Cats and badgers

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Oddcat
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Cats and badgers

Post by Oddcat »

I thought I'd start a new thread, I don't want to hijack June's thread. We sadly lost our dear Cupcake about 4 weeks ago, we had to put her to sleep after a badger attack and a 2am dash to the emergency vets.

Cupcake was a semi feral girl who had lived with us for 10 years. She, along with the many cats who have owned, enjoyed and visited our garden during the 20 years we've lived here, have lived peacefully alongside badgers without any problems. I adore badgers, they are magical animals, and I'm frankly still shocked, confused and awfully sad about what happened.

I heard a commotion in the garden at around 1:30am and assumed it was some passing tom cats; Cupcake was a gentle soul who I'd never known to get into a scrap. But it started to sound nasty so I went outside to intervene. I can't get the image of what I saw out of my mind. Cupcake was lying in the grass with a badger over her, the badger make a quick exit and as I approached Cupcake I could see immediately she was very seriously injured. I knew she was beyond saving. We rushed her to the emergency vets, who were very compassionate and sent her quickly to Rainbow Bridge.

I'm devastated at losing her, I miss her terribly. And I feel such guilt, should I have tried to bring her indoors at night? Would she still be with us if I'd gone outside sooner? I'll never know what caused the fight, and the internet indicates badgers hurting cats is very rare. But the vet did not seem surprised, she had seen badger attacks before and was familiar with the severity of the injuries they can inflict on cats.

I still love badgers, and would hate to worry anyone unduly. But has anyone else experienced anything like this? I certainly wish I would have better understood the risks before this happened, and perhaps my sweet girl would still be with us now.
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Judy Barnett
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Re: Cats and badgers

Post by Judy Barnett »

I'm so sorry for your terrible loss. I've never heard of a badger attack on a cat, although we have quite a few foxes around here and we keep Georgia in at night primarily to protect her from them. There are some enormous dog foxes in the area and she's only a little girl. Sending you hugs x
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Re: Cats and badgers

Post by bobbys girl »

We are in a rural situation and would have the odd fox or badger about but oddly enough, not in the garden We DO have polecats/pine martins (or some such mix) that are causing havoc among our chicken owning neighbours and are probably responsible for the death our pet jackdaw a couple of years back.

Like you, I am going through all kinds of emotions and 'what if's'. The worst being that in the news recently there have been stories about cats getting into engine compartments and as our Christmas visitors were leaving I banged on the bonnet of their car, little knowing that Freddie was (probably)inside and as I stood in the lane, waving, I was waving goodbye to him. We think that as the car stopped at the end of the lane - just out of sight of the house, Freddie jumped out, panicked and ran off in the opposite direction to home.

Hindsight is a wonderful and terrible thing. Oddcat you are not alone in your grief. From one broken heart to another (((HUGS))) Let's hope that Cupcake, Freddie and all our recently departed darlings are all together right now at the Bridge, waiting for us. xx
alanc
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Re: Cats and badgers

Post by alanc »

What a terrible thing to happen. Poor Cupcake. I have also never heard of a Badger attacking a cat and would never have considered it something to worry about (and I worry about my Tilly an awful lot).
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Oddcat
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Re: Cats and badgers

Post by Oddcat »

Thank you all for your kind words, it really does help to know I'm not alone.

Bobbys Girl, the 'what if's' are awful aren't they. My Dave was really upset too, and he has been really understanding of my grief. But he moves through the stages of grief much quicker than me. I seem to get stuck at 'what if' for a long time. I really try to remember the happy times and the good life we gave Cupcake; but it's still really raw at the moment. My heart breaks for your loss also, at least I have certainty about what happened, I know you don't even have that small comfort.Thank you for the hugs, they really do help; sending a great big hug back to you xx
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Re: Cats and badgers

Post by RonnieDewey »

Oddcat wrote: Sun Jan 06, 2019 5:48 pm I thought I'd start a new thread, I don't want to hijack June's thread. We sadly lost our dear Cupcake about 4 weeks ago, we had to put her to sleep after a badger attack and a 2am dash to the emergency vets.

Cupcake was a semi feral girl who had lived with us for 10 years. She, along with the many cats who have owned, enjoyed and visited our garden during the 20 years we've lived here, have lived peacefully alongside badgers without any problems. I adore badgers, they are magical animals, and I'm frankly still shocked, confused and awfully sad about what happened.

I heard a commotion in the garden at around 1:30am and assumed it was some passing tom cats; Cupcake was a gentle soul who I'd never known to get into a scrap. But it started to sound nasty so I went outside to intervene. I can't get the image of what I saw out of my mind. Cupcake was lying in the grass with a badger over her, the badger make a quick exit and as I approached Cupcake I could see immediately she was very seriously injured. I knew she was beyond saving. We rushed her to the emergency vets, who were very compassionate and sent her quickly to Rainbow Bridge.

I'm devastated at losing her, I miss her terribly. And I feel such guilt, should I have tried to bring her indoors at night? Would she still be with us if I'd gone outside sooner? I'll never know what caused the fight, and the internet indicates badgers hurting cats is very rare. But the vet did not seem surprised, she had seen badger attacks before and was familiar with the severity of the injuries they can inflict on cats.

I still love badgers, and would hate to worry anyone unduly. But has anyone else experienced anything like this? I certainly wish I would have better understood the risks before this happened, and perhaps my sweet girl would still be with us now.
I lost my cat to a badger in July. He would always sleep outside during summer and was attacked while sleeping. I chased badger away within 30 seconds but damage was already too bad. The badger was enjoying it and can still hear it in my head not to mention the damage to my cat. He's been asleep under window and been surrounded by 6 foxes in past and had slept out during summer for over 10 years. All I kept getting told was my cat must've done something for it to attack but he was asleep and didn't even get chance to make a sound. Apparently on our estate they're a common site and a few have tried getting to people's pets. I wouldn't have let him out at night if I'd known and keep my other cat in at night now. I used to like badgers but not anymore especially as it was my late wifes cat. I can't look out window at night now as I'll attack it if I see it again as it was very distinctive. I'm still struggling to get over it especially having the images in my head and hearing it enjoying killing my cat
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Oddcat
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Re: Cats and badgers

Post by Oddcat »

Welcome to the forum, I'm sorry it's under such awful circumstances. I'm so sorry for the of your boy, I understand your pain.

It will be no consolation to you at this point, but I wanted to let you know that nearly four years on I have made my peace with badgers, and although I still miss Cupcake, I can remember her now in happier times and the upsetting images have faded.

You've experienced a trauma, it's important to be kind to yourself and give yourself time to recover. Sending you hugs and healing wishes.
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Re: Cats and badgers

Post by Mollycat »

Awful, I'm so sorry.

Badgers are notoriously bad tempered creatures so I can understand them posing a risk to cats at close quarters. I was very wary when I took my cat away on holiday to the countryside years ago, the middle of nowhere, knowing there was a disused badger sett nearby, but I was far more concerned about the resident owl and the stoats and weasels in the area. All are quite capable of badly injuring or killing a cat, especially a city cat unused to those kinds of threats. That particular cat on more than one occasion initiated and won arguments with a dog, two German Shepherds and a Collie to my certain knowledge.

Where I live like most cities and suburbs the bigger threats are dogs and cars - unfortunately also occasionally humans - but we have a large fox population that thankfully are respectful and some even cat-friendly.
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