OK now I know in some places COyotes are routinely blamed for the disapearence of pets but how often does this really happen, here where I live there plenty of coyotes. However they are quite shy and wary of people and generally stay out of the urban areas, I keep many animals ducks rabbits pigoions etc and there was an iosolated case when the coyoes snatched several ducks once but even this is rare. ALthough like I said there are alot of coyotes around they are seldom seen but they are heard vocalizing quite often and there droppings and tracks are also seen alot. I have three cats that I have had for many years and the coyotes dont seem to bother them in fact the cats territory line overlaps an area where the coyotes tend to hang around these cats spend alot of time outdoors and are quite woodwise even half wild so maybe that is part of it. But there was even one time at dusk in winter when a coyote did appear on my front lawn suddenly. My cat was standing right there and one puff and hiss from the cat sent the coyote running tail between its legs straight back to the woods. SO can anyone tell me really how commonly do coyotes attack cats. Because its never ever happened in the neiborhood IM in theres alot of catsa and I never see lost cat signs anywaher....

-- MIke J (mamba50213@aol.com), October 26, 2001

Answers

Well Here in western Wa. where I live we have lost cats to coyotes quite often. They also cleaned the wild rabbit population at my place. When my son and his family moved to there place in S.W.Washinton they " inherited" 3 cats ,2 of them were pregnant so they ended up with 8 more plus the 2 they already had.The coyotes cleaned out the lot ( naturally after they had payed to get them all fixed). When they had to put down a horse, the coyotes were right outside the barn while the vet was still there! At my place they come right up on the deck. The cat I have now always goes up high as soon as he goes outside , checking things out before he comes down into the garden.The only thing that seems to deter them is a good dog, which right now we are without.My son has a dog and that keeps them from the house but they still come in close.It goes in cycles here. The deer will be around for awhile, then the coyotes come and the deer leave, then a cougar will show up and the coyotes will go, then we start again.

-- Judy Schumacher (TootlesTheBrit@aol.com), October 26, 2001.

Murphy's law applies here as well, the cats we paid to have fixed and immunized ended up dying so much(three kittens every month) by wildlife and road, that when my 'male' barn cat turned out to be female and pregnant we figured it would not be a population problem. We have been broke and having 7 cats, not one disapears! One recovered without vet help from being squashed by a horse hoof, one had siezures from shock of being hit by a car, and another got it's head accidentally slammed in a car door and had blood gushing from it's mouth. We still have 7 cats. A fisher was just caught in a trap, we hear a wild cat 'woman screams', see fox, and see coyote tracks. Still have 7 cats and huge holes in our barn from the mice!My sarcastic advice: spend money on the cats! LOL:)

-- Epona (crystalepona2000@yahoo.com), October 26, 2001.

You're quite naive if you think the coyotes won't eat cats. Since coyotes have moved into cities, the cat populations have gone down. Living rurally, it's common.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), October 26, 2001.

when the yotes get hungary enogh,,they will come and get cats,, cats dont stand a chance against a hungary yote.

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), October 27, 2001.

Stan is correct, the ONLY reason they have not taken your cats is there is plenty of other food available, like mice, rats, rabbits, gophers and other small rodents.

-- Joe (CactusJoe001@AOL.com), October 27, 2001.

Well, I've lost the occassional new born calf to them, and my neighbor has a large herd of Angus that comes up missing calves, too. Although a herd of Angus will kill a coyote if they can surround it. If they can brave a mother cow, I don't think a cat is going to be any problem for them.

On the plus side, they sure do a nice job of cleaning up the dead animals around the place.

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@nospammail.com), October 27, 2001.

We lost two cats this summer, one our old cat that we'd had for eleven years, and one "dump" cat that I really wasn't sorry to see go. We have coyotes around, but always have had them, so I don't know if they were responsible for the cats disappearing or not. What I do suspect is the cougar that a friend saw at her place several months ago. I know cougars will eat house cats. We lost one that way when I was a child, living on the Oregon Coast -- all the cats in the area disappeared that summer.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), October 27, 2001.

Well actually I do have a large dog that urinates and deficates around the perimeter of the property quite often so maybe that helps to keep them away. But like I said we did have some coyotes come and take some ducks that were left out at night one time. So I guess they just take what they can get here especially if its something like a defenlesss duck. But other than that it does seem there is alot of natural prey around so maybe thats also part of it, so really I dont know why the coyotes dont attack the cats since like i also said the cats territory/hunting trails go right through coyote territory and also since cats are just as wary and smart I figure they might also take to a tree if they have to So who knows its just the large neiborhood of dogs and cats here has never had a problem.....

-- MIke J (mamba50213@aol.com), October 27, 2001.

Mike, I think maybe you just have one tough cat. Never dealt with Coyotes here in NC but I've known a few cats that could hold their own with much larger animals. I had an orange Tabby that would face down or whup the neighborhood pack whenever they came on our land. Other cats would run but this dude (nutured) had an "attitude" and those dogs knew it. They generally steered clear of him.

Believe it or not, my grandparents were once taken to small claims court because their tom had gotten into a fence with two guard dogs, Doberman Pinschers, and inflicted over a hundred dollars of vet bills on the poor dogs before their owner could run him off. He didn't have a scratch on him. Even us kids steered clear of that cat.

-- Mark M in NC (MagicMark85@aol.com), October 27, 2001.

We don't have coyotes right in my area (too much swamp I guess because they do a mile from here) but we do have Dracula and I'm sure no coyote would deal with him! Dracula is an old wharf cat that one of my neighbors (a lobsterman) rescued. Dracula has chronic eye infections and since he is definately not a cat open for manhandling, the necessary 2x/day treatment necessary to clean up his eyes has never been done. He looks scary. He is always dirty looking (from the weepy eyes) and is huge and beat up and has quite the attitude. He will stalk my dogs. One of my dogs is small (whippet), but the other is a golden retriever cross, so she's a decent sized dog. If Dracula is near the road, she stays right with me. NOONE messes with Dracula! Of course, having a coyote in the area might just be safer than having this cat down the road....

-- Sheryl in Me (radams@sacoriver.net), October 31, 2001.

Ditto never lost a cat until I had them spayed .I have now lost 4 this year !

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), November 01, 2001.

Hi Mike, your post described a truely wild uncrossed coyote behavior, and that has not acclimated to humans, this will likely change.

-- Thumper (slrldr@yahoo.com), November 01, 2001.

I Moved from the outskirts of town to the sticks of the country about 2 years ago. Within the first 2 weeks I was here I lost 3 cats to the Coyotes I suspect, although I didn't see them. I live where there are plenty of Coyotes. There are hills on 3 sides of my home with thick woods and they are on every hillside. You can go out at night and hear all of them howling at once.

-- Clara Bell (c.katty@ziggycom.net), April 09, 2002.