Freddie the Fox Cub

Freddie upon arrival… still with his placenta attached.

In late February we had a call from a concerned member of the public who had been ‘delivered’ a very unusual present in her garden. A newborn fox cub. The vixen had entered the garden in daylight and literally popped her baby out and then disappeared.

After waiting as long as we could for the vixen to return, and when it became clear that she wasn’t going to, we advised the caller to pick up the cub and keep him warm. It is very rare for a vixen to behave in this way, and we think she may have been a first-time mother and been confused as to what was happening to her, or had been frightened away from her nesting spot. Either way we needed to step in.

A few hours old

On meeting the pup, who still had his placenta attached, and was squeaking just like ‘Sweep’ from Sooty and Sweep, we discovered he was very very wriggly and he was a boy! We knew the placenta needed to be detached and with the amazing expert guidance from our local vet Grant, we were able to safely snip the placenta away from the cub.

This little lad was hungry! He fed very well in the first few days, and we kept up regular feeds every 3-4 hours depending on how much he would take in one feed. He was now affectionately known as Freddie!

Freddie at around 10 days old

We took him into the vets for a once over from Grant and one of the veterinary nurses very kindly offered to donate some antibodies from her own dog - which was an incredible act of kindness and no doubt contributed greatly to his chances of survival.

Ten days into his care and Freddie was doing very well! He was growing steadily and becoming more and more vocal. We knew that consistent nurture and care would now be his best chance to keep going.

Freddie at 7 weeks old (looking very cheeky!)

Fast forward to mid-April and Freddie (now around 7 weeks old) is going from strength to strength. We are so thrilled to have got him through all the challenges so far. A huge thank you goes to Grant at Stonehenge Vets for thoroughly researching ways to give Freddie the best chances of survival.

We will continue to update you on Freddie’s progress and release in future posts.

If you would like to help with Freddie’s care please do send us a donation. We rely totally on volunteer support and public donations to keep the hospital running and providing the vital service that we do for our local wildlife. Anything you can offer will help.

Thank you so much.