We have foxes that regularly come onto our front garden,and i have always been worried that they might attack my cat if they came across each other.But i needn't have worried,as yesterday my cat,a very tiny thing,was sitting out the front,when along came the fox.My cat arched up,hissing,and the fox didn't make eye contact and kept his tail firmly between his legs.It was obvious my cat had the upper hand as she eventually chased him away.

Is this normal? Are foxes usually scared of cats? I would have thought that a fox could easily do away with a cat.

A friend of mine has lost a cat to a fox, and another of her cats had some awful injuries but survived - these are Glaswegian foxes though - they're probably tougher than ordinary foxes :-D

I think an adult, healthy cat is more than a match for a fox but kittens and elderly or sickly cats are vulnerable.

For a number of years I had some elderly feral cats living next to me. They shared the environs with a fox lair, under the bolus of a large tree. Foxes and cats got along, they even sunbathed together. I made the cats shelters and fed them, but noticed that in the evenings one or the other always went on guard duty. One slept in the shelter whilst the other watched out for foxes.

Last year one of the cats died and the other, whilst appearing to manage, was got at by a fox and had to be put down.

Foxes are opportunist hunters and won't let a potential meal go by, particularly if there are cubs around.

The thing that amazes me is that certain pro fox charities are adamant that a fox would never touch a cat. This just flies in the face of common sense.

I met a woman in the waiting room at my vets attending with her cat that had suffered from a fox.  She told me the vet had seen this several times lately.

>The thing that amazes me is that certain pro fox charities are adamant that a fox would never touch a cat.

My neighbour saw one of my cats running for its life with a fox in hot pursuit. When she jumped in through the open window the fox was no more than 5 feet behind. So when I'm assured that foxes won't chase cats, I know that it's not true.

This post has upset me because my elderly cat disappeared at the end of August. She hadn't been well and couldn't climb the high fence in our garden so I thought she was safe when she was in it. I kept her in most of the time but she loved to lay in the sun.
I've asked neighbours, the local vets and put up posters but nothing. I'm now in tears wondering if a fox had got her. Would they be about during the day?

It is awful when we don't know what has happened to one of our pets isn't it?  Someone once told me that cats often like to die in private so maybe your cat just went off, found herself a comfortable 'resting place' and did just that.  I am so sorry for your loss.

Although I don't doubt those who say that foxes do attack cats on occasion, IME cats scare foxes to death,  the first time I saw foxes coming near our home in the dead of night I was very afraid as I had 3 cat's at the time, (and there had been a spat of cats going missing) but I needn't have worried my cats would make a running jump at any fox on our driveway and chase it away, one of them even cornered a fox at the end of the drive once and the fox was making a pleaful noise for escape, when I put my outside light on, my cat turned to look at me and it got away, it would run off at top speed, I witnessed this happen a few time. Though always my males, my female would just sit and watch she was 17 years old at the time, so I guess much easier pickings and often outside alone but never came to any harm.

When we moved to our country location with my 17 year old I again was a little worried for her as she has always been more of an outdoor cat so I knew she would be out in the fields etc, but she never came to any harm and lived to be 21. My single cat today just has to arch his back at a cat and it is gone, and is always in their territory, so IME from what I have witnessed, (don't speak too soon :-) ) they are the biggest cowards and do not enter into combat with cats at all.

Would they be about during the day?

Extremely unlikely hun, so don't worry about that. :-)

Although my girl has found a fox in woodland during the daytime and on occassion they have been seen, they won't come into human gardens in the daytime, they are quite rightly very afraid of us, if a fox does not have to hunt it won't, (and they are night hunters anyway) they much prefer dustbins and food lying around and small mammals.

If your cat was elderly and unwell, they have an instinct to be alone and go off to die, you say that she could not climb your garden fence, don't you ever believe that, if she didn't it is because she didn't want to at the time, my 21 year old could still climb anything she wished if she had a fancy to,  if her calling to be away to die was strong she would have scaled any fence or wall they don't need to just jump they can claw their way up too remember, I would expect she felt the need to find somewhere solitary and away from you to die in peace, or if feeling unwell, that is just what cats do, she wouldn't snuggle down in a bush in your garden as you would find her, so she most probably took off.

Once a cat dies it takes no time for nature to remove the remains and most of us never find our elderly animals, it does not mean something has attacked them, it just means they did what nature intended and did what made them happy. :-)

Muffymoo,

I am also sorry for your loss. For what it is worth I agree with the other poster who says it is most likely that your cat hid somewhere it knew and died feeling safe. Cats seem to like to die in privacy, if that makes sense.

Foxes hunt and lead their lives at night and are rarely out during the day. If they are it is, like your cat, to sleep in the sun. They wouldn't have attacked her in your garden during the day-too risky for them, they know humans are about.

Carrington,
I agree. Foxes like dogs will develop a healthy respect for cats once on the recieving end of an open-clawed swipe. My old tom cat was more than a match for the foxes. The feral cats I referred to were vulnerable because they were very old and they lived outside all the time, right beside a fox den.

Thank you, you are all so kind.

I think if she had died at home it would have been easier its just the not knowing and thinking she died alone :-(

I've kept her food hoping she will come home, i just can't bare to get rid of it.   

Muffymoo,

Poor you. But she was old and you shouldn't worry yourself about her dying alone because cats much prefer to die that way, so it would be the best and least stressful for her; though not for you.

It does seem likely though that she's passed away, as, from what you say, she wouldn't go far from home and for so long.

So when I'm assured that foxes won't chase cats, I know that it's not true.

I've often wondered though with cases like this of vets treating cats from fox attacks whether the fox was really hunting the cat or whether it is purely self defence on the part of the fox, having watched foxes and my own cats there is no way I can see a fox purposely going after a cat, even old or ill cats put up one hell of a fight, cats can move quicker than any other animal and even if approached from behind they have the ability to twist and claw and they really do fight to the death let alone the noise they make, IMO cats are one of the most vicious hunters around. I know mine have always attacked first and perhaps a more fiesty fox may have a go back, the other option is that a cat may have got too close to a den especially with cubs in there, it may account for a fox chasing a cat off or attacking it.

I guess there are always exceptions, I know the only reason foxes are drawn to my home is to pick up all the leftover kills that my cat leaves, infact I think the foxes are employing him on the sly. :-D

i have to disagree carrington. last week we had a fox visit our hens at mid day when i was just 25 yards away. previous to this we have had them here stealing our geese in daylight without any hesitation. Friends at another famr mear here found 5 dead feral cats in the straw stack one night after a fox had killed them.

I witnessed a fox attack my cat who was fast asleep in the afternoon sun, smack bang in the middle of my garden.  Had to take him to the vets on 5 seperate occassions to get him sewn up due to fox attack and my neighbour regularly found the remains of cats in their garden at all times of the day.

Although foxes are generally nocturnal, urban foxes are far more relaxed around all things humans and will occasionally be seen about during the day.  Whilst locking my car in the company car park I was gobsmacked to watch a fox just trot past me as if I wasn't even there and this was 9.30am.  Apparently other people where I worked had seen a fox about during the day too.

I saw a fox attacking my neighbour's chickens not 100 yards from me, at lunchtime one day last summer, bold as brass. He just turned and stared at me when I yelled at him, then slowly loped off across the field.

A fox regulary appears in my mums garden in broad daylight, he comes up onto the (enclosed) decking and peers through the patio doors. He isn't fed by them but I told mum he fancies cockatiel for tea. He is in excellent condition considering he is urban and has taken a couple of my mums neighbours rabbits by breaking into the hutch.

> come into human gardens in the daytime, they are quite rightly very afraid of us,

You didn't see my photo that I entered into the CD photo competition!  It was sitting in exactly the same place as the photo I took of Meg  (who can also look very foxy) which I also entered.  I have taken it off now.  My old cat developed dementia and she disappeared one night.  The local guy who called himself a farmer said that the fox had had her and he had thrown the body down into the woods.  He knew it was my cat and I still don't know whether it was the cat or him who killed her. She had lost her fear of humans so probabally foxes too.  I will never forgive myself for letting her out that night.

Oh Ceejay my cat had developed dementia too. After reading this I fear the worse but have to come to terms with the fact she has died.

She was very loved and had a happy life, but maybe a very sad ending :-(