Perry and The Racoon

geri-p

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Hi Everyone,

Desperately need some advice.  My little dude Perry does not seem to be living in his house anymore.  He seems to come to eat but even then he is not eating as much as he used to.  This morning around 7:30 this a.m. I put out food for Perry as usual.  The weather here in Toronto has been amazing.  It gets light early now and today it actually felt like spring.  Around 8:30 I went out to check to see if Perry had been by.  What I encountered was a very large racoon (actually bigger than a cat) eating the food I had put out for Perry.  Perry was sitting on the fence.  We have the food located right outside his house. The racoon departed immediately and Perry came down from the fence.  I took in the bowls and food the racoon had eaten and replaced it with fresh bowls and food.  Will Perry ever use the house again?  How do I make him feel safe again?  Should I be washing down his house and eating area?  The racoon of course is looking for food as well.  If I feed the racoon in another part of the backyard will he stay away from Perry's food?  How do I get the racoon relocated?  I of course do not want the racoon hurt in any way.  Has anyone had any experience with racoons?  Thanks, geri-p
 

rmnative

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In my experience raccoons are opportunists. Feeding them separately only brings more. I would scare them away or trap them if you can & relocate them. They carry DISEASES & parasites & rabies. The larger they are, the meaner they are. We have had them kill & eat small kittens.

Does Perry have shots?  Does he ask  for food if there is none? It may be better to wait until he asks to feed him.

Coons will keep coming back to places that have food. 

Good luck.
 

iluvcats3

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In the US, raccoons do not have rabies in most states. At all. It's mostly up and down the east coast. Maybe in Toronto there is no raccoon rabies. You can google that issue. Most "rabid" raccoons have canine distemper. Trapping and relocating wild animals usually leads to death. You can google that too. I have seen instructions online about how to feed cats and not attract raccoons. I dunno if you have vaccinated the cat. Skunks, coyotes foxes, so many disease carriers, can't trap them all! But tgey dont often have feline distemper. You should worm sometimes if you can, raccoon roundworm is the one unique risk. However, it's not commonly spread, especially to humans. I think the vet at second chance, Dr Hines puts it in perspective, but maybe I read that elsewhere. The largest disease risk to your baby is probably other feral cats that weren't vaccinated.

Try to feed him at certain times and clicker train the cat or use a little bell.

Don't feed the raccoons on the side. They will become real pests and be trapped and killed perhaps. Also, overlarge raccoon populations lead to canine distemper outbreaks among raccoons and unvaccinated dogs.

I don't think you need to wash down unless there is raccoon poop. If so, use really hot water to kill raccoon roundworm eggs, which are hard to wash off and encapsulated which makes them well protected even from bleach etc. Heat kills the eggs. I think over 140 F but it needs to be that hot a couple minutes to be sure. Raccoon roundworm isn't that easy to get. Very few humans have had a bad case since most people wash their hands if they get poop on them.

Look into a raccoon proof cat feeder. I know I read about it somewhere.

I do not think it is an ecological view to capture and relocate raccoons, which most will die, when unfortunately kittens are a food source. It is part of our human failings that domesticated cats live in the wild with vulnerable kittens. Yes, I did rehab some baby raccoons. Someone shot their mama. Probably thought she had rabies when she was out getting food even though there is no raccoon rabies for hundreds of miles.

Sorry, real sore point with me. I clicker trained my feral cat to come into an outbuilding at night and locked her in to keep her safe from coyotes and let her out in the day. The raccoons and her never got into it but she wasn't a kitten. I was able to clicker train her long before I could handle her. Clicker training goes fast.

Good luck!!
 
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iluvcats3

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I googled. City of Toronto site says virtually no raccoon rabies and has tips on avoiding attracting them. I am sure rmnative was horrified by the kittens being eaten and I would be too. But relocating raccoons to certain death is the same as cities killing feral cats because they are diseased and fight and spray etc. ALSO nuisance animals, which TNR is a solution.
 
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dr rizk

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Raccoons and opossum cant jump very high. They climb better. So think about suspending the cat house or mount it somehow on a pole or something the coon cant climb. Most cats can jump 5 foot or more kind of easy. Raccoon I don't think can jump that high. You seen Perry up on a fence to avoid the raccoon. So im sure he will like his cathouse high rise.

To avoid other cats and critters like raccoons and opossum I feed my outdoor feral inside where I can watch over her. Good luck.
 

basscat

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Raccoon proof.....If a raccoon can't get to it, or into it, then nothing else can either. 
Get a live trap and trap it.  Relocate it at least 20 miles away.

If you trap it, you'll no longer think they are cute little creatures. They are vicious, mean, clever, destructive, and will kill cats.
If you have one, you have several.
And if you could get one to jump on command?  I can assure you, they can out jump any house cat if so motivated.
  If they want something bad enough, they will either figure out a way to get it, or destroy more than you can imagine trying.  
 

iluvcats3

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Relocating raccoons just moves the problem elsewhere, but most won't survive, especially in winter. This is no different than rounding up feral cats and bringing them to the shelter to be euthanized, somethingmost here don't favor only the raccoon will die from not being able to find shelter fast enough, territory disputes etc. My feral cat was vicious in a cage too until I tamed her at great effort and it took 2 years. She kills songbirds sometimes, jyst as Audobon says. Toronto's web page doesn't even recommend trapping raccoons as general practice. It leaves orphans. More raccoons will come if you leave out attractants.

Dr rizk is right. The trick is make kitty jump. There are instructions. Just Google for it.

Wilcare solutions for the bay area has a good summary of why trapping and releasing wild animals is a bad idea. I guess it's also illegal some places.
 
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basscat

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A feral cat's temperament doesn't compare to a wild raccoon.  If you have a problem with feral cats, get a raccoon.  They will not co-exist. The cats will leave.
It's not possible to put cat food outside where a raccoon can't get to it.  
 
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iluvcats3

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Killing native wildlife to create habitat for non native feral cats is not ethical in my book. It flies in the face of the whole TNR idea! Not only that, it's illegal most places and even where legal, state natural resources departments are against moving raccoons. And I recall many raccoons and feral cats living together in Los Angeles, a mobile home park in MN and now I'm in rural MN. It is coyotes killing most cats. It is humans dumping Fluffy on the street and not fair for Rocky Raccoon, a native species, to pay for that. Clicker training works and I bet you didn't Google the issue of platforms raccoons cannot get on. I don't know what gripe you have with raccoons, but many thousands of baby raccoons die because mama was trapped and removed and dumped somewhere. Rehabbers get most of their babies this way. Feed cats at regular times, use a clicker, they will come reliably once trained. All these arguments against raccoons, this is why it's catch and kill ferals in most cities. What the heck. I don't get it. Animals are not good or bad. They just are. ??? Wow. I have rehabbed raccoons. I know a lot about them. I have also tamed 2 adult ferals and several kittens. I'm not clueless about this topic. Rehabbers and DNR people don't dump animals when they move them. They do soft releases with food support etc.
 
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Kat0121

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Hi Everyone,

Desperately need some advice.  My little dude Perry does not seem to be living in his house anymore.  He seems to come to eat but even then he is not eating as much as he used to.  This morning around 7:30 this a.m. I put out food for Perry as usual.  The weather here in Toronto has been amazing.  It gets light early now and today it actually felt like spring.  Around 8:30 I went out to check to see if Perry had been by.  What I encountered was a very large racoon (actually bigger than a cat) eating the food I had put out for Perry.  Perry was sitting on the fence.  We have the food located right outside his house. The racoon departed immediately and Perry came down from the fence.  I took in the bowls and food the racoon had eaten and replaced it with fresh bowls and food.  Will Perry ever use the house again?  How do I make him feel safe again?  Should I be washing down his house and eating area?  The racoon of course is looking for food as well.  If I feed the racoon in another part of the backyard will he stay away from Perry's food?  How do I get the racoon relocated?  I of course do not want the racoon hurt in any way.  Has anyone had any experience with racoons?  Thanks, geri-p
You do not want to encourage raccoons to hang around your house. They can be so vicious. It's good that Perry keeps his distance when the raccoon comes by because it  likely wouldn't end well for him if he didn't 


Creating a raccoon proof feeding station is often easier said than done. An advantage that cats have is their jumping ability which raccoons do not have. Raccoons are, however, quite crafty and very intelligent and if there is a way for them to infiltrate a feeder, they will find it. This link has some ideas  http://www.forgottenfelinesofforsyth.org/newslettervol3page4.htm

You can try getting Perry onto a later feeding schedule. Instead of 7:30 AM when the raccoons are still fairly active to later in the morning. There's still a chance that this one might show up looking for a free meal but it could also cut the chances down as they are largely nocturnal. If only they were as sweet as they are cute. That would be great. Possums are much more pleasant to deal with. 
 
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