to wonder why foxes get run over by cars, starved where possible etc, but diabetic dogs get insulin injections?

[pukkapatch]

both are four legged mammals. so why does one species get so much love and attention and care thrown at it, but the other doesnt?
i dont understand this.

I always felt the same about 'dolphin friendly tuna'.

What about the tuna? I always say.

Not that tuna is a mammal obv.

people don't keep foxes as pets and thus have no emotional investment in them.

my step MIL kept her pet ct on peritoneal dialysis for year. Every few days the poor bloody cat would have vast amounts of flud injected into its abdomen, to dialyse it, because it had knackered kidneys.

Must have scared it shitless and freaked it out.

I thought it rather cruel, but step MIL thought it was worth it.

Because dogs can be domesticated where as foxs can't I assume. Stray dogs get treated the same as foxs though.

Dogs don't tend to take chickens, and if they do I think you can prosecute the dog owner.

A woman across the road for my gran has a fox as a pet, it is house trained, she takes it for walks, but it absolutely stinks, worse than any dog I've known.

it really sickens and saddens me when i see a dead fox on the road. or even slinking away in the garden like a theif. 9which tey are i suppose, but its only food, and they are trying to survive in a cruel and unforgiving environment.
and then i see pampered dogs, wearing cutesy clothes to keep them warm, and fed food that many human children in the world dont have acess to, and that sickens me even more.

i agree mb, you r ex mil obviously did that for herself, rather than the poor cat.
md, i also think that too, but since im not vegetarian, and love my tuna, its not a thought that lasts for too long.

foxes as pets

there are lots of wild animal hospitals that look after foxes etc

bying a pet fox

nooooo, trinity i really dont want a pet fox.
or pet anything at all. in fact i cant stand animals, and would have to become a vegetarian if supermarkets didnt exist, or if i lived on a farm. actually, i wouldnt live on a farm, as i have a really silly disgust of furry, warm friendly or not, things coming too near me.
but most people arent like me, and love their animals, but dont care about another animal that is from afar at least, better looking. i find that strange.

Male foxes absolutely reek once they've reached adulthood - it's a terrible smell.

A fox stole one of my LK Bennett shoes

see, I think its awful when people try to tame them - they are wild animals, not pppretty dogs, and their behavior and motivations are not those of a dog.

dogs are fairly wild imo

certain animals are not destined to be pets. foxes are such animals.

Dogs also get run over by cars, as do cats, I don't think it's generally a deliberate thing. But the difference is that if you hit a dog you could get out and pick it up and take it to the vet. I wouldn't fancy my chances picking up a fox - would be bitten without a shaddow of a doubt.

But there are wildlife hospitals that do look after and rehabilitate foxes back into the wild, wildlife aid in surrey for example - ever watched "wildlife SOS" on animal planet?

I am an animal lover but I think people that humanize their animals are stupid. if dogs were meant to wear little coats they would have been born with the inteligence to go shopping .

I rescued a fox from a river once who had clearly been tamed, socialised and then thrown in the river when he began to smell. It took the rescue guy about an hour to retrain him to eat a raw bird and the methods he used were fascinating.

Well actually, my lovely (not wild at all) dog found him, barked for my attention and then stood over him protecting him until I scrambled down the bank into the river.

I agree wannabe - excellent point. I can't stand seeing dogs in little clothes, or being fed from the table etc - it's wrong on so many levels.

at Wisteria, how nice of you.
I love foxes, and agree they shouldnt be kept as pets - although i love animals, and have been a veggie since i was nine yrs old - sounds like id make some of you puke!!

its good to hear that opinion about coats form an animallover.
i cant trust my own judgemnt on that, as i dont like animals at all. i like them on telly, where i can pretend i am watching them in the wild.

I do think there are certain (domestic) animals that should not be kept as pets

ironically we went to the petshop today, and there they have two squirrels (from somewhere in south america) for sale. They run up and down their cage all day, and there are signs on the cage that say "these animals bite". so what would be the point in keeping them as pets? you couldn't handle them, couldn't form a relationship with them really, couldn't let them out as you'd never be able to catch them to put them back. so what is the point - they should be in the wild.

But I love all of my pets, and if dogs had not been domesticated then I wouldn't have had my guide dogs who have changed my life and have given me independence I would have found harder otherwise.

I've just done some amazing dog training and one thing I have learned is that a dogs way of thinking is not compatible with the modern human world.

They still think like wild pack animals.

It wasnt really until the late 1800's that dogs were properly kept as pets and walked etc. Before then they were like foxes. They roamed free, scavenged and fended for themselves.

Sorry... but am I the only one to have no idea what your thread title means...?

"and they kill chickens in front of young children". but isn't that sentence seaking to humanize them? After all, a fox doesn't know that it's wrong to kill something in front of young children - it's a wild animal, unaware of the ways of life of human beings.

What the fox is doing is what comes naturally to it. We all have to eat, humans also kill chickens.

What the great hamster/ rat thing? The first makes people say awwww, and go gooey, the second induces murderous rage. There's no sense in it.