Due to the Aesop’s fable about the fox that wanted some grapes, we see a number of people reaching out each month and asking if foxes eat grapes or not.
We have also seen a number of people who have wild foxes visit their homes asking about what they are able to feed to the fox and if grapes are suitable or not too.
With grapes not being as straight forward as other food sources for foxes, we wanted to publish this dedicated article going over if you should feed foxes grapes or not.
Our hope is that we will be able to point out the advantages and disadvantages of foxes having grapes in their diets.
We have also added our table of contents below to make it as easy as possible to navigate the article. It should allow you to quickly and easily get to specific sections of the article to get the information that you need.
Do Foxes Eat Grapes?
Although foxes will eat grapes, too many grapes can cause problems in foxes and potentially cause them to go into toxic shock.
Wild foxes will often eat grapes though due to their high sugar content and with foxes being omnivores, they will naturally eat both animal and plant based foods.
In the wild, it is rare that a fox will have immediate access to enough grapes to cause any health problems in them.
This is why it is known that some wild foxes will eat any wild grapes that they are able to find without having any problems with the potentially toxic effects of grapes.
On the flipside of this though, there are much better food options for a fox, especially in large quantities if you are wanting to feed a wild fox that visits your home.
Cat food or dog food are very popular options but if you do want to feed the fox some fruit then apples are probably the best option with wild foxes absolutely loving wild apples that they find.
Are Grapes Toxic To Foxes?
In large enough quantities, grapes are toxic to foxes and all other canids including dogs. Unfortunately, the cause of the toxicity of grapes in canids is unknown and the number of grapes required to cause toxic shock in foxes changes.
This is why we recommend that you avoid feeding foxes grapes as they are just too unpredictable to safely feed to a fox.
The same fox may be able to eat ten grapes without issue one day and then a month or so later end up having problems from the exact same number of grapes.
As we touched on earlier in the article, apples are generally considered the best fruit to feed a fox if you are wanting to give a fox some fruit.
If possible though, you should usually just try to feed the fox some canned dog or cat food as foxes tend to really enjoy it while also offering a more nutritionally complete meal for the fox.
Why Do Wild Foxes Eat Grapes?
Wild foxes will happily eat grapes if they find them due to their high sugar content while also having a solid vitamin and mineral profile too.
Most wild grapes will also be used as a food source for various other wild animals too so it is rare that the fox will have access to enough to suffer from their toxic effects.
Depending on the time of year and the available food, a wild fox may have to eat grapes that it find due to it being the only food source the fox has available to it.
In rare situations, this may result in the fox finding enough grapes to cause it to go into toxic shock if it does eat enough grapes.
The fox may make a full recovery from the toxic shock but sometimes it will not but this is all part of the circle of life. In the wild, this is usually unavoidable too so we recommend that you just avoid intentionally feeding any foxes you see grapes if possible.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over if foxes eat grapes or not to an end. We hope that we have been able to help you better understand why some foxes will eat grapes but why you should avoid intentionally feeding foxes grapes if possible. The number of grapes required to cause toxic shock changes depending on a number of factors so it really can be easy to accidentally cause health problems in the fox with grapes.
