What’s Wrong, Little Gray Fox?

The following story about a gray fox was submitted by All Things Wild Rehabilitation in Texas.

Animal Control picked up a little gray fox in a neighborhood where she had been lying on the ground for several days. She was listless, lethargic, emaciated, dehydrated, and obviously very sick.

The All Things Wild medical team examined her immediately, because they were afraid she was going to die. She lay on the exam table not objecting when they stuck a needle in her to give her fluids. They took X-rays and poked and prodded, but none of that explained her dire condition. She was anemic because she was covered in fleas. The final conclusion was that she had been poisoned.

When rodenticide is used to poison rats and mice, another animal can come along and eat the poisoned rodent. This is called secondary poisoning. The medical team guessed that the fox had eaten a poisoned rodent and become poisoned herself. When people put out rat poison, they often don’t think that it can have a secondary effect on animals that might eat the poisoned rodent. This includes foxes, birds of prey, and any animal that eats meat, including your cat or dog.

Before they left the little fox for the night, the medical team gave her IV fluids, medication to kill the fleas, and an injection of vitamin K to counter the effects of the poison. She was left with a bowl of warm delicious soup made with nutritious EmerAid IC Carnivore powder and water. They did not expect her to be alive in the morning.

The next morning, everyone was overjoyed to find her starting to sit up and lap gingerly at the EmerAid “soup.” Every day for over two weeks, she got IV fluids and vitamin K injections. And every day, the little fox got better and better. They named her Rennie for the French word for fox, renard.

Today, almost a month later, Rennie is no longer receiving daily fluids and vitamin K injections. She is eating two bowls of food every day and growls whenever anyone peeks at her in her cage. The growling is a sign that she is heathy and behaving like a normal feisty fox. It won’t be long before she returns to the wild.