We are getting an 8 week old puppy in August, but I am concerned because we have foxes visiting our garden at night.  I'm worried the foxes could be carrying diseases that the puppy might pick up, especially as it won't have had its full course of vaccinations? Any advice?

I have two dogs and neither caught anything from the family of foxes who live in the area and pass through our garden. As long as you make sure your pup doesn't get in direct contact with their poo, you should be ok

I would worry about fox mange as much as anything, but short of building a high wall round the garden , don't know what you can do!!  :-)

Maybe the pup will frighten the foxes away to next door!!

Jo and the Casblaidd Flatcoats

I would suggest you start deterring the foxes. There's a product called 'Reynardine' which is supposed to be effective, but I've never tried it so can't vouch for it.

Other than that, I'd just take a chance. The benefits to a pup of being allowed outside for housetraining purposes and pure pleasure far outweigh the risk of disease.

Hi,
Foxes carry a lot of diseases that could kill your puppy,
there poo is like runny diarrhoea. They do it anywhere.
Remember even though town people like foxes, they are
vermin, just like rats. If the fox was hungry and your pup
is small, it wouldn't think twice of running off with it and
killing it. there teeth are like cats. They can rip anythink apart.
Don't leave any food, or the pups bowls out to incourage them.
Wash every think that pup has that has been in the garden.
Years ago my daughter had a pet rabbit, it was big healthly and very tame.
She used to let it have a run on the grass in the back garden, we back
on to a park. Then one day it took ill, we spent a lot of money at the vets,
to keep it alive, But! it just dropped dead. The vet asked if he could have it
to find out why it had died. It had picked up disease of the grass
from the Foxes poo.
Regards
Denese

>there poo is like runny diarrhoea.

Not the foxes around here! ;) It's very well-formed. Fox poo can be recognised by its slate-grey colour.

Yeah and it's irrisistable to 3 of my poochies who always seem to find it and roll . Seriously though - we have two foxes who regularly use our land as part of their patch -we've never had any problems about the dogs picking up diseases from them - they are more likely to catch ticks from the Muntjac deer that also come in than the foxes. We did take extra precautions when our litter was tiny (never left them outside unsupervised etc) but thats all.

Although I keep various types of poultry I have no real objection to having foxes near us  and most certainly do not view them as pests or vermin :(.

Yvonne

:) :) :) at JG - recognising fox poo by it's colour :D I can always smell it waaaaaay before I get to see it ROFLMAO :D

We've always had foxes near us and they come through the garden sometimes... we have experienced no problems.
I also kept guinea pigs for 6 years which were out almost every day on the grass, and again, we had no problems :)

Lindsay
x

Hi Lindsay,
The foxes are probly eating out of dustbins,"Black Bags" so they are not
to hungry Yet!!  A few doors away they found the front of there Rabbit's
cage ripped off and the rabbits parts all over the garden heads and all.
Wait untill the winter or they have cubs!!! I live in a city!
I'm afraid that because of over population, they have moved into the cities.
I called to see a friend a few weeks ago. Her husband is a farmer. They had lost
more than normal new born lambs that have been ripped apart, and parts eaten. By Foxes.
They say there is a rat only feet away from all of us!!!
They carry Hepatitis in there urine, and Meningitis. That's what we know about them.
They will not want us all to  panik will they!!! 
Regards
Denese

I want to get ASBO's out on about 3 packs of teenage foxes

They are obviously this year's cubs, from 3 separate litters - there is plenty of food around here for foxes, with all the rabbits on the golf course.   However, this year, and during the last two weeks, these cubs have obviously reached "teenage", and are congregating, in their various groups ..... one group hangs out at the bend in the lane, just in front of our front gate, one group hangs out behind the house, in the woods behind the 14th green, and the other group hangs out around our back gate, by the 15th Tee.    Now normally it's just nice to see them - but, for some reason, these foxes are acting like feral teenagers around a shopping mall/offlicence!

They kick cans around, swear a lot, upset the locals (our dogs in their kennels) - and I'd even SWEAR to the fact that they rev motor bikes up in the middle of the night (ok - that might be a tad exaggerated :D ) - but I've taken to stomping out, in the middle of the night, walking around the house - hoping that my scent might just put them off (they aren't quite as accustomed to people as yer average feral fox ;) ) - but failing that - I'm having social services, police, schools - all round here, questioning young Mr & Miss Fox :D :D :D

Now I've taking to wearing earplugs ;0

Margot

LOLOLOLOL Margot

<They had lost more than normal new born lambs that have been ripped apart, and parts eaten.> more likely to be dogs than foxes I am afraid, the shepherd up the road has had to shoot a X breed as it was caught dead sheep in mouth & had killed about half a dozen with others injured & it had been at other flocks as well, he was in tears when he told me(he loves his dogs & they all(11 of them)live indoors but the dog had even attacked one of his GSDs that had been sent to round up the sheep two days earlier & also had a go at the local postie when he was on his bike(nearly pulled him off his bike). The shepherd saw foxes lurking for the remains after the dog had done the killing, he knows the difference between a fox bite & a domestic dog bite on flesh

They can and often do pass on mange to your dogs, they only have to brush past an area that a Fox has infected.  I would get rid of them if I were you. 
Dawn.

Foxes are not known to attack lambs in the way you have suggested. Crows/ravens/magpies are more dangerous to lambs than foxes.

Hi Nannyogg,

The friend has been a  sheep farmer for a long time,
He know's that it is the foxes that have killed the new born lambs.
There are no dogs were they live, It is miles from anywere.
You don't see people ever mind Dogs.
It has lost him a lot of his income It is his lively hood.
Regards
Denese

feel free to come & visit our farm if you want to witness fox damage to livestock Nannyogg. :(

Sorry but i know for a fact that foxes are attacking lambs on a local farm and they have had to resort to hiring a marksman to kill them so far he has shot 4 but the problem is persisting

I'm afraid nobody has told that to the foxes in this area, NannyOgg.

They even caused a free-range piggery to close down due to losses (a litter down from 15 one evening to 3 the next morning).

I lived in Wales for a long period in a very rural community, and I am just basing what I said on what I had heard local farmers talking about, and the greater risk to their lambs where I was was actually attack by birds. I am sorry if this is not the case, I was just basing it on my experiences.

They are only doing what comes naturally to them!!
We used to have a pet fox when I was younger, we lived on a poultry farm and my dad resued it from the slurry pit where he had fallen in. He was called Harro, and he slept on the end of my bed. He was a tiny cub when he first came. Unfortunately, the farmer next door, an avid hater of foxes, shot the poor bugger. He wasn't chasing any livestock, just having a stroll!  I didn't sleep for weeks!
Years later, dad had 15 ducks and chickens killed in one night by a fox who only took one of his meals home with him, I think dad left the rest of the battlefield for foxy loxy and his wife to dine on later in the week!

>They are only doing what comes naturally to them!!

That makes it all right when a dog kills a neighbour's cat, then? After all, it's a natural thing to do ...

<That makes it all right when a dog kills a neighbour's cat, then? After all, it's a natural thing to do ..>

Funny until two years ago I have had dogs & cats together for over 40 years & never had one even attempt to kill one of the cats & also had lots of other peoples cats in the garden with no problem so you must know some very badly brought up dogs to assume that ALL dogs will attempt to kill cats(even had alleged cat aggressive dogs in my home with the cats & no problems) Yes some dogs will attack cats(& people & sheep & cattle & anything the lives & breathes)but natural IE the norm, as expected, usual I think not. You can take it a step further it is natural for cats to kill birds, mice , voles etc should they too be got rid ?

The difference is a fox is a wild animal(ie feral), the cat is partly domesticated but still partly wild due to the genetic make up(they can resort to feral with in most cases little difficulty) & dogs are almost fully domsesticated(but can resort to feral depending on the breed & individual dog & the environs)

Comparing a dog killing a cat is NOT the smae to a fox killing a rabbit, lamb etc

Lets face it man has encroached on the domain of wildlife forcing some species to extinction here in the UK

Hi Denese

I am sure people have very different experiences of foxes, but to me they are simply animals - not vermin as some see them to be.
The ones in  our area have plenty of rabbits to scoff, and i have never seen any wheelie bin tipped over (we don't have black bags) :)
I haven't seen any in this area with mange; they all seem in fabulous, in fact stunning, condition.
The point i was making was that I personally have not experienced a problem, in spite of having foxes so close ;)

Lindsay
x

Hi Lindsay,
Foxes can be very attractive animals especially the Red Fox. But they are
over populating now, I have had fox cubs playing on my front lawn, not put
off by the sensor Light. but our dustbins are pulled all down the street ect;
But! "are they a threat to puppy's" and the answer is yes! It will get worse!
Some people think Rats are not vermin, as they are said to be very intellegent!
But they are, so are grey squirrells. Some children never seen these animals,
untill the became over populated and moved into cities. To live of refuge,
But they do cause a lot of diseases, town people can be a little ignorant!
Regards
Denese

I think whoever, way up in this thread, said not to panick, got it right.  I don't think you have a rabies problem in the U.K. right?  Don't think it is so bad here now either, due to baiting which is done on the fox population, but even so I live in what is called a "rabies Hot Spot".  Skunks are the main carrier with foxes second.  For us I think education as to what is normal or abnormal behaviour is the key guiding our reactions in our rural area.

Even so I was pretty concerned when Jet pulled the "Lassie" manoever on me and led me back to an injured fox kit.  It was on it's side on the ground, practically invisible in last Fall's dead leaves but I could clearly see what appeared to be two pellet holes in it's side.  It was a hot, hot day in May and I had no extra clothing I could take off to pick it up with so Jet and I ran home, got a packsack with a leather bottom, got my bike and went back as fast we could.  I took Jet back with me, reasoning that little foxy might have been able to move a bit and I would need the dog to find it again.  But it hadn't moved.

At this point I should say that as far as I could see Jet had not touched the fox.  And rabies vacinations are mandatory here.  Indeed my main concern was that the poor wee thing would die of shock from a big black Lab circling around it and barking at it, "get up, get up , what's the matter with you?"

I got it home, in my car and, afraid it was probably going to die anyway of shock and heat, beat it up to the road to a wildlife rehabilitation centre.  The poor wee thing was still alive when I got there and the wildlife lady said it was three weeks old and had probably been grabbed by a dog which we had likely frightened off.  It had two matching holes in it's other side to corroborate this theory.  The lady said likely a dog, and not a coyote, had got it as a coyote would not have dropped a potential dinner.

It was so weak she could handle her (foxy was a girl) without a muzzle and dripped water into her little mouth.  There were no broken bones, something I had suspected as being the reason for the immobility.  This was their first fox of the season but they ended up with four more and kept them all till fall and released them all together in an area where they had permission to do so.

I don't know how anyone could not have felt for this poor wee fox, injured, unable to move, not attempting to defend herself, just lying there on the ground ready to die.  I know we should not interfere with nature but I couldn't leave her and Jet would have been very bewildered if I had.  From a previous encounter with a fawn I know I would have had to drag Jet away from that fox.  And I did have to drag her home to get the pack and bike.

DH has lots and lots of experience as a hunter and as a conservation officer so maybe we have a little more knowledge of wild animal habits and behaviour than some of our neighbours.  We are very careful who we tell about our sightings.  I really believe some neighbours would panick if I told them this story or of the several coyotes and their pups we have seen and of the den sites we know of.