Charlotte and I caught a glimpse of a wonderfully energetic Red Fox this morning. It was all over the field vigorously digging in the ground for mice and voles, running in a sort of leaping and prancing manner, rolling around in the grass, and then just before heading into the wooded edge, it took a long pause to poop.
I at first did not understand what was going on with its fur. You can see a funny looking fluff of white remains on the tail and parts of it coat are still thick with winter fur whereas the fur was very short in other areas. I didn’t think it was mange because he appeared full of vim and vigor.
Both Red and Gray Fox begin to moult (or shed) their fur in spring. The shorter and cooler summer coat grows in while the long shaggy coat falls out, still clinging in some areas. Perhaps the Fox was rolling in the grass to help rid itself of the old coat.
Rolling in the grass
Pausing to poop
I love your fox photos, but I am concerned about the little guy. We had a fox in our meadow couple years ago and it lost a lot of his hair on the tail, flanks etc. That fox’s eyes looked very similar & distinctively half shut. I wonder if this is an early stage of mange. I looked up the disease and it did seem to talk about affecting the eyesight as well. As the disease progresses, they get weakened and can’t see to catch prey. In England they treat their foxes with a medicine, as they’re valued predators.
That fox’s eyes indicate he has mange. I had a fox that looked just like the pictures you have..closed eyes and looked like he was molting but he was not. Within a week of looking just how the one in your pictures did, he went down hill drastically. I realized at that point, he was very sick. I would update your information on your page because your site was actually one of the websites I came across. All the pictures that come up online of foxes with mange only show the really bad stages of it and that can misinform people. I did not see the comment section, only read your descriptions under the picture too. Lesson learned, I will send a picture to a wildlife specialist and not go by comparing pictures on the computer. I would update that its not molting and its early stage of mange