Please Beware - Foxes

[Daisymac]

near Penn and I work in Little Chalfont!

Not far from us Dawn,   we live in Great Missenden and I work in Windsor x

[CC & The Pussycat Guys & Dolls]

My aunt has had 3 cats go missing and there was a rather large fox known to be living in their area 

I think a fox would also take them out as they could see them as competitors for their food.

[Dawn F]

near Penn and I work in Little Chalfont!

[Judecat (Paula)]

It did suprise me slightly that the cat didn't seem to be eaten. I think that the main problem around here is that now we have wheelie bins instead of bags, the foxes are a lot hungrier. We even see them during the day now, sauntering across the road. They are getting very brave, our urban foxes. On another forum last year I said about one of the old ladies I was 'doing for' found a young one asleep on her bed!

[Daisymac]

yikes!  they are always flying over the garden - you're in Bucks too aren't you?

Yes we are near Great Missenden (just outside in a village called Hyde Heath)  whereabouts are you ?

[Millys Mum]

One of my neighbours came around about a dead cat on her neighbours lawn. Anything cat, the neighbours tend to grab me The poor cats throat had been ripped out, one of the other neighbours as I went around trying to find out dead kittys owner heard a massive cat/fox fight in the early hours of that morning. Saying that early (4am) last Friday, my next door Neighbour saw my Trouble seeing off a fox after the noise woke him! I think it very much depends on the age/condition of the cat whether the fox gets the upper hand. Poppy that was killed was older and was disabled due to a dog attack two years ago. Trouble is 13, not a young cat, but IMHO any fit cat will see off a fox.

If a fox were desperate enough to go for a cat you would think it would take the body away.

My childhood cat lived alongside foxes for many years, they were all fed daily tho which i think helps. The foxes in question ended up being evicted from the land by feral cats 

[Dawn F]

yikes!  they are always flying over the garden - you're in Bucks too aren't you?

[Daisymac]

we have red kites as well - I thought they were scavengers though??

So did I until I read this:

Primarily a scavenger and an opportunist; it profits from sheep carrion but is not capable of opening up sheep or lamb carcasses by itself.  Red Kites are however predators and take a wide variety of live prey, ranging from mammals, to amphibians and birds

Seriously though I have only ever seen them take dead rabbits,  but they have swooped on the cats,  dont actaully think gravity will allow them to lift any of my furbabies though 

[Dawn F]

we have red kites as well - I thought they were scavengers though??

[Daisymac]

I really shouldnt say this as it will be probably tempting fate,  but as you probably all know by now we live in the middle of farm land and there are loads of foxes about,  they dont tend to come near the cats and the cats stay away from them,  but on saying that,  10 cats against 1 fox is probably not a good mix and the oldest of my cats is Daisy Doo Doo who is only 7.  The main predator that we have problems with is the Red Kite birds,  they are massive (up to a 6ft wing span) and swoop down and eat rabbits,  I have recently seen them swoop down on Ruby Red Drawers (she is prob no bigger than a rabbit)  but she just went up on her back legs and all claws came out and the bird flew away.  The Red kite are funny birds they live in the woods at the end of our lane and the other day when we were up there we looked at the tree where a few of them sit and there was a cuddly dog toy at the bottom of the tree,  one of the birds has obvioulsy swooped and picked it up thinking it was dinner and it was a stuffed toy !

[Bazsmum]

Foxes usually do go for sick/infirm/young cats.....Cats go for the eyes and a blind/partially sighted fox would not survive in the wild! 

[Judecat (Paula)]

One of my neighbours came around about a dead cat on her neighbours lawn. Anything cat, the neighbours tend to grab me The poor cats throat had been ripped out, one of the other neighbours as I went around trying to find out dead kittys owner heard a massive cat/fox fight in the early hours of that morning. Saying that early (4am) last Friday, my next door Neighbour saw my Trouble seeing off a fox after the noise woke him! I think it very much depends on the age/condition of the cat whether the fox gets the upper hand. Poppy that was killed was older and was disabled due to a dog attack two years ago. Trouble is 13, not a young cat, but IMHO any fit cat will see off a fox.

[Bonkers Mad!!!]

there are foxes living in the back of my garden and they are scared of my cats too  .  the foxes round here are well fed by the locals, even more so since we got wheelie bins.

[pappilon]

We have 2 resident foxes in our woods and i have to say they are petrified of the cats, i have often sat at the window at night after putting out a chicken carcass and the cats have got there first, poor old fox tried every trick in the book to get it but every time was scared off by the cats , one of whom is almost 16 and not very agile in the end he gave up and sloped off,its very rare for a fox to take a healthy cat as they are afraid of the claws as a cat will go for the foxes eyes and the fox cant afford to loose his eyesight, and if you log onto the wildlife trust website they will also tell you this as well,  and we have a member on here whose cat also used to play with a fox and has it on video to prove it

I have been feeding the local foxes for years now and my cat Piccollo used to sit next to them while they were eating out side, i saw the feral cat MR Tramp once eating with them under the car .
My neighbours cat Flyn always chased them away , if he was out late so he could eat their food , i agree with you i dont think they go for a healthy cat .

[bonnielass]

We have 2 resident foxes in our woods and i have to say they are petrified of the cats, i have often sat at the window at night after putting out a chicken carcass and the cats have got there first, poor old fox tried every trick in the book to get it but every time was scared off by the cats , one of whom is almost 16 and not very agile in the end he gave up and sloped off,its very rare for a fox to take a healthy cat as they are afraid of the claws as a cat will go for the foxes eyes and the fox cant afford to loose his eyesight, and if you log onto the wildlife trust website they will also tell you this as well,  and we have a member on here whose cat also used to play with a fox and has it on video to prove it

[Bazsmum]

How awful! 

I always say this, they may be cute to look at but they are still a wild animal with all its instincts and will if get chance attack a cat! 

[blackcat]

Smidgen apparently used to spend long hours sitting over the entrance to the local foxe's hole staring into the depths. Fortunately I did not get to hear about this until after he was en route to Oz, or I would have been sick with worry. In Tassie we don't have foxes (well, that is debateable, it seems someone may have introduced some in the last few years but the locals are convinced people are bringing dead ones over from the mainland to scare up business for themselves ...). To date no live foxes have been found in Tassie so maybe they are right. Shadow has a special fox bark so I will at least know if there is one around ...

[sheryl]

Someone on the Bengal Forum has posted that sadly a Fox has killed her Bengal cat by breaking her neck  - please be careful with your furbabies around foxes