Racoon Family

MoonstoneWolf

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Thank you. Yea what if that was my Mom outside. At 96 years old there is no way she could have done anything. Very scary to have them just come up to you like that. Especially if no babies. Officials are having a hard time though finding their den. Parts of that area are very dangerous for humans to go through. Love my Dad's memory but he never should have let the weeds and that grow up so bad. I know the cats like taking refuge there but so do all other manner of wildlife.
 

MoonstoneWolf

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There is still great difficulty finding the den. The bushes are so overgrown, there is no raccoon poop in the yard and there's a sewer that runs through the bushes that is manned off but our sewer district. I'm wondering if that's where the raccoons are holed up in. It's scary with this many raccoons out there and the advice given by "experts" does not work. I tried every advice given to scare them off and 99% of the time they look at you like you're nuts and go back to what they were doing. I do not want to be surrounded again tonight though but we can't leave the garbage sit inside or cockroaches wlll come in. I don't know which is worse, army of cockroaches or a stand off with raccoons.
 

MoonstoneWolf

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I'm not even telling my Mom about it. That's all she needs to add to her anti cat tirades. "See why I don't want you feeding these cats?" I can just hear her now.

The one thing that they told me though is that most raccoons are not easily scared. Cayenne, loud noises, ammonia, not of it works because raccoons in the suburbs and city are so acclimated to all the sounds, smells and sights they don't even notice anymore. If this was in the country where the nearest house was a mile away perhaps these tactics would work but here they are desensitized to all of this. This is why so many people have to call to have raccoons removed or relocated as scare tactics through sight, smell or sound do nothing.
 
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muffy

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I am sorry to hear that they killed one of your neighbors dog. I did not know that Raccoons got distemper.
 

MoonstoneWolf

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They came back and ate some bugs and left. The cats laid to the side of the house watching and the raccoons weren't even bothered. Rescue told me the attack on the dog could have been they felt threatened by my attempts to scare them off. I hope not I'd feel so bad if I was the cause of the dog's death. But I guess I'll have to trust the cats, no matter how hard it is.
 

MoonstoneWolf

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As most know the first gaze of raccoons were all euthanized. They had zombie disease and had to be. Now either they missed a few or a new raccoon wandered in as it is time that last years babies have to find their own dens. Anyway the other night I was waiting on the internet guy to come (in the rain) outside as Mom suffered insomnia for 70 years just worse as she gets older and I didn't want him to wake her up. I noticed a movement and looked to my left and saw a raccoon, who just boldly walked up and sat down next to me. Huh? He didn't seem threatening like with the 6 who surrounded me 2 weeks ago and I just calmly stood there as though it was the most natural thing in the world. I think at some point the raccoon realized I was not a raccoon and bolted to the other side of the yard. Last night I saw Shadow (yes she's been dumped back on the streets) swat at the raccoon and then she ran. There was no chase so maybe playing? I left a bit of food (I know bad idea) out for her last night so I guess there was no competition for food. I just hope I don't wind up with another gaze of 20 to 30 raccoons like what just had to be put down. I do hate to have them removed if they aren't bothering the cats as I noticed on last night's cam this raccoon ate several cockroaches so they are good for that.
 

MoonstoneWolf

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These cats are truly challenged. Why is Shadow and Ambrose sitting here waiting for the raccoons to show up? Who knows maybe they've had this kind of relationship with them before i put up the cam. I keep praying I find the cats in one piece the following morning.

I mean do they all have a death wish or something?

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Cooper, Shaman, Treasure and Sopdet though are doing ok so far and no sign of rabies (yet).
 
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MoonstoneWolf

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Ambrose is taunting the raccoons again. I just know one day I'll be finding pieces of him all over the yard. I am not kidding when I say these cats have to be challenged
 

jefferd18

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Ambrose is taunting the raccoons again. I just know one day I'll be finding pieces of him all over the yard. I am not kidding when I say these cats have to be challenged

How is he taunting him? I just see a cat who is standing his ground.
 

MoonstoneWolf

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That isn't the photo of him taunting. He was jumping up and swatting at the raccoon when he was taunting. Sorry I didn't have photos for that I'm still learning how to use this cam as I'm not very tech savvy. I can't get photos of everything. The photo you saw was taken a day before I saw Ambrose taunting the raccoon.
 

di and bob

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extremely hungry raccoons can be dangerous to humans OR cats. If they are fed they coexist. I fed raccoons for years when I lived at the lake, I got the cheapest 50lbs bags of dog food I could find, so it wasn't too bad. they eat all my cat food now, so I'm not happy, even with it being elevated 4 foot off the ground on a singel post surrounded by slick galvanized sheet metal. I think they are literally dropping from the roof onto thefeeder from an overhang, there is no other way, the building is 4 foot away! If you could see soem of teh coons taht coem in at night you wouldn't feed them no more. I swear there are soem who weigh 50 lbs, tehy are absolutely huge, their heads top a patio table without standing up!
 

MoonstoneWolf

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I understand that part. But what do raccoons do if one of the cats (whether playfully or not) starts swatting at it? That's my issue, and while he may have been doing this for ages with the raccoons and I'm just now seeing it (downfall of a cam) and I know that I can't control the actions of the feral cat, what should I expect? If he is that bold wouldn't he go after baby raccoons? Oh and contrary to what "experts" say, raccoons do indeed jump. I saw several from the last gaze jump just like a cat.
 

Sidewinder

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Yes, coons do jump, I opened my front door in Show Low one night and a huge coon ran and leapt at least 5' up a tree, then continued climbing the trunk... all in a flash too, the coon was quick. Sometimes coons & cats can coexist, but if a cat bothers or irritates a coon, perhaps by interfering with its feeding, then the coon can turn on the cat and things will go south from there. Even a large scrappy adult cat is no match for a large coon which is riled... coons are wild animals and should be treated as such, I don't really trust them after I found one suspiciously lurking near my carport in Show Low where two rescue kittens were playing. After bringing the kittens inside, I pulled an Internet search and discovered that coons can indeed kill cats & kittens... luckily, coons aren't a problem in my current neck o' the woods, coyotes pose a far greater danger in the high desert.
 

MoonstoneWolf

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The raccoon was here for like 5 minutes last night, left and hasn't returned. He acted pretty nervous though about something, like a kid sneaking cookies out of a cookie jar hoping mom and dad wouldn't see. No food but he was eating bugs. I'm not sure what to make of last night's behavior. I did shortly hear the screech of a cat that was either Ambrose, Cooper, Sopdet (which I doubt as the raccoons are petrified of her for some reason) or Shadow. Only saw Treasure and Shaman this morning. My heart is sinking that something happened to one of the others but no one else in my neighborhood feeds the cats other than me and I take all food inside at night. If a cat misses a meal they have to wait til breakfast as their survival against the raccoons is more important to me than their bellies. Sorry if that sounds mean. And being the worrier that I am I won't rest easy now til all of the cats are accounted for. :(

One last note: I am a bit irked that there are people out there hand feeding raccoons like the man I came across at the store yesterday. This kind of behavior is what draws raccoons to our doors. And if something happened to him the raccoons would approach any human asking for food and possibly attack if that human has nothing to give them. This is irresponsible and makes the raccoons not only dependent upon us (human imprinted as American Eagle Foundation terms it) but also dangerous to us and the raccoon. I know this man had good intentions and he is very elderly but still, it is not good to get into that kind of habit. Now I have a raccoon problem because of possibly another human like that man. And oh these raccoons have been in my Mom's back yard for 30 years so they weren't attracted by feeding cats as my parents never had a cat.
 

MoonstoneWolf

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While I appreciate my neighbors wanting to help right now, I wish they would not set out food by the cat area after dark. And our power was down so I can't retrieve the footage of the cam of who did this.

Cooper and Raccoon. 5 minute video but Raccoon shows no interest in Cooper, just a "leave me alone" type attitude.

 
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