my dogs too when it comes to havin foxes round the place - ironically my uncle cat was killed by a fox only last week:(

bibio

Mothman; Do you mean trichenella recorded in humans or foxes? I'm no expert, but from the notes I took, it was reasonably prevalent in pigs up to the late sixties. There was a human case in 68 and two further cases in 2008 in Ireland. In terms of cases of Trichenella in foxes it is detected on a regualr basis. Dept of Agirculture with assistance from NARGC routinely test fox carcases and they do detect cases.
I think the point here, is that feeding foxes is a high risk activity in terms of this parasite, becoming widespread again, just look what happened when we started feeding ruminates bonemeal with BSE. I would advise people not to feed foxes, it is neither needed or advisable, and it is better to be safe than sorry. Foxes do not ordinarily prey on pigs, or deriviatives of pigs, but the trichenella is spread by foxes feeding at landfill on things such as processed ham etc, but the actuall feeding of foxes has an obvious risk associated as far as trichenella is concerned.
I'm sure if you contact dept of agriculture, they may give you some of the testing results.
Rgds
Bibio

John_Rambo

Birdnuts wrote: »

my uncle cat was killed by a fox only last week:(

Sorry to hear about your uncle cat, how did it happen? Did you see the fox kill it? They two seem to get on ok in my area.

Not sure about the worming of wild animals!

Just had a fox run in front of me today with a big rat in his mouth! I won't be discouraging them anyway.

Trizo

Fairly recent studies found in Ireland 0.9% prevalence in red foxes and 0.2 % in NI

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15603842
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19070433

Fergal shouldn’t have any problems with any of the food left out just avoid raw pork if you have concerns.

Just to point out that Trichenella can occur in up to 40 different mammals , and as a point of information can occur in your family dog if fed infected meat.

The ramifications of having pork that is infected would mean that the parasite is already in the food chain which would be more alarming :eek:. There is screening sampling at postmortem stage in slaughterhouses which check for this thankfully.

sorry to hear about your uncles cat Birdnuts

Birdnuts

John_Rambo wrote: »

Sorry to hear about your uncle cat, how did it happen? Did you see the fox kill it? They two seem to get on ok in my area.

.

Lets say he's pretty sure - a big dog fox has been hanging around the cats shed for the last few weeks and he observed the fox chasing the cat away from the catfood recently. Then he found the cat dead with its neck chewed in the back garden. He was upset but I explained to him that these things happen in Nature between competing predators - Just look at what happens between Lions and Hyenas on the Serengeti!!:eek:

PS: This was obviously a very rare/freak event so I don't want cat lovers freakin out if they see a fox out thier back - a large tom cat would send most foxes packin anyway:)

Feargal as Luimneach

bibio wrote: »

Hi Fergal,

I know you dont want a lecture about feeding foxes but you are going to get one anyway. Ever heard of Trichenella? Thought not, check out this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichinella .

Yes a fine sermon you preached. Three cases in the last fourty years. Not a disease of zoonotic importance. How do people get it? From eating uncooked/undercooked pork product (if the pork is contaminated). For you information I have heard of it. I'm a vet. Thanks for the scaremongering (attempted).
<Mod Snip>

LostCovey

bibio wrote: »

Hi Fergal,

I know you dont want a lecture about feeding foxes but you are going to get one anyway. Ever heard of Trichenella? Thought not, check out this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichinella .
Basically foxes are vectors of this worm, and it is picked up by foxes feeding on waste food, notably pig products, such as Ham etc.
This parasite in humans, or the commerical pig populations can and will cause major health issues and could wipe out our pig agriculture. I attended a brilliant lecture by Kevin Dodd, senior vetinary lecturer in UCD on the subject and the bottom line is dont feed foxes period. Better safe than sorry, foxes got on fine without us ever feeding them and will continue to do so.

Hi Bibio,

I think that as long as Feargal doesn't actually eat the fox, he will not run any risk of Trichinella.

http://www.hpsc.ie/hpsc/A-Z/Zoonotic/Trichinellosis/Factsheet/

LostCovey

kildare.17hmr

Trizo wrote: »

You misunderstand what i said , the Myxomatosis reference is to the foxes source of food/diet they didnt starve when one of their primary food sources where removed/depleted(99% i believe), they adapt hence their success.

Yeah i defo took ya up wrong on that:p

its often a misconception that we are inviting them in , most new developments were built on farm land/countryside already occupied by foxes,rabbits,badgers then people turn around and ask why is an animal that belongs in the countryside now invading their streets and gardens and choosing earths under garden sheds the truth is we are invading their territory if they are already present then they are already here.

an example is the development that i live in 6 years ago there were no houses or apartments here just wasteland surrounded by farmland its foolish to think that these animals were'nt present before we arrived

I know but what i ment by inviting them in was inviting them to be around humans and not be scared of us. they should be scared of us and not see us as a hand that feeds them. Iv no problem with someone feding foxes, like i said i do it myself by leaving rabbits in the fields but that is alot different than leaving scraps or dog food at the end of your garden for them.

Birdnuts is the fox still comin around your uncles place? or did you get rid of him?

Birdnuts

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

Yeah i defo took ya up wrong on that:p

I know but what i ment by inviting them in was inviting them to be around humans and not be scared of us. they should be scared of us and not see us as a hand that feeds them. Iv no problem with someone feding foxes, like i said i do it myself by leaving rabbits in the fields but that is alot different than leaving scraps or dog food at the end of your garden for them.

Birdnuts is the fox still comin around your uncles place? or did you get rid of him?

I've got 3 in the last week lampin with the cousin but only yesterday I spotted another big dog fox just by the river 500 yards away from the uncles house so more work to do yet;)

PS: This property is at the very edge of the Naas inner urban zone(near the old barracks which was rezoned for development but which is now a wildlife haven thanx to the collapse in the property market and encompasses loads of fields hedges etc.) and the sheer amount of fox activity here is amazing which suggests a very high population density.!!

Mothman

This is not a fox chat thread and take hunting talk elsewhere

Birdnuts

Mothman wrote: »

This is not a fox chat thread and take hunting talk elsewhere

Duly noted:)