Often times other animals — like birds that learn to imitate a bark, cats that like to fetch or do tricks, and bunnies that race through agility courses — act an awful lot like dogs.
Sometimes, however, a close relative to the canine, like a fox, can do a pretty good pooch impression as well. Case in point, meet Kona. The itty-bitty baby silver fox was found by a woman that volunteers at a variety of shelters.
“One of them is a wildlife sanctuary where rescued and illegal animals are taken in when the only other option is for them to be put down,” explains the woman’s husband, an Imgur user who goes by the name of bazangin. “Kona was one of five kit (baby) foxes that were rescued at less than a week old.”
The woman took the palm-sized pup home to her husband in order to help foster it, but neither of them ever thought this would happen…
According to bazangin, “It takes A LOT of care and attention to raise [a fox] without their mom.”
“You have to help them go to the bathroom with a wet cloth (the mom usually does this by licking them).”
“They can easily get sick and it's hard to keep them warm. So you have to hold them constantly or have a heated pad with them at all times when they are young.”
“They have to be bottle fed every two hours day and night for the first month! This was by far the hardest part,” he laments.
“Their eyes don't open for the first several weeks and it's hard to tell it's even a fox sometimes.”
He says that if someone asked, he would tell people that it's a puppy.
At first, the couple thought they were just going to foster Kona.
“However, after some time we decided that we will adopt her permanently since my wife is one of a handful of people that legally can in our state.”
“She will be with us for the next 10-15 years.”
“Because we have had her from only days old, she has adapted really well to humans and loves cuddling.”
“After about six weeks, some of the silver fur [started] showing up after two months, she grew SO much.”
“We have been training her to stay off the furniture when we aren't with her, but sometimes it hard to discipline her when she is being so cute.” And cute she certainly is!
