Fox taking medicine

[dave midi]

I made a meatball using pedigree Chum in which I squirted the medicine, and filled the hole with more meat. You have to give the fox the medicine in 2 doses 1 week to 10 days apart. After a little effort, and her taking it & spitting it out, part 1 has now been completed.
You can see what we believe is the start of sarcoptic mange on her tail where there's no fur except a bit at the end (which does look rather cute).
She's had ½ a worming tablet, and now the medicine so hopefully we'll start to see her getting better. As she eats just about anything it's no trouble slipping meds in the food.
Part 2 of the treatment should be a doddle.

YouTube - Sanchez taking medicine

[werdnal]

Great to see you taking such good care of a wild animal. I'm sure many people would say "Its just a fox" but I hate to see anything suffering and I really admire you doing your best for her. Well done!

However, having watched your clip, she carried the meatball away, but did you actually see her eat it? Are the meds you are giving highly scented? I think that is more likely to put her off than if it tasted funny. Foxes are quite capable of eating most things, even quite old meat if there was nothing else, so its more likely a chemical smell that deterred her initially, than what it actually tasted like.

Reminds me of one of our cats who is on 3 tablets a day for kidney failure. Luckily he loves dairlylea cheese, and the tablets are quite small, so I just hid one in a small ball of cheese and he is none the wiser! We also have a goat with arthritis and he has his daily meds in a piece of fudge!

[fluff11]

i have on occasions put ivomec jam sandwiches out for foxes with mange,they take and eat them with no trouble at all.

[sumbody]

Was going to say Honey or Jam sandwiches - which is how I treated ours - no problems with anything sweet - they love it.

Hopefully he took it off to eat it - and not bury it for later - which is what they do - and then forget to come back for it.

Good luck with the second dose Dave - your foxes tail almost looks lion-like. My one had a bit of hair on the end of his tail - until he chewed it off - - makes you wonder how much pain they can stand doesnt it ?

Good that you spotted this problem before it became more severe.

[dave midi]

I'm fairly confident Sanchez will have eaten the first meatball as they often take stuff down the garden and hide behind a large bush there to eat it.

The 2nd dose was given tonight and I watched her eat the whole dish, so this was a 100% success. Now I just wait and see if her tail fur gets better. Here's hoping & fingers crossed.

[sumbody]

yep - fingers crossed here too

Good luck

[stinkyminky]

My grandmother did the same also , the fox had mange quite bad but she kept on with the medicine in the food and got the fox sorted, mange is a terrible thing, hope you get the fox sorted soon .

[aland]

I have just watched dave middy's little video, this is very educational as it shows just how simple it is too administer drugs etc, some of us would have had doubts about whether it would work. well done.

[dave midi]

Here's an update to my story:

Sanchez has been visiting us pretty much every night. She has had her medicine, and looks very healthy apart from the fur on her tail. I'm hoping this will eventually grow back.
She's getting used to seeing me now and the last few days I've been able to open the door without her legging it, and throw her a few bits of food. I then place the dish on the step and let her feed herself.
Here she is munching on a bit of chicken

[RobinP]

Great stuff, love a good story like this, peanut butter is meant to be very appetising to foxes too.