Good to read another viewpoint though. (This had been mentioned by another vet authors note). The myth is probably much more that cats are NOT attacked by foxes than the opposite. I have seen them near to foxes but the fox always backs away. See deals: However, hoglets can be vulnerable to foxes, and we do see leg injuries where a fox or other predator has tried and failed to catch the hedgehog. I see many free roaming cats at night in my area and I also see loads of foxes. Foxes will eat anything they can catch. We care for and rehabilitate injured and orphaned foxes at our wildlife centres. I even saw my cats sunbathing alongside the foxes occasionally. The last one I shot with my bow. The stories included in these paint a very frightening picture. They are not much smaller than foxes, on average, and have more weapons to boot. Let foxes remain in Foxes are quite similar in size to adult cats. While some people count foxes as rather endearing, fox pest control may be a As such, foxes will not actively hunt adult cats. [toggle title=1: How many cats do you look after on a weekly basis and what percentage are free roaming? state=off style=solid]. Cats will generally behave defensively in the face of a threat, hissing, spitting, bushing up their fur and clawing and biting if threatened. A mother protecting her kits can also be hostile toward animal or human intruders, which is a serious problem if Today I contacted Trevor Williams who runs The Fox Project, A charity established in 1991 as a specialist Wildlife Information Bureau and Fox Deterrence Consultancy. But foxes will kill cats. Foxes live in social groups three or four adults are quite common (though 10 were recorded in one Bristol group). 2018. Cats are much more likely to be involved in a car accident or a fight with another cat than they are being attacked by a fox. Foxes are fiercely territorial. If you are concerned about your cats safety..then do not let it outdoors. However, small pets, like rabbits and guinea pigs can be taken by foxes. And the foxes didnt hang around! By Claire Ellicott for the Daily Mail Updated: 03:34 EST, 8 December 2010 In particular, for killing garden birds. There are many more greater dangers out there than foxes. If there is rubbish piled behind the shed, then so much the better. When a fight does break out, its often the fox that comes off worse in the encounter. They seem to fly in the face of the statistics. The natural prey of a fox is not a cat and in most cases a fox would not attempt to kill a healthy cat especially one that could defend itself. In a poll of nearly 4,000 households, 65.7% liked urban foxes, 25.8% had no strong views and only 8.5% disliked the creatures. are housed outside, a good quality pen is vital, because these are all natural prey to a fox. A foxs natural tendency is to flee rather than fight, when faced with sharp claws and pawing of a cat, a However, such concerns need not be felt for cats and dogs, most of which out-weigh the average 5kg adult fox (despite nonsensical scare stories involving foxes weighing 17kg), and where rare aggression is more often caused by a foxs defence of young cubs rather than from other motivation. VetCompass aim was to investigate the range and frequency of small animal health problems seen by veterinary surgeons working in general practice in the United Kingdom and to highlight the major risk factors for these conditions. While the bulk of the UKs fox population lives in the countryside, a 2017 study found that the UKs urban fox population may be as high as 150,000. When it does, it is devastating to the owners. Unless the cat is very frail, a fox is unlikely to volunteer for a fight because cats have very vicious weapons - claws and teeth - and could inflict a serious injury on a fox which could lead to its death. Source: University of Bristol and John Bryant. Another thing we have to take into account when thinking about whether foxes eat cats is the size of a fox compared to a cat. what is best for your cat when you go on holiday? They have excellent hearing and use a pouncing technique that allows them to kill the prey quickly. Newspapers give ludicrous coverage to fox scare stories and so the myths build up. This is very rare; a survey in northwest Bristol, where foxes were particularly common, showed that they killed 0.7% of the cats each year and these were predominantly young kittens. Foxes pose little danger to cats, but do sometimes chase them. When I question why these cats are kept in at night, 100% of the human guardiansreply that it is because of foxes. Accredited Cat Behaviour Expert in London, UK. They have excellent hearing and use a pouncing technique that allows them to kill the prey quickly. The research unit says foxes kill very few pets and rifle through very few dustbins, and it seems the majority of people like them. And there is plenty of food available in our bins. [toggle title=4: How do your cats or the foxes respond to one another? state=off style=solid]. Their clinical research data showed that 9 in 10,000 cats were suspected, and just 5 in 10,000 cats were confirmed, to have been in fox fights. Since 1993 it has also incorporated a Wildlife Hospital. Anita Kelsey 2017-2018. 5. ..In any event, many more householders contact us with stories of chumming-up between a fox and the callers cat, dog or, rather more mysteriously, their rabbit(!) They're medium-sized, between 7 and 15 pounds, with pointy faces, lithe frames, and bushy tails. Statistically, the risk that foxes pose is very small indeed. If you compare the relatively small number of foxes in the UK, less than 300,000 , to the 7.8 million cats, then it is easy to understand that encounters between them are quite rare, and foxes killing cats even rarer. What do you wish to do? Foxes do a lot of hunting at dawn and dusk, but can hunt anytime. Maybe its time for the guardians of the free roaming cat to let go of fears and the myth that their cat is going to be eaten by a fox whenever it steps outside the cat flap. Walking into peoples houses is not common place and they would never go in with the intention of attacking someone. Generally, though, when faced with the claws and teeth of a cat, foxes will back away, knowing they will probably suffer a serious injury in any fight. So, what do Foxes eatas part of their natural diet? They will watch you and your habits and learn when it is the safest to make an attack on your poultry. Largely, this comes down to fights. But it is always possible there are thousands of three-month old cubs beginning to run around. I can only imagine the fox has found itself in a situation and it has become distressed and panicked. Yes almost every night. I thought it only fitting to speak to a cat grooming client of mine who has a huge variety of rescue cats living with her and all as free roaming ones. Urban foxes are scavengers by nature. Well, from a personal perspective, Ive had three cats in recent years and all of them chased the foxes out of the garden if they spotted them! Urban foxes are marauding giants that feed on takeaway curries, cats and babies. Cats, however, are not easy prey. Heres what he had to say to contribute to this article. Penny goes on to describe a recent incident at the sanctuary: We also once took in here at Little Foxes a very young cub that had been attacked and brought in to a house by a cat. The answer in short to do foxes eat cats? Then a person finding their cat would blame the fox for killing it. 79 (5 in 10,000 cats) confirmed and 130 (9 in 10,000 cats) suspected fox fights with cats from 145,808 VetCompass cats since Jan 1st 2010 until Feb 2013(14 in 10,000 overall). This compares with 541 per 10,000 for cats presented with cat bite injuries and 196 in 10,000 cats being presented following a road traffic accident. Coyotes are the problem here. Do Foxes Attack Cats Some Facts. Yes, cats have some ability to escape and some ability to defend themselves. Thankfully these are extremely rare. Foxes are fiercely territorial. You might enquire with the Council as they do make note of run over animals, in most places. They smell food and go through an open door but it is freakish that a fox should attack someone. For this reason, foxes tend to leave cats alone, and cats are generally considered to be safe to roam in the presence of foxes. 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