So i witnessed my neighbours baby rabbit getting attacked last night by a fox, it had ripped the front of the hutch off and took it, by time i got downstairs and in back yard it took off over the fence, this was about 2am, but about 4 times after until 4.30am it kept coming back to the hutch, i let my neighbours no when it happened, because they have kids and didnt want them seeing any bits of rabbit around if there was...

What im stressing is about, i have 2 cats who love to go out in the back garden, one a 16 year old cat and one a 6 month kitten, today i am scared of letting them out, they dont go out at night.
But with that fox keep coming back last night im scared it will come back and go for the cats...

Can anyone shed any light on this please? i really dont want to see what i saw last night again..

Also we live in a busy area near a main road, and i have lived at my home for 20 odd years and never seen a fox, so why they coming now, cheeky sods.

thanks

Foxes are everywhere. I see them every single day in a built up area when I walk my dogs at night. Don`t worry about your cats they can fend foxes off but foxes tend to leave cats alone anyway.

Remember a fox gets hungry like any animal. If it finds a meal caged it doesn`t know the difference between a wild rabbit and a pet rabbit. It`s a pity it could get to it. They come back to see if there are any more like a warren more than likely just as when they get into a chicken coup they kill all the chickens and not just one. It`s because they don`t know when their next meal is coming from and will go back to eat them all.

Fox vs. Cat ( cat just stands it`s ground)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPDEGF9OAFo

Fox v Cat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgjCsCurXo8

Super Friendly Fox and Cats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1qiC8mY1vw

Cat`s can look after themselves. Don`t worry. Foxes just want an easy meal and fights with cats are not easy.

Hi jojo, there has been talk recently around our way of local cats being taken by the foxes. We have quite a few in the village now. I would keep my cats in if I thought there was the slightest chance they could be taken. It must be a hell of a thing to live with. So sorry to hear about your neighbours baby rabbit. Some nice person tore the side of my hutch off years ago and put their ferret in. My big rabbit managed to escape but sadly my dwarf stood no chance. I found the ferret lying curled up asleep in the hutch the next morning. As devastated as I was I found someone to rehome him, it wasn't the ferrets fault and I could never have lived with myself if that wee ferret died too.

thanks appreciate it, after seeing what i saw last night was really worried about letting the cats out, especially the 6 month one hes a bit dopey haha

aww thats awful i think its because i saw and heard everything that happened, its really got to me.. my cats are never out at night anyway, but i heard foxes come around during the day though.
my big cat is out now i have put her on a chair near the back door and im sat at side of her.
I know its mother nature like a cat getting a bird, but that was awful last night

Nature is awful but no more awful as when we eat meat or fish. We are just protected from the horrors of the animals getting killed so we ignore it. How many people in Britain would end up vegetarian if they had to kill their own meals themselves. I would much prefer an animal to be a meal for something else rather than hunting for fun as some people do.

For any animal it`s just survival. The fox habitats have been brutally encroached upon by humans. I leave food near their sets in winter when they are starving. It is always gone the next day.

It`s not the foxes fault it is just surviving. Please don`t worry about your cats they will be fine. Urban foxes and domestic cats rarely interfere with each others activities. If there is a confrontation, the fox is quite likely to be the first to back down.

Here is a video of a fox and cat in my garden. They both ignore each other. (3:20)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii3ErPmjRBE

In all my years of cat owning I've never had issues with foxes and cats.

In fact last year caught them playing cat and fox chess in the front garden (where they sleep in different areas and then move around without annoying each other)

i do actually know someone whos 14 year old cat was attacked and killed by a fox in their garden in the middle of the day so it can happen but i wouldnt think its a common thing, the cat was ill and i guess couldnt fight back.....just be careful OP

Thanks for replys guys, cats went out in afternoon I kept a good eye on them, there in now its dark! Fingers crossed won't come back tonight or every again lol

Thiat is inaccurate. Approximately 80% or more of the UK is countryside - even flying into Heathrow or travelling around the M25, the amount of fields and woods and greenery is remarkable. This link - in general - backs that up.

Foxes, like many animals, are opportunists. When man began living in towns and created suburbs and coincidentally had too much food and was lazy and careless in disposing of the excess, animals - such as the fox - moved in to take advantage of it. They're omnivores and they'll happily eat anything from beetles to half-finished Big Macs, bread and all.

When man puts additional food out for them, they are fooling nature into thinking that, with the abundance of food available, animals can have bigger litters and more often. As the food is plentiful, more of each litter survives and so the problem escalates. Left to its own devices, nature controls all animals by controlling the food available. Man self-indulgently buggers up that balance.

Foxes in towns don't need feeding. Yes, some may starve and die but that is natural and it is normal. Rather than waste money on animals that don't need it, a much better use of the funds would be to support a local animal charity which is helping to care for the cats, dogs, rabbits and other pets that are casually bred by man for profit, bought and then discarded. That's a problem man really has thoughtlessly created.


It's not normal but as you say, it does happen. A friend of mine saw her sleeping cat surprised and taken by a fox. She saw it out of a window and by the time she got outside it was long gone with the cat - who never returned so one can draw a conclusion from that.

One of the two strays that adopted us in one of the hotels was attacked by a fox recently in a neighbours back garden , cost £235 to get him fixed up and a nights B&B at the vets.

We have never had a problem with foxes until now, we have had them in the street quite often but they have never harmed anyone or anything, the neighbour says she thinks the fox has had cubs in a back garden and is being protective but is attacking anything that goes near where she is with her cubs . The neighbour says she spoke to the council but they said its not their problem and to speak to the RSPCA , the RSPCA said they could not do anything.

I saw a fox walk straight past my cat when I was outside doing something with the car.

It was very surreal. When I saw the fox I panicked but he just sauntered past the cat and they both virtually ignored each other.

My cat is very friendly with everything and anything though.. by contrast my parents cat shits herself when she see's her own shadow bless her.

There are many foxes where I live. I keep my cats in after dark. I just feel its safer to do that. Although, I have seen a cat following a fox while the fox kept turning round to see if it was still there, neither seemed worried about the other. I know other neighbourhood cats stay out all night and come to no harm. If I'd seen a fox kill another pet I'd probably just keep them in at night.

I think a healthy cat is going to be too much trouble for a fox to attack. Predators always have to be careful about their prey as even a minor injury can get infected and eventually kill. But if sufficiently hungry and the cat is old...
I was having trouble earlier this year with a fox cub - no problem to my cat as it was barely larger than her, but it was crapping everywhere and some of it was ending up in the pond. It could be co-incidence but I tried the urine around the garden boundary trick - not seen any foxy poo since!