Cat vs fox

dodderangler

Last night I was awoken by sounds if cats screaming so I thought It was just another cat vs cat fight and to my suprise I seen a young fox attempting to take the cat as a meal. He was quite determined but he did look quite young and inexperienced as to killing a cat but basically the cat gave it a few swipes of the paws and fox slowly slinked away. The cat walked away limping slightly but otherwise she was fine.
Made me wonder how often this happens.

Capercaille

dodderangler wrote: »

Last night I was awoken by sounds if cats screaming so I thought It was just another cat vs cat fight and to my suprise I seen a young fox attempting to take the cat as a meal. He was quite determined but he did look quite young and inexperienced as to killing a cat but basically the cat gave it a few swipes of the paws and fox slowly slinked away. The cat walked away limping slightly but otherwise she was fine.
Made me wonder how often this happens.

Rarely. For a wild animal, why risk serious injury in attacking a broadly similar sized predator. The young fox will learn this and will keep well away from cats in the future.

OpenYourEyes

Only last year I was looking out my window in Dublin and saw a cat and an adult fox - the fox lazy walked in the cats direction, then another fox appeared - I was full sure this wasn't gonna end well for the cat...but the cat sat down and was fairly relaxed, and the foxes just went about their business. No inter-species conflict happened at all!

Like Capercaille said, not worth it for a fox (or a cat) to start a fight, so they rarely will.

OnTheCouch

Yeah cats can be very vicious and this alone would not make it worth a while for a fox to attack (even though it may be slightly bigger). Felines can inflict very nasty scratches or bites on another animal.

Generally in the animal kingdom, most creatures operate and hunt on a 'good odds' rule. By this I mean, if there is any doubt in an animal's mind that it will not win a fight when eyeing up an adversary, then it will tend to stay away or ignore it. So for a fox, coming up against a cat, which is a similar size to it, but arguably more aggressive, it is not worth the hassle.

Only exceptions really would be if a cat was very young/old or was injured/sick in some way. Then it may be vulnerable to a fox attack.

Half-cocked

Foxes will take young kittens, ideal snack sized prey, but an adult cat is too much of a handful. I've seen foxes and cats pointedly ignoring each other while scavenging around my bird table.