Raccoon!!

How do you manage raccoon in feral colony?
Because I am on vacation until tomorrow, dry food is out in continuous feeder.
I logged on to see my cat cam around 7:30pm and raccoon was there checking out cat's feeding area for good 20 min.
It looked like he was trying to open cat feeder with his hand. He stuck his head in food dish, but didn't much that much.
I have no cat sighting yet today. I am sure they are all scared.

How do you manage raccoon? Do they stop coming if you don't leave food out?
I am planning to put food out around 4PM and take it in around 11PM.
What if raccoon comes and dish cats food during that time and cats are too afraid of coming out?

Thank for your help

I found very interesting site about this issue.
http://www.thewildones.net/raccoons.htm

Cat can jump but raccoon can't.
I may consider putting feeder on the patio table next time...

We lived at the edge of a forest. We built a table with slats that had inset legs, so it couldn't be climbed, and it didn't have a solid surface - easy for cats, but not necessarily other animals.

We also put the food out for only an hour around dawn and an hour around dusk. The cats got the hang of the schedule. The possums, raccoons and who knows what else got to eat what they dropped - though we trapped quite a few raccoons and possums!

But even if you are feeding raccoons, the cats will figure out when to eat.

Laurie