I had to go outside half dressed at 3am this morning after being woken by noises. Looked out of my window and saw three foxes with a cat pinned into a corner. The cat was holding it's ground but they were taking it in turns to dart in and out snapping at it while avoiding the cat's swipes. They were obviously set on doing it damage - probably eating it and I'm not sure how long it might have held out. So I went out and shooed them off. That wasn't easy either. I had to go right over to where they were and shout & clap at them before they'd budge an inch. As soon as she had the chance the cat dashed toward a garden wall and jumped up on it.

Those bloody things are getting more bold and dangerous all the time I think.

I suppose it is more to do with the coldness of the weather and how hungry the foxes are.

Some foxes will avoid cats. Some foxes will happily play with cats.

Some cats will kill foxes.

It is nature.

I don't particularly trust foxes with cats ,no.

Urban foxes have changed over the years. One of my old, now deceased, cats used to play with them and particularly with their cubs. Atm the foxes are intimidated by my cats, especially my bit Tom, but we get less foxes in the garden now that people have stopped feeding them.

Sad really, I used to enjoy the foxes.

I saw a fox corner a cat a few years ago - the noises I heard were so loud. Thankfully the cat got away.

Where I am now - there are loads of foxes and the cats and foxes ignore each other.

I did see a couple of foxes scrap over something that was the size of a squirrel the other night. The winner sat and ate it in our garden then took it away.

Right now a fox is making a right racket outside as I type

We have lots around here and they're very bold and almost tame. They walk near you in the evening and don't run away when you shout at them at all. They're getting tamer.

My stroppy female cat Smokey used to chase them away where I lived on the Kent coast... She even used to threaten the Great Dane that used to visit next door which was hilarious to watch as it just gave her a look of disdain.

Now I've moved up here we don't see many foxes and I've never seen one in the garden.

cats can hold their own against foxes, and some cats are the aggressors against foxes too.

most of the time foxes wont bother attacking a cat, and avoid conflict, foxes aren't predators they are scavangers, they raid bins and stuff and occasionally eat rodents if they are lucky to catch one.

for a fox its not worth getting into a fight, unless it's cubs are attacked, they can't afford to get into a long winded fight and risky injury.

there isn't much you can do about your cat or the fox, cats arent like dogs, if they are outdoorsy types, they will stand by the door and get out the house as fast as they can. if they are indoorsey they will stay indoors.

usually though they'll establish their boundries through experience with others small animals, if other cats or foxes are a threat to your cat it will realise and reduce his "area of control" in order to avoid confrontation.

One of cats seems to have made friends with a fox - I see them sitting up the back of the garden like a couple of old friends chewing the fat

foxes aren't tame, they are wild animals, and humans haven't bred them for thousands of years to pick up the most human friendly ones and breed them and repeat the process enough times to make them human friendly.

befriending wild animals is dangerous, if they have no fear of humans, and they get close, then one day they will see an 8 year old kid, their instinct isn't wont to run away. They will investigate the child, and see if he has anything for them, then if the foxes sense fear in the child, snap!

I blame the parents myself, not enough discipline.

Seriously, though, a fox will generally tend to avoid cats, and most cats are quite capable of seeing off a single fox. Foxes generally don't hunt in packs, and are quite solitary animals. I've seen my own cats in the garden with a fox and they've just avoided each other.

If people don't want foxes around, get plastic rubbish bins with secure lids so they can't forage. I'm amazed that in 2012, there are actually still councils who don't provide bins and who expect their residents to put their rubbish out for collection in plastic bags. If there's no rubbish around, the fox population will be controlled perfectly well by the availability of prey - as it is, humans are encouraging the growth of the fox population by providing them with the fox equivalent of MacDonalds!

Some streets are too narrow to put bins out. There are a few roads near me where they have to put plastic sacks out as they can't have wheelie bins as they block the pavements.

Some years ago I heard strange noises coming from the front garden. When I looked out I saw our two cats, next doors cat and a fox all sitting on the path trying to talk to each other. They were all very at ease and were just sitting there like old friends. We presumed this happened all the time but we had just not heard them.

Then unless the sacks can be brought out just before collection, you will get foxes, and probably also rats, squirrels and cats, ripping the bags open. There's no way of stopping it. I think some people forget that wildlife exists everywhere, not just in the countryside. When I was a local councillor, I was constantly having complaints about rats near a local stream in a park - they live there, that's what they do! They won't go near houses or gardens, though, unless there's food around or a way of getting in.

In the London Borough of Hillingdon, near me, they still put out bags and the streets are plenty wide enough, so more could be done. The initial outlay in providing plastic bins might be high, but they'd lose the ongoing cost of having to replace plastic bags every week, and I'd guess they wouldn't have to clean the streets so often either.

The city of Aurora, Colorado has signs up warning people about red foxes. They attack people's dogs over there.

They don't tend to bother cleaning the streets here. Filth everywhere with litter and dog fouling.

Most streets in my town have 4 bins. Gardening waste,landfill waste, kitchen waste and cans,bottles and tins. They blow over in the coastal winter storms. So are quite useless.

I see more cats and seagulls attacking the bags.

I see foxes regularly about town. A cub was peeking at me the other day.

It is also possible that a fox will put on a bonnet and nightgown and pretend to be a child's grandmother in order to lure her into a cottage. Wolves do that and many urban foxes aspire towards a 'wolf' lifestyle.

My cat was attacked by a fox back in 2009. Unfortunately he didn't make it

I haven't seen a fox for a very long time. My cat spends most nights asleep on my bed anyway, and if she goes out, it isn't for long.

A fox doesn't want to attack her anyway.

Rubbish foxes do hunt in packs, where I live we dont see many as there is plenty of open countryside so they get plenty of food from hunting and no need to go a raid peoples bins. It does amaze me when you go to places like london and they are asleep on the railway lines during the day. As I write this there are 2-3 packs in the area calling each other possible mating calls I dont know but it wont be long before I hear the chickens and geese going mad on the farm up the road as they try and catch one. The game keeper here has also said he has seen them hunt and kill female deer in the area though this is rare!

I call you out on that.

"No, they don't.
Unlike wolves, foxes are solitary hunters which means that even if in some areas they may form groups, they hunt for food on their own. Fox cubs may sometimes be seen playing together with bits of food but this is simply a 'game' and adult foxes have never been reported hunting together. Very occasionally cubs can be seen hunting with the vixen."

Taken from http://http://www.thefoxwebsite.org

Don't tell me I'm talking rubbish before you take the time to do your research. And try taking a breath when you post.

A friend of mine lost a kitten after an attack by an urban fox. About 2 yrs later she saw another one in the garden and that night her other cat went missing and she presumed that he'd met the same fate.

Hey susie I am not going to argue with you but I would disagree. I think half the clue is why this was started in the first place. 3 foxes trying to catch a cat, sounds like pack hunting to me

I would agree probably many urban foxes dont as they have easy pickings on all the rubbish but these here are proper wild you cant get anywhere near them. The game keeper breeds about 8000 pheasants each year to shoot so foxy loxy needs to up his game to catch (and not be shot by the game keeper) back in Nov I saw 3 as I came out to patrol in a field, 2 on its flanks and one just about to attack. They would have probably had it if I didn’t catch them with the torch light by accident. they were gone in about 2 seconds!

The only thing I cant tell you is if these were all adult foxes or one adult with the kids joining in. I also have never seen a kill but do hear the nosie most nights though we do have lots of wild boar and also big black cats in the area. I have never seen one though

I think you're confusing family groups with packs. Family groups of foxes will socialize and play together, but you won't find organized groups of foxes hunting prey in the same way as wolves do. The situations that you describe were more likely to have been a cat coming across a family group, who were prepared to defend themselves. A solitary fox is very unlikely to tackle a healthy cat who puts up any sort of defence - I've seen what my cats can do to a dog!

It's probably because foxes are solitary that they've adapted well to an urban environment. They certainly wouldn't be tolerated if it was a common occurrence to find a pack of 20 foxes raiding your bins!!

There's no chance of our Alan being cornered! He's like Spiderman!

If the foxes are causing a problem (and lets face it just by being alive in an urban environment) kill them or get someone in to kill them for you. There is room in the countryside for a controlled population of foxes but none in town and cities.