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joyoI started my festivid assignment, *finally*. I'm feeling good about it, the idea is clear and it the vid pleases me, so can't complain on that front.
Speaking of fronts, that paragraph is a total front for the true purpose of this post: We have a sick fox in our garden.
Late this morning Ian yelled "Amy look out the back window!"
This is code for "there is a feathery or fuzzy thing in the garden which is by its very nature relevant to your interests"
It's usually our resident green woodpecker, but today it was...a little fox.
A very sick little fox. It's always weird to see a fox strolling around in broad daylight, nevermind laying down in full view to scratch and bite at itself for 20 mins.
I noticed Foxy was looking kind of...sad. Unsteady on 'is feet, matted fur, wandering around slightly dazed and such. However, when it when it started pulling bits off fur off itself I started paying more attention, and realized that it couldn't seem to really open either of its eyes, and on the whole looked pretty pathetic and less like a fox than a tiny, scraggly sadness-wolf.
It left, and then came back a bit later, repeated the sad scratching/biting episode, and then curled up in the sun and went to sleep. In the wide open. In broad daylight.
And then stayed there for the entire time that it took me to get very upset, scrabble around for wildlife centre phone numbers, call two different numbers, and then have a very long conversation with Penny at Little Foxes about sarcopic mange, for which it seems to be a clear case. And then call Tiggywinkles, and then call Penny back because it's still too healthy for them to come out and catch.
There's stuff I can do for it "in situ", but she laboured the point just a wee bit...I was already firmly on board the "help the fox" boat, she didn't need the "Poor thing it sounds like he's just really suffering, allow me to go into extreme detail about what it's going through, the nature and symptoms of the disease and how miserable it must be say are you crying yet I certainly hope so otherwise you are definitely a robot".
The conclusion from both charities was that since Foxface is still well enough to dart under the fence when I brought it water, then it's too difficult to snare trap and take it in for "residential treatment". Therefore the best course of action is to:
1. Get it coming to our yard for food, at a time of day when I can observe it (and make sure it's what's eating the food).
2. Have it be comfortable enough with this arrangement to show up expecting said food daily, at appointed time (this takes only a couple of days)
3. Once this pattern is set, to dose food with drug provided by the wildlife center
The funny part is the preferred suggestion for food is: sausages! Why?
Well:
1. They smell nice and foxes are particularly drawn to them.
2. You can inject the medication into them (it can't sit on the surface, or it evaporates)
Oh, and preferably *beef* sausages, as they are better "in the longer term" for foxes than pork. And cooked, natch. It didn't come back for my offer of smelly cat food, so tomorrow morning I'm goign to try fresh beef sausages. If it doesn't nab them before work I think I'll have to bring them back in, because I'm not out to fatten up the neighborhood's cat and rat population, and I really need to be able to know it's the creature eating them, because the medicated ones will be dangerous for anything else.
SO, if this works and Foxy pulls through, this time next week I may very well be slinging a doped sausage at a fox.
What will the neighbors think?
POLITE VULPINE DISCLAIMER: I like foxes, even urban foxes. They are clever and they *eat rats* and my god have you seen this side of town? They will not eat your babies! There is a higher chance of your neighbor's dog doing this!
Also, mange is a really nasty way to die, so on the whole: I do not want to hear about your Foxhate. Please refrain from Amy-directed foxhate, lest you receive a visit from haetsnake. Thank you!
Speaking of fronts, that paragraph is a total front for the true purpose of this post: We have a sick fox in our garden.
Late this morning Ian yelled "Amy look out the back window!"
This is code for "there is a feathery or fuzzy thing in the garden which is by its very nature relevant to your interests"
It's usually our resident green woodpecker, but today it was...a little fox.
A very sick little fox. It's always weird to see a fox strolling around in broad daylight, nevermind laying down in full view to scratch and bite at itself for 20 mins.
I noticed Foxy was looking kind of...sad. Unsteady on 'is feet, matted fur, wandering around slightly dazed and such. However, when it when it started pulling bits off fur off itself I started paying more attention, and realized that it couldn't seem to really open either of its eyes, and on the whole looked pretty pathetic and less like a fox than a tiny, scraggly sadness-wolf.
It left, and then came back a bit later, repeated the sad scratching/biting episode, and then curled up in the sun and went to sleep. In the wide open. In broad daylight.
And then stayed there for the entire time that it took me to get very upset, scrabble around for wildlife centre phone numbers, call two different numbers, and then have a very long conversation with Penny at Little Foxes about sarcopic mange, for which it seems to be a clear case. And then call Tiggywinkles, and then call Penny back because it's still too healthy for them to come out and catch.
There's stuff I can do for it "in situ", but she laboured the point just a wee bit...I was already firmly on board the "help the fox" boat, she didn't need the "Poor thing it sounds like he's just really suffering, allow me to go into extreme detail about what it's going through, the nature and symptoms of the disease and how miserable it must be say are you crying yet I certainly hope so otherwise you are definitely a robot".
The conclusion from both charities was that since Foxface is still well enough to dart under the fence when I brought it water, then it's too difficult to snare trap and take it in for "residential treatment". Therefore the best course of action is to:
1. Get it coming to our yard for food, at a time of day when I can observe it (and make sure it's what's eating the food).
2. Have it be comfortable enough with this arrangement to show up expecting said food daily, at appointed time (this takes only a couple of days)
3. Once this pattern is set, to dose food with drug provided by the wildlife center
The funny part is the preferred suggestion for food is: sausages! Why?
Well:
1. They smell nice and foxes are particularly drawn to them.
2. You can inject the medication into them (it can't sit on the surface, or it evaporates)
Oh, and preferably *beef* sausages, as they are better "in the longer term" for foxes than pork. And cooked, natch. It didn't come back for my offer of smelly cat food, so tomorrow morning I'm goign to try fresh beef sausages. If it doesn't nab them before work I think I'll have to bring them back in, because I'm not out to fatten up the neighborhood's cat and rat population, and I really need to be able to know it's the creature eating them, because the medicated ones will be dangerous for anything else.
SO, if this works and Foxy pulls through, this time next week I may very well be slinging a doped sausage at a fox.
What will the neighbors think?
POLITE VULPINE DISCLAIMER: I like foxes, even urban foxes. They are clever and they *eat rats* and my god have you seen this side of town? They will not eat your babies! There is a higher chance of your neighbor's dog doing this!
Also, mange is a really nasty way to die, so on the whole: I do not want to hear about your Foxhate. Please refrain from Amy-directed foxhate, lest you receive a visit from haetsnake. Thank you!
