Well, I couldn’t find any official material stating this, but it could’ve taken inspiration from an Arctic Fox (one of my favorite animals). It has a pure white coat in the winter, similar to that of Alolan Ninetales (though it has some blue). They also live in the tundra biome of the Arctic, where it’s cold and snowy, hinting towards the Ice typing. Besides that, I couldn’t really find anything else (besides the Kitsune, of course).
Source: fox knowledge
Hope this helps! :)