A sign recently appeared in our neighborhood that made us sad. One of our neighbors lost their cat to a coyote and wanted to warn everybody else so that it didn’t happen to them, too.
Lots of people think of coyotes as creatures who live on the prairies, and they remember them as part of wild west tales. Maybe you think of coyotes as desert-dwellers because you remember the coyote who never quite caught the road runner in the cartoons. That used to be true.
Since the 1700s, coyotes have expanded their range first to the west and then eastward until they are found in all of the continental United States from eastern Alaska through New England and all the way south into Mexico and Panama. Coyotes aren’t confined to rural areas any more, either. We live close enough to Walt Disney World to hear the fireworks at night, but we have had coyotes kill cats within a few hundred yards of our house.
Coyotes eat nearly anything. They will hunt rabbits, mice, or livestock. Coyotes are opportunistic hunters, and will kill cats, small dogs, and other pets. They will also eat fruit and berries. This makes them hardy survivors, and difficult to eradicate.
Since coyotes have established themselves in areas through natural range expansion rather than being introduced the way that dumped exotic pet animals are, they aren’t considered non-native introduced species. However, they travel long distances and don’t have any natural predators, which means that they colonize new areas quickly. Coyotes are more aggressive in January during mating season and in late April and early May, when most litters are born.
What can you do to keep your cat safe from coyotes in your area?
- Keep your cat indoors from dusk until dawn.
- If your cat demands access to the outdoors at night, consider a sturdy, coyote-proof catio.
- Feed your cat indoors, or feed outdoors during the day so that food isn’t left out at night. This may be an important consideration for the timing of feedings for TNR colonies.
- In treeless or open areas, you can provide “cat posts” which are 4×4 posts at least ten or twelve feet high with a platform on top which a cat can scale but a coyote can’t.
- Never feed coyotes, and cut off food sources to make your neighborhood less attractive to them. This includes:
- Securing your trash containers from being tipped over or opened
- Picking up fruit or berries that fall on the ground
- Covering compost
- Hanging bird feeders out of reach of coyotes and not overfilling them to prevent spills
Only you can decide whether visits to the outdoors are worth the risk to your cat, but take the threat of coyotes seriously if they are preying in your area.
Coyote range map and Coyote photo thanks to Wikimedia Commons
Thanks for spreading the word on this. Someone needs to come up with coyote repellant. Coyotes really are city animals here in Arizona. I never let my cat out because of them (as well as other outdoor dangers) and I worry about the local strays, one of whom is so sweet I’d adopt him if not for my other cats.
My human already says it is not worth the risk for us! She has seen coyotes in our neighborhood and there is NO WAY we are going to be exposed to them! The cat before Sparkle was wantonly indoor-outdoor. Outdoors was her natural habitat and she managed to evade coyotes her whole life… but not a day passed that my human did not worry about her. I’m the only kitty who is allowed outside in our neighborhood at all, but it is on a harness and leash and in my human’s arms. Period.
We have coyotes here too. My yard is fenced in and so they can’t get into the yard. I just can’t keep all these cats in the house. I wish I could find some of them homes. Have a great Thursday.
My Aunt L lost her kidlet to a coyote after having gotten outside by mistake. We will stick to the cartoon one.
grate post guys…..N manee sorreez two yur naybor 🙁
itz trooth tho…de coyote iz everee wear…we haz hurd em… seen em… N been warned bout em on de news round TT
they haz even been spotted in down town chi town; N thatz just plane crazed
We understand everyone has a different situation but in our house no one is allowed outdoors. It’s too unsafe.
good for you. There are cruel people doing horrible things to cat. Keep them indoors. Really. They are exposed to diseases too outside
Several of our kitty pals have been eaten by coyotes over the years and it is very, very sad.
That is very sad about the neighbour’s cat. I would not be allowed out at all if there were coyotes here. I am only allowed out supervised as it is.
that is very sad about your neighbor’s cat 🙁 our mom says she sees coyotes at night out where she walks Wriggley. And we heard them yipping this morning! this is about a half mile from our neighborhood as a bird flies, but our mom has seen either neighborhood kitties or ferals out where they could be vulnerable. There is at least one pair of Great Horned Owls also whose territory is our neighborhood! we are very thankful to be indoor kitties!
Pip, Smidgen, Minnie, Hollie
I’m a city cat and live in a very populated area so there are no coyotes here but mom says there are too many other dangers out there for me to go out unsupervised. All around us though, within a few miles, there are more rural areas where there are coyotes. Most people who live in those areas know the danger but, sadly, some still let their kitties out all the time. And then there are the ferals. I think about them and am glad I’m an indoor kitty. Thanks for spreading the word.
This is one more reason my cats will forever be indoor-only cats. I’ve actually seen both fox and coyote near us and we’re only about 30 miles (as the crow flies) outside of Chicago.
This is why we have a catio and Bibs only goes out into the back supervised! There’s no such thing as stray cats and dogs where we live…they are eaten, sadly.
We are only allowed outside in bright daylight and only in the tall-fenced back yard. But we wanted ta mention that we saw on a TV show that where wolves are introduced, the elk population increases. The wolves dont bother chasing the fawns (that are mostly taken by coyotes). But the wolves do kill off most of the coyotes. And the coyotes killed more fawns than the wolves do adult elk.
Can you believe we even have coyote’s here in urban NJ? They’ve been sighted around here in the past year. My boyfriend, BuzzLucas, was mauled by a coyote in CA before I knew him. The photos are gruesome and made me love him even more.
Good advice and I’d suggest checking locally the status of coyote sightings. We have the rare sighting but nothing in the past couple years. It’s always about weighing risk versus benefit. Our cats are indoor/outdoor but supervised.
We do all those things you suggested because of the raccoons and skunks. We haven’t heard of any coyotes in the city here, but we have every other type of critter, and living only a couple of blocks from the river, they eventually all find their way to our neighborhood. We do know family and friends in California who have lost a kitty to coyotes. It is so sad. XO, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo
I blogged about this a few weeks ago and sadly, the people who NEED to see this, won’t. I think cats should be in ALL the time (not just from dusk til dawn), unless they are being supervised.