A security camera caught a flat out fight between a red tabby domestic cat and a coyote on what appears to be the porch of a house. The cat was almost certainly male (ginger tabbies are normally male). It is an instructive video although a bit hard to watch because it shows us how tough domestic cats can be when survival kicks in. They do have 9 lives because they are survivors. The cat is totally outmatched in size and strength but has an abundance of courage and athleticism. It is the latter and his climbing ability which gets him out of harm’s way for long enough for the coyote to lose interest and disappear (we hope). The cat has to hang on to the wooden pillar with his claws and strength. There was no platform for him to retreat to and wait in relative comfort. He just had to hang on and he does.
Note: This is an embedded video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source or the video is turned into a link which would stop it working here. I have no control over this.
The only uncertainty as to the ending is what happens next after he slides down the pillar and onto the ground below the elevated porch. Was the coyote there waiting for him? I doubt it. The nasty bit is when the coyote was able to bite into the cat’s rump. That’s unpleasant and it must have punctured the skin. It would need veterinary treatment to avoid an infection.
It is a reminder not to declaw cats. You can’t let a declawed cat outside in the USA, even if it seems safe to do so. The fight took place at Surfside Beach, Texas on the porch of Tony Gray. The cat does not belong to Tony Gray.
People ask about the success rate of coyote attacks on cats and if cats can get away or fight off a coyote. Yes, on both counts, sometimes, but often times they succumb to the superior strength and size of the coyote who is a determined and resourceful animal. It is a match between resourcefulness and athleticism.
In a study conducted in 2005-6, they found that coyotes killed cats 53% of the time in interactions. In round terms this about half the time domestic, stray and feral cats survive a coyote attack. Alpha male coyotes are more successful than pack members with a 63% kill rate in attacking cats compared to 32% for pack members. The study is titled: Observations of Coyote-Cat Interactions. Another study in California: Consumption of Free-Roaming Cats and Other Anthropogenic Foods by Coyotes in Southern California, with Implications for Cat Management, found that 35% of coyotes consumed cats. In a 3rd study 42% of coyotes ate cats.
The presence of the coyote in the US is perhaps the single most common reason (depending on where the cat owner lives) for keeping cats inside 24/7. The issue of domestic cats being targeted by other predators is not a factor in cat caregiving in many countries. It changes the dynamic between cat and owner. The reason why Americans keep their cats inside far more than Brits is because of the coyote and other predators of cats.
Below are some articles on preying on cats.
Here’s a successful defense: http://www.mailpen.com/media/Cat+Coyote-L.mp4 (2 min). I’d made a bed for this friendly feral cat aside my front porch. However, after this I named him Hannibal (after the ancient general), brought him indoors, got him fixed, chipped, & vaxxed. He’s happy indoors & likes my other cats.
Great story. Pleasing conclusion. And I am impressed by the way he saw off the coyote. Very confident. The coyote was not interested.
The cats fighting off the coyotes in the security camera and on the TV news footage, were both very lucky. Despite the reporter’s opinion, these were young and rather small coyotes they were dealing with. The small size and diffident hesitation displayed probably means they were young and inexperienced as well as rather small. Out here in the West, coyotes run in packs of seven to a dozen or more. The security camera footage of the cat climbing a post to escape reminded me that, in my limited experience, cats don’t like hanging on a vertical surface like a tree trunk or a post any longer than needed, and if the threat is no longer visible or smellable, they will soon jump down. Coyotes can, like the ancient Greeks at Troy, seem to get discouraged, give up, and leave, while actually being hidden nearby waiting for their prey to think it’s safe and jump out of the tree and be vulnerable again. So I hope that cat got inside or on the roof before that coyote returned. I never heard before about coyotes in Florida, but it doesn’t surprise me.At least throughout the West, Coyotes are rampant and increasingly so. They hunt in packs of six to a dozen or more. Coyotes, are with raccoons, squirrels, pidgeons, rats and mice are among the few wild animals whose numbers increase, rather than diminish when substantial numbers of people move into their neighborhood. They move into ours. The first three species are ubiquitous and their numbers exploding in my area. Raccoons are now brazen enough to roam on small town and suburban streets in groups of three or more at night and attack small or chained dogs, and even large domestic cats. They raid bird feeders and garbage cans and will enter houses on hot nights after people are in bed if they can open the screen doors.Their hands are almost human and can manipulate nearly anything we can. I guess they’re better to put up with in your neighborhood than bears. But so far at least, bears are usually only problems in Alaska and wooded areas elsewhere.