Are raccoons dangerous to cats?

purrfect mom

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Hi; thanks so much for all these replies! Wanted to thank you all individually but it's a lot of handles! So here's the deal: no, wasn't feeding tux. Neighbor w/2 big dogs (inside except when walking) is feeding tux. They also have bird feeder. Neighbor on other side has apple tree and thinks composting means throwing fruit rinds on soil.
I really just used a teensy bit of the coyote/fox urine granules at selected points around house. Just no idea what distance scent carries. Am also going to get peppermint stuff but amazingly they don't have any in stock in any hardware store nearby. Peppermint just supposed to repel chipmunks (and worse) but not cats.
Because rain does wash all this stuff away, wondering if raccoons won't get used to not going into yard and then stay away. Again, want the cats but nothing else. I think i definitely saw a few raccoons because they had the right shape, they were making this weird little clicking noise, and they didn't seem to be afraid of me until I started squirting them w/h20. But on the other hand I definitely know the 2nd cat (the one that made a reappearance after tux left) was definitely ducking under the greenhouse the few nights previous to the raccoon (poss. possum?) sighting. I would see it slinking under there when I was watering.
If the 2nd cat was not a tom and had kittens under greenhouse, when I saw shapes leave greenhouse they were too big to be kittens. Any thoughts welcome!
 

Kflowers

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A raccoon and a opossum look very different. Raccoons are black and white and have four clearly apparent legs and a fluffy tail. They can carry rabies and will bite people. Opossums are smaller, white with pink noses and long narrow muzzles. They keep their feet under them and have long naked tails. Opossums eat insects including ticks, many many ticks, and roaches. Opossums don't carry rabies because their bodies are too cold for the virus. They don't bite people. Opossums are very good creatures to have living near your house and will keep the ticks away from the cats and roaches away from your house.
 

fionasmom

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The raccoons around here are all medium dog sized, so much bigger than any possum.

I do feed the baby possum and leave out special food for his window of time. They do not bother me at all and I like to have them around.
 

purrfect mom

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If I see a possum I will talk nicely to it. In the meantime did come across this thread re raccoons if helps anyone else out:
Advice about Raccoons | Berkeley Parents Network

I occurred to me that if Tux was defending territory against raccoons and raccoons killed it, wouldn't neighbor or I find body? And we haven't.
 

jefferd18

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If I see a possum I will talk nicely to it. In the meantime did come across this thread re raccoons if helps anyone else out:
Advice about Raccoons | Berkeley Parents Network

I occurred to me that if Tux was defending territory against raccoons and raccoons killed it, wouldn't neighbor or I find body? And we haven't.

Yes, I think you would find evidence, and no I don't think raccoons killed Tux. They may have run him off but I doubt that it went beyond that.
 

purrfect mom

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Newsflash. Saw another of the semi-regular ferals/strays (orange/white -- disappears for months at a time, then comes back for a few days) come down from upper backyard last night when watering. So coyote urine granules can't be affecting too wide of an area (most of backyard consists of a steep slope w bad soil, rocks, a few blackberry bushes, etc.)
 

purrfect mom

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Other interesting thing I picked up on a website - raccoons have sensitive feet so they don't like walking over prickly plants, supposedly. That would mean that blackberry bushes have a purpose.
 

Kflowers

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That is good to know. I wonder if they feel the same way about the wild raspberries that even the birds won't touch.
 

alphakitty

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Pardon me for butting in. In my neighborhood, all the houses and including mine have large yards, mine is the smallest at 1/6th of an acre and several others are 1 acre yards, with many trees, bushes, old cars, etc, many locations for daytime rest for all sorts of four legged critters.

Where there are racoons, there are also, very likely coyotes and they hunt in packs, they catch, eat domesticated dogs and cats regularly. A 30ft/10m high fence with double slanted razor wire might slow them down. I have seen a pack of coyotes of 6 coyotes hop a 30ft/10m high fence and not even break their trotting rythm. Like watching N. American Indians running single file, they hopped in, made a circuit around the garbage cans and then right back out, one after another, single file, and kept right on going to the next fence. It was amazing.

Re; racoons, contrary to what others have stated, I have seen racoons catch and eat a medium sized cat. By the time I got down to the first level they had split and were carrying off the torso. One of my favorite kitties. I chased them until they climbed and disappeared up into a big tree on my lot. I used a hose trying to disclodge any of them, I wanted blood. By the time I got back, I arrived just in time to see a pair oppossums hauling off the head and the tail parts of the kitty that the 'coons had left behind.

So the point being, if the cat was predated by coyotes, bobcat, racoons and they were to leave the head, tail and sometimes the legs, given the time, the oppossums generally carry off those parts as well. You may never find any evidence of what predated your kitty.

As for deterrants, the only strategy that I've found that works, is not placing food outside, but I have to feed the kitties, and the other strategy is trapping and relocating. If you decide that route, I suggest hiring a pro service, for one thing they'll have the county permits to do so ethically and legally. I'd like to shoot them, but I just can't bring myself to hurt them for being what they are.

Good luck

AlphaKitty
 

Kflowers

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alphakitty alphakitty I'm so very sorry you had to lose your cat that way, and for your cat. What a terrible experience. Just reading about it left me clutching my cat who was sitting with me.
 

jefferd18

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Pardon me for butting in. In my neighborhood, all the houses and including mine have large yards, mine is the smallest at 1/6th of an acre and several others are 1 acre yards, with many trees, bushes, old cars, etc, many locations for daytime rest for all sorts of four legged critters.

Where there are racoons, there are also, very likely coyotes and they hunt in packs, they catch, eat domesticated dogs and cats regularly. A 30ft/10m high fence with double slanted razor wire might slow them down. I have seen a pack of coyotes of 6 coyotes hop a 30ft/10m high fence and not even break their trotting rythm. Like watching N. American Indians running single file, they hopped in, made a circuit around the garbage cans and then right back out, one after another, single file, and kept right on going to the next fence. It was amazing.

Re; racoons, contrary to what others have stated, I have seen racoons catch and eat a medium sized cat. By the time I got down to the first level they had split and were carrying off the torso. One of my favorite kitties. I chased them until they climbed and disappeared up into a big tree on my lot. I used a hose trying to disclodge any of them, I wanted blood. By the time I got back, I arrived just in time to see a pair oppossums hauling off the head and the tail parts of the kitty that the 'coons had left behind.

So the point being, if the cat was predated by coyotes, bobcat, racoons and they were to leave the head, tail and sometimes the legs, given the time, the oppossums generally carry off those parts as well. You may never find any evidence of what predated your kitty.

As for deterrants, the only strategy that I've found that works, is not placing food outside, but I have to feed the kitties, and the other strategy is trapping and relocating. If you decide that route, I suggest hiring a pro service, for one thing they'll have the county permits to do so ethically and legally. I'd like to shoot them, but I just can't bring myself to hurt them for being what they are.

Good luck

AlphaKitty

I am very sorry to hear about your kitty and that you witnessed her attack. What a horrific thing for you to have seen.

Although these attacks will and have happened, they are very rare. It is truly unusual when a group of raccoons hunt and attack a larger animal. Why they have been known to chase cats and dogs away from their nests and will occasionally fight them for food or territory, they rarely ever prey on them.
In the few cases that I have heard about there has been some kind of evidence left behind, usually large tuffs of fur. That makes sense since animals lose ample amounts of fur in fights.
 

Kflowers

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I'm sorry but adult raccoons are, as big or bigger than adult cats. They are heavily muscled and very strong for their size.

"The adult raccoon is a medium-sized mammal and the largest of the Procyonidae family. It averages 24 to 38 inches in length and can weigh between 14 to 23 lbs., or more, depending upon habitat and available food. The male raccoon, or boar, is slightly larger than the female.

 

jefferd18

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I'm sorry but adult raccoons are, as big or bigger than adult cats. They are heavily muscled and very strong for their size.

"The adult raccoon is a medium-sized mammal and the largest of the Procyonidae family. It averages 24 to 38 inches in length and can weigh between 14 to 23 lbs., or more, depending upon habitat and available food. The male raccoon, or boar, is slightly larger than the female.

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I couldn't agree more, raccoons are much bigger than an adult cat. They are very strong animals, very smart too.
 

purrfect mom

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Alpha kitty, so sorry re your kitty!
OK, so I'm not sure re how well coyote urine crystals working, as yesterday at dusk I had 2 ferals/strays in my side yard - the 2 I've had around before. Both have disappeared for weeks or months at a time. But I'm very worried re tux. However, found this interesting article re feral/stray behavior:
http://www.feralcatbehavior.com/380/theres-a-stray-outside.htm

Long story short, my initial thought was that, w/fall approaching, black cat had fought tux cat for right to our yard. I hope this was what happened but I find it a little less likely as neighbor was periodically feeding tux. There is no fence between 2 yards. Tux also appeared to be loner cat. So why would tux spray a bush to alert other cats.

Haven't seen raccoons in last 2 weeks. The white streak may have been the white/orange cat that hangs around our yard I referred to above.
But why would it be in the middle of a bunch of raccoons?
 

jefferd18

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Alpha kitty, so sorry re your kitty!
OK, so I'm not sure re how well coyote urine crystals working, as yesterday at dusk I had 2 ferals/strays in my side yard - the 2 I've had around before. Both have disappeared for weeks or months at a time. But I'm very worried re tux. However, found this interesting article re feral/stray behavior:
http://www.feralcatbehavior.com/380/theres-a-stray-outside.htm

Long story short, my initial thought was that, w/fall approaching, black cat had fought tux cat for right to our yard. I hope this was what happened but I find it a little less likely as neighbor was periodically feeding tux. There is no fence between 2 yards. Tux also appeared to be loner cat. So why would tux spray a bush to alert other cats.

Haven't seen raccoons in last 2 weeks. The white streak may have been the white/orange cat that hangs around our yard I referred to above.
But why would it be in the middle of a bunch of raccoons?


As spoken before cats and raccoons can co-exist together. So yes it could have been a cat among the raccoons.
 
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