Fox chasing cat

[heather sullivan]

It was a fully grown fox not a baby and it came from over the houses at the back of my garden. Bit worrying, I def don't think it was playing One of our cats used to chase the foxes out of our garden but he is too old now. shame. i don't want to feed the foxes and encourage them to hang around, would rather they all b*ggered off somewhere else!

[Lyn (Slugsta)]

I remember once watching a fox trot around our garden, poking his nose into bushes and things. Then foxy was running across the garden with my 3 legged cat in pursuit. Foxy must have come upon Chivvy unawares, probably woke him up, and Chivvy didn't take kindly to the interruption  I must admit that it did help allay my fears about my elderly tripod boy.

Several years ago the foxes had a den, and a litter, under our neighbour's shed. Mummy fox used to come into our garden in the early evening, initially the cubs would come with her and feed, later she came on her own and flopped out on our grass - 5 blissful minutes to herself! The shed is not there now, so we don't have a resident fox family although there are still plenty around.

[alisonandarchie]

Can understand the worry

We have foxes visit our garden sometimes and once saw my little Archie chase one out of the garden

The only other thing if it was a young fox was it playing. I have heard of the two striking up a friendship. Otherwise I must say I would worry.

I also have heard that foxes are wary of cats

The foxes would certainly be used to coming for food to your neighbour but if the food source disappeared wonder if they think the cats are getting there first and chasing them away.

[heather sullivan]

I posted this on my facebook pag and also on the Fox Project FB page: a few months ago a fox chased my cat down the garden, luckily cat was faster than fox. Tonight while in garden, I saw a fox chasing a neighbour's cat! Bit worried now, one neighbour used to feed the foxes but she died 2 weeks ago, and they must be hungry. This isn't normal is it for a fox to chase healthy cats? It was a full grown fox and very fast   (I am still worried about our cats though, as one is elderly and not so mobile now).

This was their answer:

The Fox Project
The Fox Project It's highly unlikely that a fox would kill a cat. A fox recognises the cat as a fellow predator having that eyes at the front of the head thing going on, so will not see it as a source of food. Young foxes are often curious about cats, but once swiped they realise that the cat has an impressive set of razor sharp claws on the end of highly flexible front legs. Conversely the fox has relatively stiff legs in comparison to the cat with rounded claws designed for digging rather than fighting. No self respecting fox is prepared to risk loosing an eye by taking on a cat. Sometimes cats and young foxes develop a 'friendship' and are happy to coexist in the same garden, and some friendships have even been observed to extend to a game of chase.

That said, when cubs are young any mother will forget about her own safety in an attempt to defend her babies, so will try and chase a cat off. A lot of fox cubs are lost every year to cats digging them out of a den and taking them off as a hunting prize. Most mothers would move their cubs to another den site if a cat took too much interest.

If a hungry fox were to find a dead cat it would consider the carcass as a source of food. In the past this has been observed and some people have mistakenly thought the fox had killed the cat