Wildlife guys, answer this....

[LaBelle]

I heard my runtweiler (Chihuahua) barking ferociously and rushed out to see what had her riled up.

Headed across the pasture at a leisurely pace was a red fox, but it didn't look quite right. Its body fur was sparse, the tail, instead of being nice & bushy, appeared almost bare, with a little bit of white tip left.
It stopped at the far corner and spent a minute or so rolling in the grass and scratching its back. Stood up looking back at me and the runtweiler and calmly proceeded to head across the highway and into the woods behind the neighbor's place.

This was about 11:30 this morning, broad daylight.

This isn't the first time we've seen foxes around, a couple of weeks ago four came walking through the yard where my husband and a friend were talking, about 20 yards away, middle of the day. Showed no concern about the humans.

My question is, would they shed most of their fur in summer like that, or did it have a mange-like affliction?

I grew up in AZ, and when we saw either a fox, skunk or bat during the daylight, it was highly suspect, rabies being a problem at the time, and folks were sorta encouraged to shoot them if they acted in an abnormal manner.

 

[Emperor]

I heard my runtweiler (Chihuahua) barking ferociously and rushed out to see what had her riled up.

Headed across the pasture at a leisurely pace was a red fox, but it didn't look quite right. Its body fur was sparse, the tail, instead of being nice & bushy, appeared almost bare, with a little bit of white tip left.
It stopped at the far corner and spent a minute or so rolling in the grass and scratching its back. Stood up looking back at me and the runtweiler and calmly proceeded to head across the highway and into the woods behind the neighbor's place.

This was about 11:30 this morning, broad daylight.

This isn't the first time we've seen foxes around, a couple of weeks ago four came walking through the yard where my husband and a friend were talking, about 20 yards away, middle of the day. Showed no concern about the humans.

My question is, would they shed most of their fur in summer like that, or did it have a mange-like affliction?

I grew up in AZ, and when we saw either a fox, skunk or bat during the daylight, it was highly suspect, rabies being a problem at the time, and folks were sorta encouraged to shoot them if they acted in an abnormal manner.

Most animals that I encounter whether Summer or Winter are fully coated with fur if they are healthy. The condition you describe seems to lend itself to a health issue; or one hell of a fight with something that wupped its ass.

 

[JLouv]

I'm thinking mange.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mange

 

[Gator 45/70]

Yep, I would say mange, Also the runtwheiler make's a meal for a fox or yot .

 

[edman87k5]

Chupacabra. Definitely

 

[Hitman]

Might have a disease too.

 

[paddle007]

I had a hairless fox hanging around my area for a while. It was one ugly SOB. I never trusted it as he would let us get unusually close to him. Always kept a some form of protection around.

 

[Ironman26]

That may have been a coyote you saw....been seeing a bunch around this way that have a bunch of red hair in their coat....will make you do a double take on the glance !! Also fox have a very short and more graceful gait than a coyote because they are smaller, shorter than coyote.....hope this helps !!!

 

[03protege]

Yep, I would say mange, Also the runtwheiler make's a meal for a fox or yot .

Yup, they love them some kitty-cats too.

 

[TomTerrific]

That may have been a coyote you saw....been seeing a bunch around this way that have a bunch of red hair in their coat....will make you do a double take on the glance !! Also fox have a very short and more graceful gait than a coyote because they are smaller, shorter than coyote.....hope this helps !!!

Wouldn't the difference in size be apparent?

A fox is really too small to take a cat, unless the cat is quite small. I don't think you will find anything authoritative claiming that. This is in response to another post by someone else, Ironman.

 

[oleheat]

Hmm. Yeah, I'd like to know the approximate size of what you saw....Seems unusual for a fox to stick around for very long once it's been "made". Years ago we had a few of them around that gave our chickens grief- but they were absolutely chicken $hit scared of dogs...

At any rate, sounds like mange, whatever it was.

 

[andimthejr]

Chupacabra. Definitely

+1

 

[deuxlatch]

Chupacabra. Definitely

+2

 

[tbone]

Foxes don't usually shed their fur. This one probably is in poor condition and has succumbed to some parasite or disease as a result of its poor condition. All animals carry parasites and they usually can tolerate them in small numbers. If conditions in their environment become stressful, their resistance to the parasites is lessened. Changes can be unusual temperature extremes like heat, a loss of available food supply either due to a reduction in prey or an increase in the number of predators that utilize the same prey. Sometimes there are just too many predators and some die. Sometimes there is an injury that prevents the predator from catching enough food to sustain a healthy life.
As far as foxes being scared. My wife and I were at Toledo Bend at our little camper where we are clearing a couple of lots for a build and we encountered a family of red foxes. It was at night and I heard a noise so I got my mag light and shined over to the grown up lot next door. There was one set of eyes and then slowly four more sets of eyes. We had burned some on our lot to clear debris. There was an obviously larger individual that I assumed was the mother and four smaller individuals that I assumed were kits. We walked over to the foxes and they just looked at us. They ignored us up to about 10 feet which I decided was close enough to approach. They went about their business. The mother eventually left to cross the road into a more thick wooded area and we stood and watched the kits play fight with each other and play king of the mountain on a pile of wood chips we had made with a wood chipper. One displayed the "hop into the air and land on its forepaws" until it caught a mouse. It played with the mouse on the chip pile, chasing the other kits away when they approached and recatching the mouse as it crawled away. Like a cat.
We got tired of standing there and went back over and sat down at the camper again. After we went to bed they were still there. They came back every night we were there for two more weekends.

 

[4x4demon]

could have been a Red Wolf