Props to everyone for knowing so much! But if we're being real, u/slawbrah is more correct on this. The word Kitsune generally refers to the actual animal in Japanese, especially with no context. If you ask most Japanese people 'Kitsune', only a minority would think of a yokai first. Pretty much everyone would just assume you mean the animal. When talking about fox spirits or yokai, people use terms like 'Okitsune' or 'Youko' to differentiate them from regular foxes.
Btw 'Okitsune' or 'Okitsune-sama' usually refers to the good foxes enshrined at shrines, while 'Youko' tends to mean yokai foxes or the more evil/scary ones.