A cat’s sex (unneutered males tend to be more confrontational), life experience and disposition play a role in how it will react to any encroachment on their territory.
The first two words can be dropped to produce a more general statement which explains much of the world……
We always had spayed female cats and woe betide anything that entered their garden.
Although there was one who used to bring her mates in to play.
MTFs seem to maintain their confrontational attitude, even the neutered ones. Or is that just the activists?
Alternatively.. Cats and foxes compete more or less in the same niche in Nature and are natural sworn enemies.
Any house cat that has remained relatively close to wild-type and isn’t an overbred heap of jelly can take on a fox, and probably win. Especially the ones that are also street smart, like the no.10 inhabitant looks to be.
The ones that have remained really close to wild-type can and do give pause to wolves and badgers.. A mere fox very quickly learns to respect the personal boundaries of those cats.
Interesting observation about territory and different temperaments.
Some years ago, I was with my children in the local park, and we watched a family of swans – mum, dad, and half a dozen big grey cygnets – stand their ground against the local dogs being walked. A succession of dogs, including the likes of German Shepherds and Rottweilers, were off the lead and most of them saw movement and bounded enthusiastically over to the swan family hoping for some sport. The male just lifted his wings slightly, hissed, and all of the dogs turned tail and fled. I think some of the young bloke owners of big aggressive dogs were a bit crestfallen by how cowardly Tyson turned out to be when faced with something the size of a big turkey and no teeth.
I pointed this out to my children, carefully avoiding the “break your arm with a blow of its wing” phrase, and we watched the cygnets potter about safely while the adult swans defended their ground without ever losing their cool.
Then an elderly lady came shuffling along with a Jack Russell off the lead. Yapping and growling, it launched itself at the swans who exploded in a huge noisy flurry before retreating to the middle of the lake. The dog set off after them, and had to be fished out of the water. I guess if you are bred to go underground to fight bigger animals you can’t even see, then you’re going to have a potent mixture of courage and stupidity.
We always had spayed female cats and woe betide anything that entered their garden.
Likewise; and it amazed me that they shared the same boundary concept as their humans. See cat in neighbours garden or in street – slight irritable tail flip. See cat on fence or in garden – attack.
Then an elderly lady came shuffling along with a Jack Russell off the lead. Yapping and growling, it launched itself at the swans who exploded in a huge noisy flurry before retreating to the middle of the lake. The dog set off after them, and had to be fished out of the water. I guess if you are bred to go underground to fight bigger animals you can’t even see, then you’re going to have a potent mixture of courage and stupidity.
We were walking along the banks of the Ill (a tributary of the Rhine in Alsace) and about 50 yards in front of us was a local wit ha Jack Russell type dog on a lead. Suddenly the dog went bananas and a few seconds later, out of the woods burst a family of a dozen wild boar. The dog owner had his hands full trying to restrain his pet, but what it expected to do if it caught up with the boars, I can’t imagine. I expect such an encounter would be short and very bloody (for the dog).
In nature, carnivores rarely attack or fight other carnivores not of their own species (except when there’s a huge difference in size – badgers take hedgehogs, allegedly). This is because they aren’t an attractive prey, there’s usually more meat on herbivores, and have sharp teeth and claws that are at least capable of injuring their attacker – and a wounded carnivore in nature swiftly becomes a dead carnivore.
Long had a theory about small dogs. The smaller they are the more aggressive they seem to be. It’s because inside every dog lives the primordial wolf. And in the smaller ones it’s very tight, uncomfortable & hot in there so the wolf’s permanently pissed off.
Quite a lot of the classic small dog breeds, terriers, dachses, ship-dogs, and their like were bred as hunter-killers.
Mostly of rats ( cats very nuch not being In Fashion in that day and age..) , but when you can deal with a cornered rat, something a couple times larger that’s less blood-crazed and more intent on staying alive and hale is easy-peasy.
So yeah… the good breeding lines are fluffy balls of murder and mayhem..
Sam Vara
I’m bloody scared of swans. Right vicious bastards.
Chris Miller,
Re Badgers & hedgehogs. I mentioned to a local farmer that we’ve been getting more hedgehogs in the garden in the past few years. He said it coincided with badger culls starting and that even Brian May, a big anti badger cull supporter relented when shown some evidence.
Farmers not being the most objective when it comes to badgers I’m still open to other evidence.
As to wild boars, they’re always at the back of my mind when I’m out hiking in Germany. We were quite disappointed not to find any on the menu when we were in the Black Forest recently so I presume they aren’t a problem there.
BiS
“Long had a theory about small dogs…” The same is true of Tynesiders.
“how it will react to any encroachment on their territory.”
Pronoun infringement there I think.
Anyhow, urban foxes need to fear bats.
@BiND
We were quite near the Black Forest, so I’m sure there are plenty of boar in there. As long as you don’t get between the parents and their young, they aren’t very dangerous – much more likely to run away than attack. The real danger, if there are boar about, is being accidentally shot by some tanked up local out for the hunt.