SaveAFox

With...well...everything in the world, I found one Youtube channel that always makes me smile and helps lift my mood and I figure, maybe share it a bit more, hence me making this thread.

SaveAFox Rescue is a Minnesota based care and rescue charity focused mostly on Foxes. To be more specific, they care for foxes which cannot be wildered out, since they come from Fur Farms, are surrendered domestic pets or have been confiscated from their owners due to insufficent or negligent care.

Since domestic foxes cannot be wildered out for a few reasons, among them that Foxes bred for fur farms have a lot of genetic issues due to breeding practises which could negatively affect the wild population as well as them simply not being able to learn to live in the wild, Save A Fox takes them in, cares for them and provides training (getting them used to humans) and eventually finds them a Forever Home with someone who knows how to take care of a very energetic vulpine.

Their Youtube Channel gets updated regularly, beside their Instagram, showing us the various residents and their antics as well as giving education on foxes, the demands of a domestic fox and your regular dose of just general wholesomeoness and cuteness.

Some of you might actually have seen them on the news, as various local US shows have shown a segment about them.

And with that I leave you with some wise words from the fox, the myth, the legend himself: Finnegan Fox.

I follow their You Tube and their Instagram. Always cheers me up to hear Finnegan.

OMG Finnegan is the best. Love my Finnegan fox fridays.

We need classic Finnegan Fox

Fin steals a wallet

Fin doing some home invading

Fin being THE BEST ADOPTIVE DAD

And classic, Dixiedo steals a phone

Edited by Ghilz on Mar 12th 2022 at 11:37:59 AM

Makes me wonder what if instead of wolves, early man partnered with foxes?

I'm well aware the two have much different instincts that would make foxes impossible to work with before urbanization, but it would be an interesting alternate history.

I'd have to dig it up but apparently there is evidence that we had fox companions way before canines, but since foxes are not pack animals it didn't stick.

That or cats usurped their rightful place at our side.

I remember hearing somewhere that foxes are more closely related to cats than to dogs. Is that true?

Oh, wait, scratch that, I just saw the reply just above me. So, it's true, then?

Edited by MagmaTeaMerry on Mar 12th 2022 at 10:51:06 AM

Nah, biologically vulpines are closer to canines than felines.

But, there is a reason a lot of people jokingly call foxes Cat Software on Dog Hardware and foxes would have similar uses in getting rid of rodents etc than cats did. In fact, that's one thing why urban foxes tend to thrive, as omnivores cities are quite a buffet for them.

Also, Fox Wake Up Call

Edit: Did the digging. Fox pets were buried with their owners in the bronze age

Edited by 3of4 on Mar 12th 2022 at 12:33:24 PM

Foxes are canines, in that they're part of the family Canidae. By "canine" you probably mean the genus Canis tho

But yeah I love watching this channel! Finnegan is so adorable

Edited by TheWhiteWolf on Mar 12th 2022 at 7:57:33 AM

Yes but in my defense, it was almost midnight when I wrote this for me ^^

New Video! Finney misses Mommy!

Hah, I've followed this channel for years. I'm generally wary about channels that make it look so cute to own animals like this, but this is a very educational channel that goes through all the problems of owning foxes and how getting one because they're cute is a very bad idea.

I'll have to dig out the video of her following Finnegan as he methodically pees absolutely everywhere in the house to show one of the downsides. She has a very easy-clean house for exactly this reason.

fox pee is the one of the worst smells imaginable,seriously.

Yes, fox smells are terrible. I would definitely rate ducks as worse than foxes, however. I have yet to find anything worse than the smell of a flock of ducklings after just a couple of days in a rehabilitation enclosure.

Mikayla is definitely very good at communicating the problems with foxes. At least she can handle it and shares lots of cute content.

A bunch of the videos have him peeing indoors lol. I think it's been mentioned that the behavior is a territory marking instinct or something.

Yes, it is. Foxes are extremely territorial, so if something new is introduced to their environment, they're going to mark. If they're introduced to a new environment, they're going to mark everything. I think I recall one of the videos of him running around the house included him drinking the skunk's water and then peeing in it.

Yeah, in front of the poor Skunk if I recall.

There's also Dixie and Floofalla not being allowed in the house together because it literally turned into a peeing contest between the Alpha Female and her young adoptive challenger

Edited by 3of4 on Mar 13th 2022 at 7:12:47 PM

To my knowledge, even if the owner tries to house train them or get them to use a litter box, foxes are still pretty territorial and will mark their territory regardless. That's one of the reasons why I'd never own even a domestic fox. Still, it's nice watching videos of cute foxes, and I appreciate people like this channel saving foxes from fur farms or those illegally kept as pets.

Yes, some foxes are trainable to a point. They'll litter in the place they're trained to, but that won't guarantee they won't keep marking or that something won't trigger them into starting marking again (like... getting a new sofa, for example, which introduces a bunch of brand new smells into the "territory").

It's a little like adult cats. If a cat hasn't been neutered, or was neutered later in life, they'll know to use the litter box, but that won't guarantee they'll never spray all over the house — and, while male cats are more notorious for this, females can spray as well. (And a small percentage of cats will engage in spraying behaviour as adults even if they've been neutered at the recommended ages.)

Edited to add: I just noticed how many times I've used "won't" in this post. I'm going to leave them in for record-breaking purposes.

I think I missed that video. I'm going to have to go and find it now! Thanks to you, when my work colleagues ask me tomorrow what I did on the weekend, I'll be saying "Watching foxes having a pissing contest, how about your weekend?"

Edited by Wyldchyld on Mar 13th 2022 at 1:58:03 AM

There was no specific video showing them doing it, but Mikaela mentioned it in one.

Also, I think the resident Gold Standard for Potty Trained Foxes is Muttias with 60%.

Okay, I did not think foxes sounded this cute.

New Video! Enjoying the sun.

And this channel has taught me that foxes have over 50 vocalizations. They are quite the talkers.

An older video, but one of my favourites: night feeds, including 9 minutes of them trying to get Jaeger down for the night (often tricky with animals that prefer to be crepuscular or nocturnal).

It's one of my favourites because it always reminds me of when I used to work with tapirs, and the one was always a bit a character when it came to bed time.

Edited by Wyldchyld on Mar 14th 2022 at 10:49:49 AM

Foxes enjoying the snow, giving me pelt envy

I always love the difference between their winter pelt and summer pelts?

Summer Pelt: Sleek small canine creatures

Winter Pelt: Fur Cylinder with nose on one side, tail on the other, and legs barely poking out.

Oh yeah I follow this lovely channel since 2 years now.

The sound the foxes make when excited is just too cute.

Dixie Doo is my favorite.

New Short

Remember that Minks are recycable