Luxor4u

That is lovely Sue. We have always had our pets cremated, none have died since we have lived here, but it felt as though he chose our garden to come to and so he should rest there.

Thank goodness you've heard from 'Mum' - did you get anywhere with her last night?

Yes I did. I visualised him sitting in the flower bed as I first saw him, & she was just there watching with me.
I worked through a series of images, him laying on the shingle between the terrace and the conservatory, then standing looking in at us through the glass, then him back in the terrace with me putting the "warm blanket" round him & the look on his face as he felt it, then him taking his last 2 breaths then dead in the terrace and then his stiff body in the summer house & a night passing and then him on the top wood chip area and then finally in the hole & being covered over.
It was very difficult because she doesn't really have a sense of death, she just is. I tried showing her dead animals, like squirrels and rabbits but they are "food" not living things like foxes I knew what she meant then I remembered her telling me a long time ago she had seen a dead deer so I showed her that and she understood.
Then she asked why I had buried him (foxes don't) & I explained I didn't want the birds pecking at him, so she understood that & she was pleased we were there for him & had comforted him with the blanket.
She is definitely starting to show her age now, it is harder to communicate, a bit like an old person who has difficulty concentrating & whereas before it was very easy to do, now it is quite an effort. I felt exhausted afterwards & emotionally drained! Funnily enough instead of sleeping I had a dreadful night, my mind seemed to be working overtime after all the effort.

Did she seem upset?? I don't know - do foxes 'get upset' in the way that we do?

Yes they do have emotions. She was sorry to have lost her cub, she sent me the warm feeling she gets when she feeds them and it had been 3 cubs & now it is 2 & she was sad.
It wasn't quite as bad as it was male and she knows that males always leave at the end of summer so she prepares for that by cutting them off slowly, and I don't feel that she bonds quite as closely as she does with Vixens. Probably because after the initial feeding stage Kinkie is more involved with rearing the male cubs and she spends her time passing things on to her daughters, so that they become good mums themselves later. The vixens always seem to come down and help take food back etc.

We have a new young, much smaller fox cub coming down, its really tiny, stands with all 4 feet on the table to be able to reach the food
It's just turned round & chased off 1 of the big ones that tried to get some of the food

How's that for coincidnece - I was just wondering if there was any foxy news about an hour ago!! More photos please!

Barry has just taken one so we'll try to get it posted

Ok, here is a pic of the small cub. Its a bit grainy because I had to hand hold and shoot through glass

Hey, a wonderful picture, I love foxes

We get them every night...as many as 4 at a time

Ahh he/she is beautiful

So small compared to the other cubs, but feisty. We wonder whose it is, possibly Missies but she hasn't said anything to me about cubs. It could just have wandered in from somewhere but it seems too small to have left home yet. It is accepted by the others OK so may be related somehow, obviously not 1 of Mums though.

oh how cute

He/she is lovely.

Fran and Barry, You both are so lucky to have such wonderful creatures visiting you daily. When you are in Luxor long term, who will look after/feed your foxes, and won't you miss them terribly? :?: ...EB

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

EB we will miss them terribly & Kinnie cat. I am dreading that part of leaving :cc
The cubs will have left by then, they are males, Mum only had 3 cubs this year so maybe she won't have any next winter, she is getting old for a fox. She is increasingly difficult to communicate with, the last time I did was when the cub died in the garden.
We hope Kinnie cat who will be staying with my mother nearby will take them to her to feed but we have told them we will be away and are slowly reducing the amount we put out, plus missing the odd day when we go away to emphasise the need to be self sufficient.
We had intended to rent the house out & hoped whoever stayed in it would feed them but that plan has been scrapped now. Our son will stay here for a while whilst he has some major work done on his house so he will probably feed them then, & it looks as though we will be coming back once or twice for medical treatment for Barry

Foxy is soooooooooooo cute

Lovely picture, I bet you will miss them. I miss mine and thats only when they don't come in the summer, as soon as Autumn comes round up they seem to pop again. Maybe you will get some who will visit you in Luxor as some do live quite close to people, I remember the one that used to run up the drive to the Hilton in Karnak.