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?

Yes. My neighbours cat spent a week in an animal hospital due to a badly infected fox bite. The cat was a bruiser so it must have been one hell of a fight.

Watching my cctv I've seen my cat one early evening chase a fox out of a neighbours garden and one morning chase another young one into my greenhouse where he was hiding, petrified in a corner. My cat was skipping about outside whilst my partner freed the fox. My cat comes in no later than 6.30pm and is in until the next morning.

Also on cctv I've seen a cat sitting on a pathway between houses and a fox walking towards it then dithering and turning tail.

However I know of someone whose elderly cat was attacked and killed by a fox and sadly her owner witnessed it, chased the fox off and the cat died in her arms.

I had a cat who I sadly found dead a few days after he didn't come home, I like to think he was killed by a car but when I found him he had been mauled and his chest cavity had been ripped open. It was awful to see and for nearly 12 years, every 30 November when I drive past where he was found it brings it back every time. RIP Barnaby.

Recently a neighbours one year old cat was found dead with a head injury but I couldn't pinpoint on cctv if the cat had been run over, we are on a side road with not much traffic, and crawled home to die but I saw a lot of foxes around that night 😥.

When I was a kid our cat got eaten by a fox. Not to be too graphic but there were parts of him left on the garden path in the morning.

I wouldn’t trust them especially when they have cubs, a vixen who had Cubs at the time, chased my cat who managed to climb a tree to get away from her.

My God how awful

@CrossChecking that is so sad, sorry that happened to your cat

Each of my cats has chased away foxes in the past but now, for the most part, they have a mutual respect for one another and the foxes in my garden are more frightened by the cats I’d say.

However, when their cubs are starting to explore (April to July) is the time to be more aware as the foxes are very protective of their cubs. One of my cats was bitten whilst being chased away from a den, and our cctv has shown the cats being chased several times when the foxes perceive a threat to their cubs.

I’d also be wary of letting an older/frailer cat out without supervision when foxes are most often up and about - late afternoon till morning. They may be perfectly fine, but foxes are predators; they don’t kill for fun but to survive, and they take whatever opportunities exist and cache their kill for later.

I've had cats for decades and they have lived amongst foxes, firstly in London, then in a rural area. Foxes have never been a problem. I once looked out of my window to see my cat asleep on the shed roof, three feet away from the fox who also having a nap.

Foxes don't pick unnecessary fights with animals that fight back, cats are well equipped to do a fox a lot of damage. As previously mentioned they may possibly pick on a kitten or frail older cat.

One of my current cats is a major hunter and tried to challenge a fox which had caught a rabbit he was after. The fox looked at him as if he was barmy, and ran off with his catch.

I saw my old cat decimate a fox who tried to approach him, I think pound for pound cats are more muscular and more likely to attack. He was quite a big cat though

Yes. A fox is basically a dog. A cat would come off worse in a fight with a dog or fox, but can usually outsmart them or jump higher than them and get out of their way.

Years ago, I remember glancing out of the window, just as I was getting ready for bed.
Sitting on the edge of the pavement was our ginger tomcat Rocky. He sat there, cool as a cucumber, as a fox sauntered past him down the middle of the road! They glanced at each other for a moment, and kept on minding their business.

My understanding is that a healthy, mature cat can hold their own against a fox anyway.

Our cat Rocky would disagree.
We once watched him race across the field next door to launch an unprovoked attack on a random dog. That dog required 14 stitches once Rocky was done with him.
Another time, an off-lead German Shepherd approached Rocky when he was sat on the doorstep. Rocky gave him one claws-out swipe across the nose and that dog saw the error of its ways.

We have loads of foxes in our garden (seems to be their playground of choice…) and we generally keep our cats in at night. Having said that, the foxes do occasionally come round during the day/early evening and I’ve seen one of my cats absolutely go for a large fox and chase it off! She was an absolute badass and the fox ran off scared! So she can clearly hold her own, but the other cat would probably not be so confident.

The rescue we got our cats from advised us to keep them in at night, but more because of cars and traffic danger rather than foxes. They did say that most cats can chase a fox off, but I’ve seen some (usually big male) foxes that are not scared of me so not sure if they would be so easily scared off by a cat!

This. ^ Yes, foxes can harm cats - if they catch them! But the vast majority of cats will get away.

A previous cat of mine had a paw virtually bitten off by a fox. It was barely attached, although the vets managed to reattach it. It wasn't an elderly cat or anything like that. So no, I don't trust cats to be safe from foxes.

I’ve heard of cats round us just not coming home & 1 strong ginger tomcat stayed away a couple of days but when it came back there was a large patch of skin missing from its side/end of ribs area.
Never can know how hungry a fox is or if Kitty might find itself cornered. Foxes will always have the advantage of weight & much larger jaws over the cat.
edited to add, if cat has a collar that could also give fox advantage.

I think elderly and very young cats might be at risk, not so much healthy cats. Foxes are highly unlikely to attack a healthy cat except in very extreme circumstances. The fox would likely come out of it badly injured, and wild animals that need to find food cannot afford that. I get a lot of foxes in my garden and my cat chases them out! They just run away.

Yes, family member had one cat attacked by a fox and another killed by a fox. About a decade apart so unlikely to be the same fox.

I think most cats are more than a match for a fox.

Swindon West expansion circa 1993 I visited a friend who had three cats and we were sitting in her conservatory drinking coffee when one of her cats flew into the garden with a fox three feet behind, the cat jumped over the gate leading into the garden, the fox followed it, we ran out the front to see the fox catch and tear the cat apart and run off with the biggest part of the body so yes, foxes do kill and presumably eat cats. We are both qualified and registered vet nurses. Awful.

You’d be surprised. My cat is a tiny female and I’ve seen her chase big foxes out of the garden! They will sit in the garden while she is there, but as soon as she charges towards them they run off 😂.

Cats are pretty well equipped with claws and teeth. They could definitely injure a fox.

They can and will definitely hurt cats. A large dog fox badly injured a young, healthy domestic cat belonging to one of our neighbours.

Badgers will attack and kill cats. They are not the cute waddley animal that you see in kids books.

Luckily I've never seen a badger around here!

This fluffster is one of our neighbourhood cats and is happy to play with the fox, until it's had enough and then it chases it off.