several years ago we had red fox in the area.next came the yotes. no more red fox seen for a long time. then over the last several years some young guys took up yote hunting running them with dogs. no more yotes seen.now we have seen red fox back running through the yard. the guy down the road said he is missing the kids house cat,my wife is missig 2 barn cats as well as hens. some bird an deer hunters tell me fox will not take on cats. question, will fox take on cats roaming the yards ?

quote:

Originally posted by sam184:
several years ago we had red fox in the area.next came the yotes. no more red fox seen for a long time. then over the last several years some young guys took up yote hunting running them with dogs. no more yotes seen.now we have seen red fox back running through the yard. the guy down the road said he is missing the kids house cat,my wife is missig 2 barn cats as well as hens. some bird an deer hunters tell me fox will not take on cats. question, will fox take on cats roaming the yards ?

Sam I have personally witnessed a pair of foxes take a juvenile bobcat in Sterling Forest, while predator calling.

Where I live on the edge of town foxes often come in at night looking not only for left out dog and cat food but cats as well.
But this in Australia and the fox we have is the English Red fox ( Vulpes Vulpes ) but I would think foxes all over the world to be similar in habit.
Pete

I have refrained from hunting them here, I have declared a war against the coyotes which have overrun this area. A red fox in winter snow is a very pretty sight. our foxes are identical to yours, the english imported many of them from the UK in the 1700s and 1800s which mixed with our native ones.

quote:

Originally posted by Foxhunter223:
Where I live on the edge of town foxes often come in at night looking not only for left out dog and cat food but cats as well.
But this in Australia and the fox we have is the English Red fox ( Vulpes Vulpes ) but I would think foxes all over the world to be similar in habit.
Pete

quote:

Originally posted by Foxhunter223:
Where I live on the edge of town foxes often come in at night looking not only for left out dog and cat food but cats as well.
But this in Australia and the fox we have is the English Red fox ( Vulpes Vulpes ) but I would think foxes all over the world to be similar in habit.
Pete

We have 4 foxes in North America, the Red Vulpes Vulpes, the Grey Urocryon Cinereoargenteus, the Kit Fox Vulpes macrotis, and the Swift Fox Vulpes Velox.

The red fox that is in North America is the same fox that is in Europe, Asia, and Australia. However and a big however is the size difference between foxes in Europe and those in North America. North American red foxes are tiny compared to those in Europe.

I have seen a ton of cats killed by foxes on the military base in Italy where I used to work. We would find half eaten cats all over the base, even in areas thought to have a lot of traffic.

At first I thought it was just the few non-pet dogs on the base. But after whitnessing pretty much no fear of the base dogs by the cats I am convinced that they were killed by the foxes that we saw daily.

Coyotes are hell on cats and will take a fox under the right circumstances..I personally don't think a Fox will kill a grown cat and have seen them face off each other...they will take your kittens in a flash..Mewing kitten tapes are the best fox and coyote call going today IMO, but that would depend on where you live I am sure.

I notice around my area here in Australia when the wild dog (dingo)population is up the foxes tend to disappear.

I've seen plenty of cats take on a fox in the city.
My neighbors cat has a problem with a local gray dog fox at the moment, he can easily jump my 8' gate, but if the cat Rebecca spots him the chase is on. But I don't know who would come out on top as he is a pretty big fox.

Here in eastern NE, I very seldom see red foxes out in the country, but see them frequently in the suburbs. There are still some 1/4 section corn and soy bean fields west of 132nd Street in Omaha and I frequently see foxes hunting mice and rabbits along the edges of those fields. The Boys Town property is covered with deer, turkey, and foxes, but no hunting is allowed, so they are likely to die of old age unless they are hit by a car while crossing the street.

My Wife hates cats and would wish for a fox to eat the neighbor's siamese cat that likes to sleep on our front steps.

Jeff

Jeff you could always poison a can of tuna fish for the rat problem that just suddenly sprang up. Nothing illegal about killing rats.

Someone told me about a water trap for cats.

You take a 55 gallon drum and fill it full of water, then fill the top few inches with grass clippings to camoflage the water. You then float a can of tuna or some other kind of bait in the middle of this water/grass deal. So it's far enough in that the cat can't reach it from the side and has to step on the grass.

Cats are visual or hearing hunts and they don't use their sense of smell for hunting. You need to ensure that they can find it.

well here in montana a fox will take a house cat just saturday morning as i was driving t o the cabin in polson out of a newerly mowed field comes a fox with a adult tabby in its mouth the cat must of been hunting in the foxes field

My son has a pit lab cross pup.. Its a riot.. Today it jumped into our ford escape and enjoyed my wifes capecino.. dogs like coffee?.. any way my son was at his friends, he heard his pup yelping and went over to it, it had his friends cats claw stuck into its forehead, and something hanging on the end of claw .. The pit lab will not be intimidated by that, nothing seems to keep it out of the next scrap,,, too bad, hes a great pup, i hope it doesnt become a nuisence or bite someone.. but what im saying is that the cat lost a claw, the pup didnt show a scratch, some canines are double tough.. Dave

I have seen on two occasions of a fox running away with a full grown cat in its mouth. One was a red fox, and the other was a silver fox. Out here in Alberta the silver fox is slightly larger than the red.

I'd say it's down to who gets in the first good shot. Face to face in a fair fight there's not much to choose between a Fox and a Cat.