The fox has taken up residence inside what Karen Quinn and her daughter, Megan DiPrimeo, call 'a hotel.' It's a shelter with padded beds for their outdoor cats.
But, someone else checked in Thursday without making a reservation.
"I see a fox coming out of the cat hotel and he darts across the street," Megan said. "I ran in the house and locked the doors."
Megan snapped a blurry photo of the fox from the front door. He's apparently been around introducing himself to the neighbors.
"He was up on the porch yesterday and this morning my son heard him on the porch again," said Vicky Dalessandro.
The visit sent Vicky's dog, Lucy, into a tizzy.
"She must have smelled it or something because as soon as she got down to the bottom of the steps her nose went up and the hair went up on her back," Vicky said. "She was just barking like crazy."
Concerned about what's going on, Karen and Megan called Animal Control which directed them to a trapper. They called the police, too, but say officers were reluctant to put the animal down in the middle of a residential neighborhood.
"We hope somebody will take it away so we can feel safe again to walk outside because this thing is clearly mangy and it doesn't look good. This fox was definitely burned or injured or something," Karen said.
To be safe - since rabies could be an issue - they're keeping their distance and are now calling an animal rescue agency.
In the meantime, the family plans to move the cat hotel off the front porch so the fox will have to go elsewhere to find shelter.
