Will Coyotes Kill Cats
Coyotes certainly could kill cats if they wanted to.
Will coyotes kill cats. You are very unlikely to find any remains of your cat. Studies vary dramatically in their findings with some indicating that an alarmingly high 42 of an urban coyotes diet is feline while other studies suggest that the figure is much lower just. Cats may not be a coyotes favourite food but because the coyotes natural habitat and food sources are being depleted they are being forced to live among humans and will kill and eat a cat if they have to.
Seeing a single coyote during the day usually means something is wrong with it. However if the food is scarce it will chase after. If there are plenty of these animals in your area its unlikely that it will pay much attention to your cat.
Unless the location is perceived as unsafe by the coyote carrying prey especially a 10 lb cat is a waste of energy. They observed 45 instances of coyotes consuming prey and fruit composed of 42 cats 333 rodents 178. Based on observations of coyotes in Tuscan Arizona Grubbs and Krausman 2009 reported the alarming find that cats constituted 42 of coyote diets.
This can be disturbing and make you reluctant to allow your cat to spend time outside. Gerht and Riley 2010. Coyotes prefer to eat smaller food like mice moles squirrels and rabbits.
Other studies have found that approximately 13 of a coyotes diet consists of cats. However the majority of studies of urban coyotes have found that cats occurred in only 1- 2 or less of coyote diets Gerht 2006. A coyote is most likely to carry its prey a minimum distance from the kill site before consuming.
They also found that one coyote was as likely to kill a cat as a pack of coyotes and coyotes frequently at least partially consumed the cats that they killed. Cats remain at risk as are other larger animals. Unfortunately a coyote will kill your cat if it cant find other food or it is traveling with others.