We are used to strange phone calls at Hessilhead. However, when someone called to say that a fox had walked up to her the previous evening, and she had taken it home, we were surprised.

The lady had the fox in a dog crate and was happy to bring him to Hessilhead.

The fox arrived. It is an adult male fox, underweight and quite lethargic. It was no trouble to transfer him to a hospital cage.

There are no obvious injuries on the fox and its legs seem to work OK. We offered up a bowl of dog food, which the fox ate straightaway. Then he curled up and went to sleep.

Next morning there wasn’t much change, except that the fox had rearranged the bedding in his cage. We cleaned him out, carefully, and was surprised when he moved from one side of the cage to the other, allowing us change all his bedding.

More food was eaten. During the day the girls in the hospital noticed that the fox coughed, sounding a bit like a hedgehog with lungworm.

We treated him appropriately, and a few days later the vet was on site. A scan revealed that the fox has damage to his lungs.

He will stay on antibiotics and wormer. He is remarkably good natured and is still being co-operative at feeding and cleaning times.

Foxy now has four days to show some improvement. He doesn’t look ready to return to the wild yet, but hopefully there will be some improvement by the weekend.