The fox family and what to do..?

[Houseplanter]

Not gardening exactly but definite garden action for us atm..

There is a mum and her cubs nearby.. not in our garden but must be somewhere close as the cubs are playing in our garden every evening/early morning. They're adorable.

I feed the local hedgehog population and the whole fox family will also eat the food. I don't mind this.

We are fairly urban, and most of my neighbours have very wildlife unfriendly gardens and I do wonder if it's a struggle for them. Should I leave out food? Dog food? If there's a very dry spell they can drink from my bird baths

Will I make life easier or should they not learn to be reliant on stuff put out?

Please advise!

One of the cubs is here now and is dragging one of his hind legs quite badly...

Oh no 😢

Oh no! is there a wildlife rescue nearby you can ask for advice?

We had a very bold fox cub come into our garden two years ago - appeared outside the back windows at dusk and did a good boy sit right outside watching me. I called him Feargal (after Feargal Sharkey as he is so nature focussed now and a thoroughly good man). Feargal still comes back now and then, steals all my little bowls, I put out for bird food, any footwear left out (bye bye yellow gardening crocs), anything that tickles his fancy really. I leave food out for the hedgehog and there are races as to who gets there first...

Tiny Frankie cub visited last year but was so much more timid than Feargal. My husband reckons Frankie is living in the woods near us as he often sees a much smaller fox flitting about at night.

I love them in my garden.

Contact your local vet if you don’t know about local wildlife rescues. They can send you in the right direction

We feed them, often as many as four(!), but not much - leftovers, small tin of dog food, that sort of thing. They're really not fussy. I think the foxes have a local dining circuit. We are a part of it. Now let's see what they're having up the road.

Decision has been made, now one appears to be injured.

I've put out hedgehog food and added some dog biscuits, which the cub with the dodgy leg came back on his own and ate for quite a while. Since then he's been back with his siblings and they've all eaten.

Given one is vulnerable I'm going to help feed them, rightly or wrongly. He seems to be keeping up with the others so hopefully whatever it is will heal.

There's one noticeably smaller than the other two so I'm wondering if we have a 2 boys and a girl.

Please contact any of the following :
Fox rescuers
The fox project
Foxangels
Kent wildlife rescue
Moonstone rescue
Pumpkins wildlife hospital

All are on Facebook and they will assist the young injured cub before it gets too bad to be able to help.
It's so kind of you helping them , I supplement our rural foxes that visit with eggs , raw chicken , peanuts especially when they have cubs as the vixens end up looking so thin
The above also help when they need mange treatment etc and send you drops to put in their food
They get such a bad wrap

@Foxlover46 I will certainly intervene if the cub appears to be either suffering or deteriorating but atm he's eating and happily playing with his siblings on my patio so will wait and see.

In fact the last time he came it didn't seem as bad so hopefully it's nothing too serious.

It's raining here but all 3 have been drinking from a bowl of water I put out for them too.

Please don't put peanuts where hedgehogs will get them, they can get them stuck in their mouths http://www.hedgehog-rescue.org.uk/endangered.php

You are lovely looking out for them :) 🦊

Just thought I'd update this, in case anyone is interested lol

The smallest cub now has only the slightest limp, and is by far the one most likely to be cavorting around my lawn, digging up the borders and creeping up to the patio doors. He's also the one most likely to be eating the food I've left out.. I'd like to think his family is giving him first dibs, but I'm sure that's a bit fanciful.

When they've finished the dog food I bought for them this week we will probably reduce it and then stop. But I'm glad we might have helped

I love you kind posts about foxes.

I live in a flat that is facing a big garden area.
In April I'd noticed a fox mum with 5 cubs playing in the sun almost daily.

Once at night I heard one of the cubs crying but could not see anything from my balcony. I don't have access to any of the gardens.
The next day my neighbour told me that one cub was killed by another fox and the other one was saved by RSPCA as was still alive.

After that we were seeing mum with 3 cubs for a few weeks (they were playing in the garden in front of my flat) till one of the neighbours started doing a fence refurbishment. After that we have never seen mom and two of her cubs.
One was left alone and my neighbour was leaving a food for it once a day as it was advised by RSPCA.

One day we observed an adult fox approaching this poor thing and licking it. This cub loved sitting on the bench in the garden.
Me an my neighbour thought this might be the end of his problems as this fox will take care of it.
Unfortunately we found him dead this morning. It loos like it was killed by another fox.
My neighbour buried the cub under the bench.

It makes me feel so sad.

It looks like this fox family was unlucky.
This is a nice neighbourhood and I thought they are safe in here but I could not be more in wrong.
Just had a need to share the story as it might help me to feel better.

This thread has just reappeared so I thought I'd update again..

The 3 cubs are all doing really well, including the little one, although he remains smaller he appears to be thriving. He's still the cheekiest. Occasionally we have 4 or 5 cubs here so I'm assuming they're having mates round 🙄

We're still feeding them a little and leaving out water for them, but they're not eating so much now so I can only assume they're fending for themselves more.

It has been a privilege to have them so close by, and to have helped them along their way.