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​Mum Adds To Her Gang With Pet Fox After It Was Abandoned

​Mum Adds To Her Gang With Pet Fox After It Was Abandoned

Mum-of-two Natalie Reynolds has dogs, cats and horses - and now also a pet fox, which she bottle fed and takes for walks on a lead.

Jess Hardiman

Jess Hardiman

Whether it's a cat that totally hates us, a family dog that has the shittiest breath on the planet or a goldfish that we secretly regret, we all have soft spots for the daftest of animals. But a fox?

Mum-of-two Natalie Reynolds - whose family already includes three dogs and a bunch of cats and horses - has added to her mob with Jasper, who is a fox cub.

Fox
Fox

Natalie takes Jasper for walks on a lead. Credit: James Linsell- Clark / SWNS

The family, who live in Sarratt in Hertfordshire, adopted Jasper seven months ago from a vets when he was just two days old.

The fox had been handed in after being abandoned by his mother - and then mistaken for a tiny puppy by someone.

"One of my friends called me," Natalie says. "She's a veterinary nurse and said they had just had a fox club handed in and that he would need hand-rearing because he needed bottle-feeding every couple of hours."

"I was up every two hours in the night with him," she continues. "It was like breastfeeding my children."

Fox
Fox

Nope, not another John Lewis Christmas ad... Credit: James Linsell-Clark / SWNS

Since then, Jasper has settled in well and gets on with her five-year-old daughter and three-year-old son - though it's not been completely plain sailing with everyone in the family.

"He's got a different bond with me," says Natalie. "He's not so great with my partner.

"He's like a cross between a cat and a dog. He's part of the pack. The dogs chase him around but the cat isn't too fond of him."

Natalie says he also has a tendency to nip strangers when she takes him out for walks on a lead.

A fox on a lead may give you one hell of an image, and Jasper may seem like a cool playmate, but Natalie is keen to stress that keeping a pet fox isn't exactly ideal.

Fox
Fox

Netflix and chill. Credit: James Linsell-Clark / SWNS

"We're very fortunate that we have the stuff to keep him here, but it's not something I would advise in any way," she says.

"I don't want people to go out and think, 'this is great'. He's just not good in a domestic situation."

"He smells," she adds. "They are just not a household pet." Who would have thought it...?

The RSPCA also agrees, saying that while there is no legal restriction on keeping foxes as pets, they have not been domesticated and a fox in captivity would have the 'same needs as in the wild'.

Featured Image Credit: James Linsell-Clark / SWNS

Topics: RSPCA, Dog, UK News, Pets, Cat, Fox