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MoonstoneWolf

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About Raccoons except I did notice one night 2 of the "teens" played the cat version of our hide and seek with Treasure. Yep. I watched on all cams. However one thing I've noticed the past couple of nights is that Yoko (don't ask) is bringing her kits here. One of her little ones tries to join in with Patty's kids but gets chased off and picked on. Poor guy. However they all live in the same gaze which also confuses me. I suppose Harrison is Dad to all of the babies. Anyway is this normal behaviour? I feel so bad when I hear the little guy squeal when one of the "teen" raccoons picks on him.
 

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About Raccoons except I did notice one night 2 of the "teens" played the cat version of our hide and seek with Treasure. Yep. I watched on all cams. However one thing I've noticed the past couple of nights is that Yoko (don't ask) is bringing her kits here. One of her little ones tries to join in with Patty's kids but gets chased off and picked on. Poor guy. However they all live in the same gaze which also confuses me. I suppose Harrison is Dad to all of the babies. Anyway is this normal behaviour? I feel so bad when I hear the little guy squeal when one of the "teen" raccoons picks on him.
Not sure who the different named ones are, but raccoons can harm cats.
 

Whenallhellbreakslose

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About Raccoons except I did notice one night 2 of the "teens" played the cat version of our hide and seek with Treasure. Yep. I watched on all cams. However one thing I've noticed the past couple of nights is that Yoko (don't ask) is bringing her kits here. One of her little ones tries to join in with Patty's kids but gets chased off and picked on. Poor guy. However they all live in the same gaze which also confuses me. I suppose Harrison is Dad to all of the babies. Anyway is this normal behaviour? I feel so bad when I hear the little guy squeal when one of the "teen" raccoons picks on him.
I have observed raccoons and I can tell you they do bully. It is not uncommon for older raccoons to bully younger or weaker raccoons. After all that is possible competition for food and when reach the age of sexually maturity--for mates. It can be brutal in the racoon world when it comes to survival. Fights happen alot. I one time had a young racoon chased up a pole by a viscious older racoon. The older racoon was climbing up the pole attacking the other. I tried to break it up, but it took quite awhile before the bully racoon left the younger one alone. I suspect the older racoon was territorial and was teaching the other racoon a lesson. Racoons are VERY territorial, so fights and bullying are common place.
 

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I have observed raccoons and I can tell you they do bully. It is not uncommon for older raccoons to bully younger or weaker raccoons. After all that is possible competition for food and when reach the age of sexually maturity--for mates. It can be brutal in the racoon world when it comes to survival. Fights happen alot. I one time had a young racoon chased up a pole by a viscious older racoon. The older racoon was climbing up the pole attacking the other. I tried to break it up, but it took quite awhile before the bully racoon left the younger one alone. I suspect the older racoon was territorial and was teaching the other racoon a lesson. Racoons are VERY territorial, so fights and bullying are common place.
I didn't know about all of this, but it's logical. Most animals, including especially humans, are territorial and can be very vicious.
Best to keep cats indoors or in secured catios.
 

Whenallhellbreakslose

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I didn't know about all of this, but it's logical. Most animals, including especially humans, are territorial and can be very vicious.
Best to keep cats indoors or in secured catios.
I'm not trying to paint racoons in a bad light, I have seen some that get along okay with cats, however they are capable of doing serious damage to cats and I have heard of horror stories of kittens being killed by them. Not to mention the diseases they may carry such as ringworm and rabies. Also, interestingly enough, racoons are susceptible to both canine and feline distemper-which is alway fatal to them and ofcourse could spread to your pets if they are exposed and not up to date with vaccinations.

If you feed community cats like I do, you may need to feed later in the morning and earlier in the evening to avoid an encounter with them. Also, it helps to have kitties tnred and have there core vacs, including rabies. I haven't seen a racoon on my block in two years because I have a lot of kitties on my block and to be honest, I am relieved.



So in general, keep your cats indoors
 
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I'm not trying to paint racoons in a bad light, I have seen some that get along okay with cats, however they are capable of doing serious damage to cats and I have heard of horror stories of kittens being killed by them. Not to mention the diseases they may carry such as ringworm and rabies. Also, interestingly enough, racoons are susceptible to both canine and feline distemper-which is alway fatal to them and ofcourse could spread to your pets if they are exposed and not up to date with vaccinations.

If you feed community cats like I do, you may need to feed later in the morning and earlier in the evening to avoid an encounter with them. Also, it helps to have kitties tnred and have there core vacs, including rabies. I haven't seen a racoon on my block in two years because I have a lot of kitties on my block and to be honest, I am relieved.



So in general, keep your cats indoors
My cats are feral. I have noticed the norm tgat all the raccoons are scared of the adult cats and will back away or run off we have no kittens in neighborhood and never will. Thankfully. Like Norachan has mentioned in another thread last year most raccoons peacefully coexist with cats in a thread called How to deter raccoons. I learned a lot since then btw. It’s how they treat each other. Gypsy hangs out with an adult raccoon. They come together, eat side by side and leave together. Some of these cats only come at night. They have a very tragic past but I can’t bring in 80 cats or I’m as bad as the two previous jerks that had them. We thankfully have 10 different colonies at the least. Yea i was asking more about inter species cruelty. Reminds me of the sibling rivalry and silicide I sadly witnessed on bald Eagle cams 2 years ago.

On a side note: While these raccoons will back up and keep a respectable distance from Treasure (Patty the one Mom raccoon actually chased her kits off when they were bothering Treasure) and the other cats, they are absolutely horrified of Sopdet. They always have been. The minute she even comes onto the property they run terrified in all directions to get away from her. I have no idea why. I know she has damaged vocal chords from first home and abuse and may grunt like a raccoon when she does manage to make a sound but other than that she is a very sweet cat. Last year I watched on cam as Treasure laid there watching the raccoons eat. The raccoons stopped eating looked in one directions and terrified took off and a few seconds later Sopdet literally strutted into the are like she was the Queen of everything.
 
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My cats are feral. I have noticed the norm tgat all the raccoons are scared of the adult cats and will back away or run off we have no kittens in neighborhood and never will. Thankfully. Like Norachan has mentioned in another thread lady year most raccoons peacefully coexist with cats. It’s how they treat each other. Gypsy hangs out with an adult raccoon. Some of these cats only come at night. They have a very tragic past but I can’t bring in 80 cats or I’m as bad as the two previous jerks that had them. We thankfully have 10 different colonies at the least. Yea i was asking more about inter species cruelty. Reminds me of the sibling rivalry and sibliciide I sadly witnessed on bald Eagle cams 2 years ago.

On a side note: While these raccoons will back up and keep a respectable distance from Treasure and the other cats, they are absolutely horrified of Sopdet. They always have been. The minute she even comes onto the property they run terrified in all directions to get away from her. I have no idea why. I know she has damaged vocal chords from first home and abuse and may grunt like a raccoon when she does manage to make a sound but other than that she is a very sweet cat. Last year I watched on cam as Treasure laid there watching the raccoons eat. The raccoons stopped eating looked in one directions and terrified took off and a few seconds later Sopdet literally strutted into the are like she was the Queen of everything.
I have seen cats and raccoons get along. However the raccoons that live by me are huge. They are not like the small cute country raccoons that everyone thinks of when they think of raccoons. I kid you not, I seen a raccoon that looked like he weighed 25 pounds. There were others almost as large. They were very destructive to my screen door leading to my deck and even tried to break into my house by ripping the screen of my window when the window was opened, almost getting in.😱😱😱 They knew I feed out door cats and raided the feedings, and if I got the food in in the nick of time-they got very loud and testy. I am very nervous about the cats being around these big guys, if it was just regular sized raccoons, I wouldn't be so worried--but not these big guys. Luckily, I haven't seen a raccoon on the block in 2 years. I think that they are turned off that there are so many cats on my block. I don't dislike raccoons, just had some rough encounters with the really large ones.
 
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MoonstoneWolf

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If you think 25 pounds is big for a raccoon then you need to see Harrison. haha Yet he'll back up and submit to Treasure. I had to rescue him on more than one occasion and he never even bothered me. One thing that I didn't mention is that these raccoons are in a long line descended from a pair of pets. They don't destroy anything. In fact if one of the kids knocks over one of my cams one of the parents will come and try to set it upright. Most times they succeed and put it back upright but a few times they can't. It was cute watching Harrison struggle. And yes I watched as they tried their hearts out to get that cam back in place. Treasure is the one that destroyed our basement screen door but the raccoons seem ok and leave it alone. they'll push things back to where they belong (something the pets were taught and I suppose passed down through all the generations). Now they will raid the cat food, no doubt about it but the possum does as well They even brought me one of my late father's cufflinks that he lost in the backyard 45 years ago. lol

I'm sure the cats know when there's danger? I doubt Treasure or the others would calmly lie 5 inches away from the raccoons if they sensed danger. The few times that Treasure swatted at one of the curious kids the raccoon backed up with bowed head which is how the raccoons respond to their mothers btw when Mom growls at them. I just feel sorry for the little raccoon around the bully raccoons but I guess he'll hold his own eventually. Soon the teenagers will be moving on to form their own gazes and it will be back to the way it was.
 

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I'm not trying to paint racoons in a bad light, I have seen some that get along okay with cats, however they are capable of doing serious damage to cats and I have heard of horror stories of kittens being killed by them. Not to mention the diseases they may carry such as ringworm and rabies. Also, interestingly enough, racoons are susceptible to both canine and feline distemper-which is alway fatal to them and ofcourse could spread to your pets if they are exposed and not up to date with vaccinations.

If you feed community cats like I do, you may need to feed later in the morning and earlier in the evening to avoid an encounter with them. Also, it helps to have kitties tnred and have there core vacs, including rabies. I haven't seen a racoon on my block in two years because I have a lot of kitties on my block and to be honest, I am relieved.



So in general, keep your cats indoors
Great post. Agree 100%. Each species has an important place in the circle of life, so to speak. Raccoons can be, and are, dangerous to cats. Caring cat guardians keep their cats indoors. And yes, managed colony caregivers learn as they go, their cats' needs.
Fascinating raccoon "tales" Whenallhellbreakslose Whenallhellbreakslose and MoonstoneWolf MoonstoneWolf ! Interspecies friendships and bonds can be strong and true. Bottom line, each of us is an individual and I've always shied away from niche-ing. But I'm also a realist and when someone is in my care, I do everything I can to give them the best care I can.
 
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MoonstoneWolf

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I do too as you know from my panic posts on here. I'm sure that there are raccoons that will attack cats but I think (like Norachan mentioned last year) most are either in competition for food, or protecting the young when they do attack. I really have no choice but to hope for the best with Mom's allergies but so far I have never seen an issue with the raccoons except the fighting amongst each other. Sometimes the raccoon kids get to be a bit too much and Treasure will go and sleep on the neighbor's porch and watch the "show" but the adult raccoons have never bothered these cats. I guess because for the most part raccoons are opportunistic eaters (lazy is another word) and why should they go and chase a cat that they may not catch to kill and eat when there is food readily available. I think most species (including humans) are opportunistic eaters. I have to trust that the cat know what they're doing. My point of this post was more raccoon behavior. I see the two older sibling raccoons tear at each other constantly but then 2 seconds later they're grooming each other and all. Yes they twitch their ears, sniff the other ones rear end and even head butt or body rub their buddy like Sopdet and Treasure do. I"m not talking about tiny 3 month kittens. I'm talking about feral cats that were at least 5 years old when they came to me 2 years ago. I guess when we get down to it and all the panic the worse enemy of cats are humans (not us of course) but from mean humans and cars. And I think like someone told me, the rules for feral cats are different than indoor as feral cats grow up knowing how to protect and when to run or how to smell danger unlike Fluffy who's been inside all her life.
 

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If you think 25 pounds is big for a raccoon then you need to see Harrison. haha Yet he'll back up and submit to Treasure. I had to rescue him on more than one occasion and he never even bothered me. One thing that I didn't mention is that these raccoons are in a long line descended from a pair of pets. They don't destroy anything. In fact if one of the kids knocks over one of my cams one of the parents will come and try to set it upright. Most times they succeed and put it back upright but a few times they can't. It was cute watching Harrison struggle. And yes I watched as they tried their hearts out to get that cam back in place. Treasure is the one that destroyed our basement screen door but the raccoons seem ok and leave it alone. they'll push things back to where they belong (something the pets were taught and I suppose passed down through all the generations). Now they will raid the cat food, no doubt about it but the possum does as well They even brought me one of my late father's cufflinks that he lost in the backyard 45 years ago. lol

I'm sure the cats know when there's danger? I doubt Treasure or the others would calmly lie 5 inches away from the raccoons if they sensed danger. The few times that Treasure swatted at one of the curious kids the raccoon backed up with bowed head which is how the raccoons respond to their mothers btw when Mom growls at them. I just feel sorry for the little raccoon around the bully raccoons but I guess he'll hold his own eventually. Soon the teenagers will be moving on to form their own gazes and it will be back to the way it was.
Sounds like the cats and raccoons get a long well enough.🐱❤
 

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Sounds like the cats and raccoons get a long well enough.🐱❤
Oops. Sent too soon. It is nice to hear that the racoons are easy going and no real trouble to you and the kitties. I have had instances in another neighborhood where I encountered a few young raccoons coming right up to me begging for food. I had a few granola bars and put a put it down for them. I didn't want to get in trouble for feeding them, so I stopped doing that when they came to me a few more times. That was years ago in another neighborhood. I know there are some nice racoons out there who don't start trouble, it just those bad experiences with the big guys got me a bit rattled.

There is a YT channel called The Raccoon Whisper. You should check it out, this man named James Blackwood feeds a ton of raccoons big and small. You probably love the channel.
 

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I do too as you know from my panic posts on here. I'm sure that there are raccoons that will attack cats but I think (like Norachan mentioned last year) most are either in competition for food, or protecting the young when they do attack. I really have no choice but to hope for the best with Mom's allergies but so far I have never seen an issue with the raccoons except the fighting amongst each other. Sometimes the raccoon kids get to be a bit too much and Treasure will go and sleep on the neighbor's porch and watch the "show" but the adult raccoons have never bothered these cats. I guess because for the most part raccoons are opportunistic eaters (lazy is another word) and why should they go and chase a cat that they may not catch to kill and eat when there is food readily available. I think most species (including humans) are opportunistic eaters. I have to trust that the cat know what they're doing. My point of this post was more raccoon behavior. I see the two older sibling raccoons tear at each other constantly but then 2 seconds later they're grooming each other and all. Yes they twitch their ears, sniff the other ones rear end and even head butt or body rub their buddy like Sopdet and Treasure do. I"m not talking about tiny 3 month kittens. I'm talking about feral cats that were at least 5 years old when they came to me 2 years ago. I guess when we get down to it and all the panic the worse enemy of cats are humans (not us of course) but from mean humans and cars. And I think like someone told me, the rules for feral cats are different than indoor as feral cats grow up knowing how to protect and when to run or how to smell danger unlike Fluffy who's been inside all her life.
Very true. What a lot of us advocates work for is universal spay/neuter/TNR and baseline vetting/innoculations, adopting into loving homes of all who will tolerate, and well-cared-for, managed colonies, which over time will grow smaller due to natural causes, until all cats have loving homes. Cats being domesticated animals do much better in the care of caring people, away from depraved humans, cars, dogs, disease-carrying insects and other dangers.
 

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Check them out. Treasure and his buddies. You’ll see the raccoons on there as well as Gypsy who hangs out wth the raccoon you see him with on side of house.

Great video! I ❤ it. Gypsy, Treasure and buddies are a good looking bunch. Even the cute racoon who walked in the carrier.lol Thanks for sharing.😀😍😁
 
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You're welcome. The white calico is Shaman. She's the one that first came to me. Gone for 6 months (not dead just disappeared). I miss her so much but there are 10 other colonies here and she knows all the cats so I'm hopeful she's at one of them right now. Doesn't stop me being sad about her though as she and I had that bond. I just hope she remembers me fondly.

Treasure thinks its his duty to pester the raccoons. Its getting to the point the raccons run away when they see him come. lol
 

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You're welcome. The white calico is Shaman. She's the one that first came to me. Gone for 6 months (not dead just disappeared). I miss her so much but there are 10 other colonies here and she knows all the cats so I'm hopeful she's at one of them right now. Doesn't stop me being sad about her though as she and I had that bond. I just hope she remembers me fondly.

Treasure thinks its his duty to pester the raccoons. Its getting to the point the raccons run away when they see him come. lol
I have a calico who was only coming to me one day on the weekends for a month and now it seems she has decided to stay with that feeder( whoever that person is). Now her big brown tabby sister is wandering off, possibly going to that same feeder. If that is where the kitties want to be, I can't stop them. I think that neither want me to feed that group I feed on my front stoop and decided to go elsewhere. Also, a member of their crew died recently and they may be still upset over it.😕. They may come back or they not. They know they are welcome to rejoin the group anytime.

So your kitty Treasure is bullying the raccoons. I had cats have a standoff with raccoons. I was so worried that it would end poorly for the cats that I tried to break it up. I tried to persuade the cats to leave the area to no avail. When I thought the raccoon was going to take the cats on. I threw a big handful of dry cat food on the deck which scared the cats and the raccoon stuck around ate the food and when they realized I wasn't putting out any more, they left. Where I live you could get fined for feeding wildlife, so I didn't want to keep the raccoons around. I have seen cats have a chill attitude towards raccoons and others will lose it at the site of them. Sounds like Treasure enjoys bullying the raccoons or maybe that is the way he plays with them.

Thank you for taking care of the cats and raccoons. You are their hero.🤩🤩🤩
 
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MoonstoneWolf

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Poor little raccoon. First he gets beat by the bully raccoons and then swatted at by Treasure. Ww don’t have that law here but then of course they wouldn’t enforce it anyway. If they enforced laws here we wouldn’t have had a hoarding situation of 100 cats. It’s kind of easy to see a hundred cats going in and out someone’s house when the houses are 30 steps apart
 

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Poor little raccoon. First he gets beat by the bully raccoons and then swatted at by Treasure. Ww don’t have that law here but then of course they wouldn’t enforce it anyway. If they enforced laws here we wouldn’t have had a hoarding situation of 100 cats. It’s kind of easy to see a hundred cats going in and out someone’s house when the houses are 30 steps apart
If you never watched him check out the Raccoon Whisperer on YT. He had over 25 racoons he was hand feeding the other day. 😲 That man has nerves of steel.

Poor little raccoon, he gets bullied too much. Yeah, cat hoarders are everywhere. The other feeder on my block lied to me about how many cats she feeds. Also, she dumped cats on me and lied to other people about me and what is going on. Cat hoarders make everything difficult for everyone around them. I got into a huge fight with her over her bs. She threatened legal action against me just for calling her out on her lies and bs behavior towards me. She totally thought she could get over on me and couldn't handle that I defended myself. I ❤ the cats, but could do without the people drama.🙄 Cat hoarders always bring drama. Sigh.
 
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The story behind these cats are that one woman got 8 kittens that she refused to fix. They grew up mated with toms and had kittens of their own. Finally after few years the cats were up to 100 and then she got fed up feeding them so she threw them all out to the curb. A kind man down the street opened his doors 24/7 for the cats to wander in and out as they wish to eat. However the continued to breed and since he was elderly and disabled he couldn't do much except poor food and water in bowls for the cats. When he passed at the age of 94 he is out of state relatives kicked them to the curb where they took to raiding commercial dumpsters til some kind woman who worked our city hall took it upon herself to have them all TNRd. Some had to be put down due to disease, some were ok but had to be taken to a no kill shelter and the rest released back into the area. Sopdet, was abused in first home and thus has damaged vocal chords. I think that's why the raccoons are scared of her because when she attempts to make a sound she sounds just like a raccoon. But she can't meow or do anything a cat would do because of her damaged vocal chords. I'm not sure how she would alert anyone if she was stuck in a shed or something. But the raccoons came back last night and this time the little guy came with Mom.
 
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