During my pre-Sureflap childhood, when any old random punter could – and did – wander into our home and wreak havoc, we would often find scraps of fur indicating that there had been an altercation between our cats and whoever.
Our lovely tuxedo boy, Rambo, had a neighbourhood nemesis (evil Jasper – a black cat, of course, with the most horror-movie cat snarl I have ever heard), and the two of them would have frequent bust-ups. One day Jasper’s mamma mentioned to my mum that Jasper had come home the other night with a wounded ear, and, by some curious coincidence, my mum had found blood on her back doorstep the same day.
That was the beginning of what has come to be our family mantra: “Oh dear, how awful. Must’ve been some other cat.”
Since we’ve had Louis Catorze, we have never seen any evidence of fights with other cats – apart from, erm, the time we took him to the vet with what turned out to be a fight wound, and the vet told Cat Daddy that its position indicated that Catorze was the one who started it.
However, a few days ago, Cat Daddy found this in the back garden:
Oui, Mesdames et Messieurs, this is fox fur (approximately 5cm long).
I really hope someone will be able to reassure me that fox fur can just randomly fall off in this way. Otherwise I shall be forced to consider the truly horrifying thought that … shudder … Catorze has been taking them on.
Cat Daddy: “He wouldn’t be THAT stupid.”
[Silence, tumbleweed, crickets]
jesuisleroisoleil 
Oh dear. Foxes do get tatty and shed, but – um – I fear your fears about Catorze may be valid. Unless there are several foxes around fighting each other. Or rabid.
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When I’ve heard the foxes fighting, they’ve sounded much further away than our garden. I hope beyond hope that the fur just fell off …
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It’s a bit worrying that’s for sure….
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Nooooo. 😱😱😱
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Um. Bless you for your hopeful nature. However…we back onto a park and the bottom of our garden was a regular cut through for the local fox. One day, Charlie caught him and went into full warrior princess mode to the fox’s abject horror…he never came back. Foxes will VERY rarely take on a fully grown healthy cat as they know they’ll come off worst…
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Thing is … Catorze is only 3kg. So he doesn’t look fully grown, even though he is! He looks like a largish kitten. 😱😱😱
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Charlie is quite small and dainty but definitely not to be messed with. Perhaps the fox was suitably frightened and won’t come back.
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I hope so!
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Perhaps it was a one-off. Does Catorze smell odd (and by odd I mean super stinky)? My beloved Cat Ninja started hanging out (read bothering) foxes and brought home a strong odor. I later learned it is the smell of fox.
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Ugh, that sounds revolting! No: unless he’s been out in the rain, Catorze always smells beautiful. Like fresh lime with a hint of flowers. One day he came home smelling from top to tail of lime and it’s never really gone away.
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Maybe he could do a cat shampoo commercial 😹 Considering that Catorze has been unharmed so far, thank Bast, I suspect his louche air, dagger shooting glare and hearing loss-inducing screams are enough to make any critter think twice about messing with him. I suggest trying repellant scents (boiling vinegar with peppers then spraying the areas), citronella candles or scattering some human hair about the garden (as from a hairbrush.) Foxes have bad eyesight so rely mainly on scent.
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When he’s come into contact with foxes in the past, they haven’t shown anything more than mild curiosity and, more often than not, ignore him. I imagine this is because they don’t see him as a worthwhile snack! Vinegar with peppers sounds interesting and a lot more appealing than the usual British solution of, erm, getting the males of the household to urinate around the perimeters of the garden! I’m not joking. People genuinely say that works. 😱😱😱
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I believe it. They fear humans. A fox had kits under the next door neighbors’ deck. One night I saw her hunt an opposum.She didn’t hear me walk over and pick it up. I was less than six inches away from her. She RAN off.
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