Baby foxes have highly specific nutritional requirements that differ dramatically from adult foxes. This means they require foods and diets specifically designed for baby foxes.
Baby foxes, or kits, are born entirely blind and depend solely on their parents for food. The mother will supply all of the kit’s nutritional needs from the day they are born until it is capable of hunting for food.
Unfortunately, if you find yourself having to feed an orphaned baby kit, those little balls of fluff will be entirely your responsibility.
Baby foxes eat only the regurgitated meat that their mother feeds them for the first two weeks. After that, their mother begins to fill their stomachs with small live prey such as mice and insects for nourishment.
In captivity, during the weaning stage, baby foxes can feed on puppy milk replacement formula. When they are about one month old, they are capable of eating solid foods like raw chicken, rabbit, or rodents.
Most experts suggest that a baby fox be fed scheduled meal times from when you bring them home rather than free-feeding them or leaving food out all the time.
Age By Age Guide to Feeding Baby Foxes
Newborn
During the early nursing days, newborns are free of germs, thanks to antibodies in the mother’s milk.
It is suggested that all kits nurse on their mother’s milk for a minimum of 10 days. The longer they are with her, the better they will be for their health and physical development.
If you have found an un-weaned orphaned fox, then it should be with a vet.
Remember, there are things you can do, while waiting to locate an animal rehabilitation center, to keep it alive.
Feed the kit (baby fox) a tissue fluid replacement for its first feeding. You should supplement it with glycine, electrolytes, and glucose for its first feeding. Lectade can easily be diluted with water, and the fox will be happy to drink it.
2-4 Weeks
If the kits are around 2-4 weeks in age, now you can start giving them milk formula designed for canines, such as Esbilac, or goat milk, and especially keto goat’s milk. It has beneficial fats that a kits under 4 weeks old will need for development. In addition, all formulas need to be warmed to approximately 100 degrees (or body temperature).
** NOTE** Do not heat in microwave; place the bottle in a cup of warm water.
You can check the temperature of the milk by putting a few drops on your wrist. Make sure it is neutral (not hot or cold when using a microwave). Using a small 3-4 milliliter syringe or a small bottle that is made for bottle feeding baby animals is definitely the way to go.
The kits should be on their stomach, as kits rest while they are feeding.
Bottle feeding fox kits requires proactive attention. You will have to provide 6 feedings every three hours (but if the fox is only a week or so younger, you could do it every two hours).
Once they have finished you can pat the kit on the back (this helps them burp-up any air they swallowed).
Ask for help: if you are not sure what to do or they seem to be having trouble swallowing, a veterinarian can inform you how to get them to feed or be fed (through the stomach).
4-6 weeks.
At 4-6 weeks after birth, the baby foxes are now entering the weaning stage (the kits teeth start erupting),and they can start eating the solids. The diet should consist of only 10% solids. Mix 2 cups puppy food, 12.5 ounces puppy/kitten milk replacer and 2 cups water in a blender.
Serve the container in a baking pan or shallow dish, and present the mixture to them.
If they seem uninterested you may need to dip your finger into the mixture and then touch your finger to their mouths to taste it.
They will get messy tasting this food, but they will eventually (it may take a few tries) get interested enough to begin lapping this mixture up on their own.
A kit will begin eating solids on their own time, and this time can vary from kit to kit.
In the meantime, continue to offer them milk replacer in a bottle to help the kit fox maintain their weight and get all the nutrition that they need to be healthy.
Weighing your kitten on a daily basis is also a great way to ensure your pet baby fox will gain weight and develop appropriately.
Don’t forget: offer a shallow bowl of fresh water once the kit is 4 weeks old.
Six Weeks to Five Months
Aim to more rapidly wean the kit to more solid foods (the transition begins by 6-5 months of age). It is a good idea to give the kit a combination of dry as well as canned foods, this will allow the kit to experience both as a young animal.
Do not feed adult fox diets until the animal is being raised as a pet.
There are 3-4 feedings per day depending on their appetite.
At this age, the kit is growing and would not store fat because everything they eat goes into growth and development. Therefore, if you feed them whenever they are hungry, you will be keeping them healthy and compensating for what they lose while playing all day.
Also, at all times there should be a shallow bowl of fresh water, so your kit stays hydrated. The kit should be fed an all meat diet that includes pre-killed raw chicken with skin, rabbits and rodents for healthy protein intake.
There are ways to supplement their diet, such as giving them the opportunity to eat live insects and earthworms or feed taurine supplements to ensure their eyes and heart system develops properly.
They should be given one to three boiled/raw eggs a week for they calcium needs (grinding the shells to powder and mixing with nibbles of the fox food is allowed).
Small amounts of kibbles can be given, but not too much because it encourages rickets caused by calcium deficiency, or hurts the heart from too much protein!
You might consider giving kit foxes a few teaspoons of mixed frozen veggies every day (like tomatoes), and other veggies that can be cubed into bite-sized pieces. If you see vegetables in the fox’s stool, you are likely feeding them too much of it, and should back off.
Plus, fruit can also be given as treats. Foxes love berries, but in moderation, with grapes and raisins being the exception, which are a no-no because they can harm kidneys.
Final Thoughts
It can be a shocking experience to be faced with a baby fox (kit) or a litter of kits that are abandoned, orphaned, or rejected that cannot nurse from momma. Since the kits are not able to nurse from their mother, it is then up to you to give them the nutrition they need to survive the best way you can.
Baby foxes basically eat similar foods to pet dogs and cats. The diet of a pet fox is supposed to be a balanced diet consisting of protein, vitamins, and minerals.
As a rule of thumb, a pet fox is usually going to eat quality, non-grain, pet food (dry food with meat and bone meal as the first ingredient) also. Just make sure to serve the food in correct proportions according to the weight of your pet fox.
You can get specifically-formulated fox feeds that will guarantee proper amounts of protein and taurine.
If you would like to offer small pieces of fruit and vegetables as a treat, it is fine. Some popular treats are strawberries, apples, carrots, mushrooms, boiled eggs, raw meat.