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Cat Forum / Cat Anecdotes / June 2005mean ol' fox
Last night as I was making a pizza delivery, I happened upon a fox intent on having someone's cat for dinner. When I stopped the truck and scared the fox away the people came out to see what I was doing. They said knew there was a family of fox nearby, but didn't realise they'd go after the cat, who had been sunning herself on their front lawn.  SignatureSteve Touchstone, faithful servant of Sammy and Little Bit stouchst@JUNKsirinet.net [remove Junk for email] Home Page: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/index.html Cat Pix: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/animals.html Was the cat oK? > Last night as I was making a pizza delivery, I happened upon a fox > intent on having someone's cat for dinner. When I stopped the truck > and scared the fox away the people came out to see what I was doing. > They said knew there was a family of fox nearby, but didn't realise > they'd go after the cat, who had been sunning herself on their front > lawn. >Was the cat oK? I think so, but am not positive. This was in a housing area on Fort Sill. I had already driven past before I realised what was going on - stopped and backed up, then drove up enough onto the grass to be off the road (I didn't want to stop in the middle of the road on a blind curve, and no curbs in that area, anyway). When I stopped the fox was standing like a pointer, all stretched out ready to pounch, and the cat was standing sideways hissing at it. When the fox saw me coming it was distracted and the cat took the opportunity to dart off into a bush. The fox took off as the people whose lawn I had driven up on came out to see why some crazy fool was driving on their grass while the cat came out of the bush and climbed a tree. Besides being terrified, I think the cat came out unscathed. I still had a delivery to make, so I left before they had gotten it out of the tree. SignatureSteve Touchstone, faithful servant of Sammy and Little Bit stouchst@JUNKsirinet.net [remove Junk for email] Home Page: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/index.html Cat Pix: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/animals.html Y'know, I have sympathy for predators but...I'm glad you helped kitty. --Fil > >Was the cat oK? > [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > out unscathed. I still had a delivery to make, so I left before they > had gotten it out of the tree. Wow! I didn't know foxes would go for cats. All the foxes I have ever seen have been about the size of Shmogg or smaller. I cant imagine Shmogg coming off second best to a fox, either. He'd slice and dice in minutes flat! Yowie "Yowie" <yowie9644.DIESPAMDIE@yahoo.com.au> had some very interesting things to say about Re: mean ol' fox: >Wow! I didn't know foxes would go for cats. All the foxes I have ever seen >have been about the size of Shmogg or smaller. I cant imagine Shmogg coming >off second best to a fox, either. He'd slice and dice in minutes flat! Either Shmogg is HUGE or Aussie foxes are tiny or I'm mistaken in thinking they're about medium-dog-sized. Signature"The universe is quite robust in design and appears to be doing just fine on its own, incompetent support staff notwithstanding. :-)" - the Dennis formerly known as (evil), MCFL > "Yowie" <yowie9644.DIESPAMDIE@yahoo.com.au> had some very interesting > things to say about Re: mean ol' fox: [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > Either Shmogg is HUGE or Aussie foxes are tiny or I'm mistaken in > thinking they're about medium-dog-sized. Average fox is between 10 and 20 pounds. So while a large fox could take on a small cat, I can't see it doing so unless it couldn't find safer prey. Jo > > "Yowie" <yowie9644.DIESPAMDIE@yahoo.com.au> had some very interesting > > things to say about Re: mean ol' fox: [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > Jo I knew one hand-raised, orphaned, human-bonded fox who lived at the Boy Scout camp, and came home for the winter with the nature center director. Nice, affectionate guy, although not excessively bright. Having handled him to a fair extent, knowing he was well-fed, and assuming his body shape was typical, he was much thinner than I'd associate with a typical dog of the same length. From a distance, he looked like a medium-sized dog, but when you got close, his legs were longer than a dog's, his belly came up sharply, and his body, in general, seemed oddly thinner than a dog's. This one LOVED belly rubs, and didn't seem skeletal -- just thin. >Average fox is between 10 and 20 pounds. So while a large fox could take on >a small cat, I can't see it doing so unless it couldn't find safer prey. After posting the OP, I've been doing a little research online and have been reading up some on foxes. Ain't the internet great? You wonder about something, enter it into a search engine, and viola you have pages and pages of info (though first attempt of "fox" on google returned WAY too many pages of fox pictures, fox TV etc.) Anyway, 10-20 pounds is about right from what I read. And, while it seems that a fox taking on a domestic cat is rare, they are opportunistic hunters who will eat just about anything. In this case, assuming the folks who live there are correct and there is a den with pups nearby, you can understand the adult investigating a cat lying on the front lawn. Actually, from what I read disease would be more of a concern than actual predation, since they carry several nasty diseases including rabies and parvo (which can be so deadly to d*gs). SignatureSteve Touchstone, faithful servant of Sammy and Little Bit stouchst@JUNKsirinet.net [remove Junk for email] Home Page: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/index.html Cat Pix: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/animals.html Steve Touchstone <stouchst@junksirinet.net> had some very interesting things to say about Re: mean ol' fox: >After posting the OP, I've been doing a little research online and >have been reading up some on foxes. Ain't the internet great? You >wonder about something, enter it into a search engine, and viola you >have pages and pages of info (though first attempt of "fox" on google >returned WAY too many pages of fox pictures, fox TV etc.) Try Vivisimo (www.vivisimo.com), which organizes your hits into nice little categories. :-) Signature"The universe is quite robust in design and appears to be doing just fine on its own, incompetent support staff notwithstanding. :-)" - the Dennis formerly known as (evil), MCFL >Steve Touchstone <stouchst@junksirinet.net> had some very interesting >things to say about Re: mean ol' fox: [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >Try Vivisimo (www.vivisimo.com), which organizes your hits into nice >little categories. :-) Thanks for the link - it certainly is easier to find what I want than google. And, after using it to again search for fox info, I see that our local Oklahoma fox is a little on the small side - estimate I just read says 10-15lbs rather than 10-20. Guess you have to realise that they are native (or imported and gone feral) to a large part of the world, and what is a large fox here is just medium sized somewhere else. SignatureSteve Touchstone, faithful servant of Sammy and Little Bit stouchst@JUNKsirinet.net [remove Junk for email] Home Page: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/index.html Cat Pix: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/animals.html "Jo Firey" <JAfirey@NETZERO.NET> had some very interesting things to say about Re: mean ol' fox: >> Either Shmogg is HUGE or Aussie foxes are tiny or I'm mistaken in >> thinking they're about medium-dog-sized. >Average fox is between 10 and 20 pounds. So while a large fox could take on >a small cat, I can't see it doing so unless it couldn't find safer prey. Hmmm, I thought they were a lot bigger than the size you're talking about. Signature"The universe is quite robust in design and appears to be doing just fine on its own, incompetent support staff notwithstanding. :-)" - the Dennis formerly known as (evil), MCFL > "Jo Firey" <JAfirey@NETZERO.NET> had some very interesting things to > say about Re: mean ol' fox: [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > Hmmm, I thought they were a lot bigger than the size you're talking > about. Are we talking baout European Red foxes or grey foxes or something else again? The ones we have here in Oz are European red foxes, and they're pretty small (albiet with much longer legs and a fluffier tail than cats) Yowie >"Jo Firey" <JAfirey@NETZERO.NET> had some very interesting things to >say about Re: mean ol' fox: [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >Hmmm, I thought they were a lot bigger than the size you're talking >about. Foxes are little guys. Theresa Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com > Last night as I was making a pizza delivery, I happened upon a fox intent > on having someone's cat for dinner. When I stopped the truck and scared > the fox away the people came out to see what I was doing. They said knew > there was a family of fox nearby, but didn't realise they'd go after the > cat, who had been sunning herself on their front lawn. Last year we had a bunch of mutilated cats in the "Avenues". The powers that be determined they were fox killings. I haven't heard of any lately, but that probably means the newspapers don't think they are important. Scary stuff. I can't blame the fox, as it was just doing what foxes DO... hunting for food. But all the same, I'm glad that you were around just at the right time to intervene. Donna, Captain, and Stanley |
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