Foxes and stressed cats

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Permalink Reply by GillianM on August 18, 2014 at 22:33

Well this year we have way more foxes than last year, and I haven't seen a cat in the back gardens once. Instead three adolescent foxes playing on next door's lawn every morning and evening. It must be quite a worry if you have cats.

However, my feelings are going in the opposite direction to yours! We have so many birds in our garden now which I love. And thoughwe can't keep them out if they really want to get in, blocking holes, putting up extra trellis and not leaving "toys" out for them seems to have made it less attractive for them. Though we have had two paddling pools destroyed.

But in general, I think it seems that foxes are getting to be a problem. No idea really what can be done.

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Permalink Reply by Isabelle on August 19, 2014 at 11:38

A friend used "Silent Roar" to move a family of foxes who was occupying the bottom of his garden, as the pups were cute when young but started creating a real mess when growing up and seriously worried his cat. They're pellets which have been soaked in the real essence of lion dung. It is a cat repellent (and a fertiliser) but drove the foxes away while not fooling the cat.

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Permalink Reply by tigha on August 21, 2014 at 21:23

thanks for the advice, i will certainly look into the "Silent Roar"

Foxes are cute. and if my cats werent stressed I wouldnt worry

But i just heard a massive uproar, screaming- wasnt sure if something had been killed-ran out the room to find both my cats had run into the bedroom, so told my boy of assuming his teasing had gone 1 step to far. only to walk out the open back door to find a massive very good looking fox staring back at me-

Interestingly my drugged up boy who normally hides under the bed when they were around, wasnt hiding as prob more chilled with the drugs inside him, whereas his little sister whom normally chases them off the premises, was hiding under the bed- 

So my concern is that the foxes seem to getting more confident and wereas they werent a threat to healthy agile cats, maybe thats changing 

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Permalink Reply by tigha on August 21, 2014 at 21:26

its a shame as i bought this ground floor flat so they had access to a garden, but they are now becoming more and more indoor as a result, back to a litter tray

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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on August 21, 2014 at 22:24

its a shame as i bought this ground floor flat so they had access to a garden

I've read this post with mounting concern for this rather unsettled mother, but more so for her poor boy and girl. Doping ones son regularly on valium or valerium must rank as maternal child abuse. Ms Tigha is, however, not wholly depraved. She clearly dotes on her children, even if in a misguided way. Why else would she buy a ground-floor flat just so they could have some outside playing space? A pity they spend their time indoors - damned computer games, I guess. Perhaps she should sell the garden to her first-floor neighbour. More seriously, this whole family seems to be an eminently suitable case for treatment. This could begin with a rigorous course of potty training for all the family, followed by some basic economics, species identification and home management for the mother.  

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Permalink Reply by Isabelle on August 21, 2014 at 23:03

Perhaps you could also secure your garden better. Mine was very open when I moved in, it had low walls all around that people, cats, dogs and foxes could jump fairly easily. After a few incidents of finding people in and dogs chasing cats, I resorted to adding treillis all around. They do a type with large squares that cats can go through. Grew some climbers on them, keeping small passages for cats (also making holes at wall level). Because they're wobbly they're hard to grab and so deterred people from coming in. Dogs definitely can't jump in anymore, it's also made it harder for foxes.

The only problem my cats have now are... the other cats! But that's managed with a good cat flap.

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Permalink Reply by Vicky Alhadeff on August 21, 2014 at 23:27

Hi Tigha, sorry to hear your cats are feeling stressed with the presence of foxes in your garden. There are several approaches you can take. As foxes are seasonal in their behaviour, the family should be splitting up and some moving on over the next few weeks possibly. To help make your garden less appealing, could you get a compost bin which is completely secure? Such as the Green Johanna? The Fox Project recommend deterrence - making your garden less appealing by removing food opportunities, and less comfortable to den in.  The Fox Project also run a Fox Deterrence Helpline with humane ways to deter them.

At the same time, there are several ways to help the cats in terms of boosting their confidence. It sounds like a case of redirected aggression with your boy attacking his sister... he was feeling anxious and worried, saw his sister, and so lashed out at her. Do you have play sessions with the cats? Do they scratching posts and cat trees? This helps them to legitimately mark their internal territory and help themselves feel more safe. Tellington TTouch can also help boost confidence in all species. Just a few ideas to think about - hope they're helpful.

Vicky, http://happydogsandcats.co.uk/tellington-touch-method/

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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on August 22, 2014 at 5:47

We've used Feliway plug in pheremome diffuser with some success (plugs in to a wall socket) after our cat developed the charming habit of weeing in any shoes he could find handy. This was around the time we had a lot of work done inside the house and he became stressed and decided he had to mark the whole house as his territory. It is quite expensive though (the diffuser, not the cat wee)

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