Can foxes hurt cats?

[Idontknowhatnametochoose]

I know i can Google this, but interested in people's thoughts and knowledge.

My cat goes out for a short time during the night. I've only had her two years and due to her background she is used to having freedom at night. It's quite safe where I am, no busy roads and she generally stays near to my front door.

But we do get a lot of foxes around. They've never been an issue and my cat will steer clear. However last night while my cat was indoors looking out the window I heard a thudding noise and realised my cat had nearly fallen off the sill in a panic- there was a large burly fox staring at her and then at both of us! It was clearly fascinated, gave us the eye for ages. then ran off.

It got me worrying whether foxes ever try and catch a cat?

they can and do
but a healthy cat is usually nimble enough to get away and defend itself

Yes. One of mine had a bite, the vet said it was fox in all liklihood and we were plagued by them digging up the garden, so possible territory dispute!!

I've seen my cat near a fox and they weren't interested in each other. She's 12 and has never came home injured and there are foxes living near us

Well I’m not any sort of animal expert but I’m going to say yes!

I think a spritely cat could evade a fox 9 times out of 10 but in a fight between a fox and a cat the cat isn’t going to win (unless it’s actually a leopard)

My mum put my mind at rest over this very subject years ago!
I was driving home in the early hours and saw a fox dragging a dead cat in it's mouth, along the road and I was upset and horrified.
I rung my mum the next day, as we had a cat and I was worried this could be an issue.
She said that the cat would have sadly been roadkill and the fox was just taking the opportunity.
Foxes do not attack anything that will fight back, especially things with stamina and sharp claws and teeth.
I have two one and a half year old cats, brother and sister and a fox that visits the garden. The other night, my female cat, the smallest of the two, was nose to nose with the fox and they were checking each other out. Then the fox spooked itself and skipped off down the bottom of the garden and disappeared!
It had every opportunity to have had a go, but didn't and was more curious than anything.
Ii can see why your cat panicked though, probably because they'd never come into contact with one face to face, then for it to suddenly appear in the window, would be a shock to anyone or anything!

A resident in my local area said that her cat was killed by a fox according to the vet. However the cat was old and slow. I don’t think a fox would take on a young healthy cat.

We have a LOT of foxes around this area and they are pretty relaxed about coming close to the houses. However, I have never once heard of anyone having their cat chased by a fox never mind caught - and seeing as people post bloody everything on the neighbourhood chat, I reckon even the smallest incident wd have been shared. Obviously, it will happen, but I think generally foxes go for smaller prey. Cats attacking cats tends to be the thing.

I do know someone whose cat was killed by a fox. I believe the cat had killed something and didn't give it up when the fox tried to take it. Very sad.
But I think it's rare. Where my family live in London the foxes and cats seem to coexist ok.
I'd tend to think of it like traffic. I.e. it is a concern, but hopefully unlikely and in the end you either have to trust the cat to work it out, or lock them indoors.

Yes they do - but as far as I know only once the cats have become too old or slow. I’ve seen one of mine sitting quite calmly side by side with a couple of different foxes but I know two cats who were killed on my road once they became elderly and could barely move. They will killed quite horribly in fact.

I have a microchipped cat flap that allows me to program when they are allowed out. I don’t use it as mine are still very active but if I’m still living in London when they’re older I will stop them from going out of a night.

Thanks everyone. Very useful info. My cat is healthy and skittish so very unlikely to get involved in any dispute or confrontation with a fox- she will just run away from anyone or anything. So in that sense I think it's worth the minimal risk as she would never cope indoors all night.

My cat used to chase the foxes - she was very territorial and outraged if they came into “her” area. I used to hear unearthly shrieks from both fox and cat and be convinced she was dead or injured but she’d come trotting back absolutely fine.

my nerves, though.

pics posted as evidence - currently under review. I think they’re being marked as sensitive for some reason, but honestly it’s just a fox running away from a slightly overweight black cat.

Yes, a brave enough fox will take a cat. But depends on the individual, a big aggressive Tom cat is probably safe, a smaller weaker cat less so.

My cat has been known to chase foxes out of our garden!

My facebook feed occasionally comes up with some corkers but in the last couple of days I have seen reels of cats defending a human baby from an inquisitive black bear, a cat coming to the aid of a dog being stalked by a leopard, and another of a cat having a right go at a gigantic bald eagle that thought a cat would make a tasty snack.

Cats are incrediibly fast on the attack and really vicious when they need to be, so I think the average fox would look at a cat and think: 'Nah - I might just casually trot off elsewhere, thanks'.

I recently watched my cat chase a fox out of the garden. We have a lot of foxes, and they tend to try to avoid one another tbh.

Other cats are much more of an issue for scratches and bites.

Aw does anyone remember the video clip of Larry the Cat seeing off that poor mangy fox? I expect a fox would take a cat if it got chance but most cats could outrun.

And foxes only have teeth. Cats have teeth - and four sets of lightning-fast and extremely painful claws. As my neighbour's dog once found out to its cost when it broke through a gap in the fence and came into our garden!

Cats are usually quite wary / scared of foxes and generally give them a wide berth. Ours will keep away from foxes and comes in at a fast trot if she sees one, even if they’re pretty unlikely to target cats directly. Cats are generally pretty savvy, so a healthy nimble cat should be able to avoid them when out and about. If your cat was elderly/unwell I might keep her in at night in particular, just in case.

When our cat was young and feisty he saw off a fox that came in our garden. The fox did not put up any resistance and wild animals don’t tend to risk injury but now our cat is old and deaf. I think a fox would take a cat if it could but is unlikely. We’ve always kept our cat in at night.

They seem to have a mutual understanding in my neck the woods.

Cats are usually quite wary / scared of foxes and generally give them a wide berth.

My cats have never been faced by foxes, they have often napped in different parts of the garden simultaneously

Where I live the cats and foxes coexist and neither seems interested in the other

My cat chased a fox that came in our garden during the day...

I don't let her out at night though because I don't want her to pick a fight with every fox (or cat) that she meets.

Yes. My sister had a cat attacked by foxes. They took a chunk out of the base of his tail, and he had a misshapen tail all his life.

I was worried about this too - but my neighbour came over the other day to tell me about my cat harassing, chasing and then baling up two fox cubs at the back of his garage!

And she's a rather overweight, really very stupid cat who normally literally can't hurt a bug unless she sits on it and squashes it to death.