Brave little scatterbrain

[johan]

I let Bonadea, our calico cat, out of the house this morning as usual. After having dressed, I caught sight of her through the window. She had a magnificent bushy tail and watched something in the patch of forest that borders our garden. Another cat of course, I thought, but when that cat materialised so I could see it, it wasn't a cat but a fox. I openened the window so that Bonadea would be able to escape indoors, but instead she faced the fox and hissed. Then the two of them trotted off around the corner.

I don't know much about foxes, but I know they prowl at dawn looking for prey, so I ran to the terrace door and opened it. Out there, just off the terrace, the two animals stood facing each other, Bonadea upset, with bushy tail and hissing and the fox next to her, trying to circle her. I beckoned her to come in, but she just turned her head and gave me a look before turning to face the fox again. I made some noise and the fox, noticing me, started to move slowly away. Bonadea made to follow, but was distracted by me and stayed where she was as the fox trotted away.

By now Linnéa was up and managed to entice Bonadea to come indoors.

I don't know how dangerous foxes actually are to cats, but I suspect she was out of her depth there. Linnéa googled some and it seems that it's very rare for foxes to kill cats, but that's mostly because cats are too fast for them. When the cat doesn't understand that she's supposed to run, I don't know. On the other hand, I don't think the cat's claws are nice for the fox.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Usually the cat will actually win a fight, because cats tend to go for their opponent's eyes. That's why even big dogs can't handle cats - they get their eyes trashed, the cat being too fast for them.

Which is not to say that a fox couldn't kill a cat, but the saying "She was taken by the fox" when a cat has disappeared should be replaced with "No, you motherfucker, the cat left of its own accord because you're such a lousy pet - don't for one second imagine that she is your pet, you are hers - and now she's gone to find somebody a bit more amusing than you."

I absolutely adore cats and usually get along even with cats unknown to me extremely well. I have had cats for more than thirty years of my life, all in all.

All the best,
Bellis

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Well, both here in Washington, and in California, I've seen my share of scattered cat bits (usually not much, a hind paw here, a collar and some intestine there) after a coyote kill, so there are certainly predators who can take them handily. And coyote aren't that big -- smaller than most people think, maybe as big as a medium dog. But honestly, even in a fairly rural setting, even more likely than predation is having been hit by a car and crawled off to a private place to die.