Keep racoons away from feral's food

eilcon

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Hey, everybody. I've been feeding feral cat (a neutered male) regularly for the past month and am looking for some advice on keep raccoons away from his food. The kitty in question, Frank, only comes around at dusk and in the early morning. So, I've been putting his dry food out about an hour before dark, pulling it when I go to bed, then putting it out again for a couple of hours early in the morning. I had been leaving it out all night, but the raccoons starting coming around, so gave that up. Now, I've got one coming around before dark and he's eaten all of Frank's food a couple of nights this week. I've tried leaving the food out during the day, but it goes untouched. I've also tried putting the food up on a table. Frank gets it, but so does the raccoon.

Guess I need to come up with some kind of feeding station that's raccoon proof. Is there such a thing? I'm pretty limited what I do because I live in a two-family apartment and my downstairs neighbor only agreed to me putting out food for Frank if it's right outside my front door. I don't really have a porch, just a few steps and a small stoop. Any ideas would be appreciated.
 

momofmany

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I really don't have good advice. If Frank doesn't run away when you feed him, sit out with him while he eats to discourage the racoons. They are very agile and can get anywhere that a cat can get too unfortunately.
 
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eilcon

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Originally Posted by Momofmany

I really don't have good advice. If Frank doesn't run away when you feed him, sit out with him while he eats to discourage the racoons. They are very agile and can get anywhere that a cat can get too unfortunately.
Thanks. Unfortunately, Frank doesn't stick around when I put the food out.

That's what I figured about the raccoon. If he can tip our garbage cans overly, certainly he get jump up on a table.
 

momofmany

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When I lived way out in the country, the racoons were more interested in my compost pile than the cat food bowls. It was a good alternative food source that unfortunately I don't think you could pull off in the city. And like you, we started feeding them only during daylight (dawn and dusk) because we had problems with possums.

I'll wish you luck!
 
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eilcon

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Originally Posted by Momofmany

When I lived way out in the country, the racoons were more interested in my compost pile than the cat food bowls. It was a good alternative food source that unfortunately I don't think you could pull off in the city. And like you, we started feeding them only during daylight (dawn and dusk) because we had problems with possums.

I'll wish you luck!
You're right. Couldn't pull the compost pile off here. I don't even want to think about possums, though I know we have those around too.

Thanks!
 

kazy

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I am totally with you Eileen!!!

I had to combat with raccoons for my ferals.
http://www.thewildones.net/raccoons.htm
This website tells you very interesting things. If you put food high enough, raccoons can't reach.



I keep food inside this cat house but raccoon was going in there.
So, I made inside of entry area like a little maze.
I guess cats can manage tight corner but raccoon can't.
So far it's preventing him from going in there.
 

jean-ji

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Before we brought Pru in, we went on vacation for three weeks. We put a big self feeder on the front porch and bungee corded it to the railing. A friend was going to fill it up as needed while we were away. The biggest raccoon we had every seen was eating from it the first night, so we decided Pru had survived this long without us and could make it another three weeks. We didn't want any wildlife up on the porch.

Our neighbors were feeding stray cats and found out skunks love cat food too along with possum and raccoons. We have deer eating from the bird feeder, so nothing surprises me now.
 

buehler740

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I have the same problem you do been trying different things alot of the time I am watching with a camera out there and can chase the racoons off, Id like to see your design on that maze , I rasied the door on the shed higher the cat can jump in and if the racoon jumps he can reach the ledge and climb in to I also raised the feeding station, he got on that, racoons have their own feeding station with plenty to eat, and I know they can jump I have watched them do it and fit through very small spaces to which suprised me, If I could just get the ferals to come in during the day or stay in the shed Id have it made. I hung some chimes on the ledge of the window the cat goes in, havent seen him try to climb in yet but if there is no food he might, I wonder if maybe after the kittie eats, maybe I can set up the trap and maybe if it gets tired of being traped will he move on, the bad thing is evey time I chance something then Oreo gets nervous and spooked, I been leavig the wet food in the shed for him more often he will go in there for the good stuff but he dont stay in there to long if at all , and thats their house, that shed if for them, I have only seen this one comming in the rest I havent seen at all. Last night I tried using a light in the feeding station and it didnt bother the racoon, at first it spooked the cat but then he realized it was just a light and came in and ate and Oreo is trap savy so havent caught him or her yet, I will keep trying different things to see that maybe a happy solution for both wildlife and kitties can be reached , I thought maybe they would get tired of me comming out there , maybe I will stuff a pair of my coveralls and putting in the station see if that works




Originally Posted by Kazy

I am totally with you Eileen!!!

I had to combat with raccoons for my ferals.
http://www.thewildones.net/raccoons.htm
This website tells you very interesting things. If you put food high enough, raccoons can't reach.



I keep food inside this cat house but raccoon was going in there.
So, I made inside of entry area like a little maze.
I guess cats can manage tight corner but raccoon can't.
So far it's preventing him from going in there.
 

taryn

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I only feed during daylight. At night I put the food up in the BBQ grill with the lid secured tightly with a bungee cord(raccoon can get in the grill if the the lid isn't bungeed tightly shut.)

The only thing I can suggest is to keep trying to feed him during the day. He should get used to only being fed during the day. The few times I haven't I've had to go yell at the raccoon 'GET OUT OF HERE!!" than retrieve and put up the food bowl. They aren't afraid if you just come out(they are used to humans enough that the simple presence of one doesn't scare them) but the yelling gets them to go away. The cats could care less about the raccoon and the raccoon could care less about the cats, they all just ignore each other.

I'm more worried since if the funding comes through the city is going to tear down 2 houses in May where I know at least a few of the raccoon live inside of. Hopefully they decide to live in the woods nearby. I fear what else might come out of the damn houses. Mitzi and I are going to see what might flee when they tear them down and deal with it from there. I'm ore worried about the houses staying up than coming down, they are a major eyesore a huge fire risk if they were to catch fire Mitzi's house is gone and Paul's trailer would prolly at the very least be damaged if not destroyed. Not to mention that the houses scare the sh*t out of me because I don't know if they contain people who shouldn't be here and that aren't quite in the right frame of mind due to illegal substances or they are just plain loony toons crazy(I'm bi-polar so I can use the word crazy and loony toons if I want to.) They are a dangerous eyesore and they need to go, if the funding doesn't come through I might sic the news station here on them.

I would like the raccoons gone Paul has had to shoot and kill 2, one for being out in broad daylight, standing right by Paul and trying to go after Paul's dog so it was sick. Another had got into Mitzi's woodpile, couldn't move and Mitzi couldn't get to her car because it required her to pass the raccoon, she actually called her boss and told him she'd be late due to it. It too was sick, it kinda of hissed when Paul used a board to get it out of the woodpile to end it's suffering but it was nowhere near a normal raccoon response. The ones that are normal nocturnal, seemingly healthy ones we deal with since they have lived here long before we have and I wouldn't appreciate being shot for going after the easiest food source there is. I can't blame them, if I was a raccoon I'd go for pet food too, it's an easy meal. I just take up the bowl so that the easy meal isn't there. Our raccoons are big(we have 2 that are easily 30+ lbs) enough so they eat more than enough normal raccoon fare that they don't need cat food to supplement their already abundant diet.

They also like to grab the bowl and run if we come out. One got it as far as the driveway before me driving up in my car scared it off.

Really the only thing I can suggest is to trey and see if you can get him used to eating in the daytime so that the temptation isn't there for the raccoons. Like I said you can't blame them, they see it as an easy meal and it is. They are acting as a normal animal would. We have stranger cats come up all the time to eat the food we put out for our guys. I even had the farmer's dog come and eat all my cat food. I was feeding them Natural Balance at the time so I was a little peeved until I found out it was just Daisy(I though it was bitch's dog who she wasn't feeding, I have never been so glad to hear that someone's house was foreclosed on in my life, I'm glad she's out of the neighborhood, her and her kids who did something horrid to my cats), Daisy is cute and sweet and doesn't care about the cats. IOW- she doesn't chase them, she ignores them and they ignore her.

Taryn
 
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eilcon

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I agree an elevated feeding station is your best bet. That's not an option for me, due to space and my neighbor's protests, so I limit feeding to during the daylight hours - a couple of hours in the morning and in the evening. Frank, the kitty I was initially so concerned about feeding has been socialized and adopted since I started this thread, but the limited feeding times worked well for him and succeeded in keeping away the raccoons and other critters most of the time. Frank adapted to the feeding schedule pretty well as does the other fixed feral I still feed.
 

ldg

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We like using fixed hours to feed because we get new feral visitors, and having the set times for feeding not only deters the wildlife, it makes it easier to trap.
 

ondine

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Just finished cleaning up my birdseed, which is in a small metal trashcan with a locking handle, that had a brick on top and bungy cords wrapped around it.

The raccoon chewed through the bungy cords, pushed the brick off the top and somehow figured out how to unlock the handle.

I am just happy it stopped raining before he did it. Otherwise, I would have had a can full of mush!


Had to bring what was left inside until I can figure out another way to secure it.

I'd vote for daytime feeding.
 

buehler740

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One of the most common myths regarding wildlife is that a raccoon active during the daylight hours has rabies. That is just not true. I constantly receive phone calls from people who have spotted a raccoon active during the daytime, and they assume it must be rabid, and they call me to report this information and perhaps request that I come and remove the dangerous animal.

Raccoons are primarily nocturnal animals, but the truth is that they do frequently forage during the daylight hours as well. In particular, raccoons that haven't found enough to eat, or females who have young to feed will need extra time to search for food, and thus they may be found moving about while the sun is up. If the animal is moving in a normal manner (as opposed to walking in circles while falling down) it's likely healthy.

It is true that a rabid animal may be active during the day, but that's just one of many symptoms of a rabid raccoon, including paralysis of limbs, drooling, whining, shaking, and other zany behaviors. Rabies in raccoons is simply not present at this time here in central Florida - yet I get calls all the time about suspicious, suspected rabid raccoons. These reports are incorrect.

In fact, I have a lousy neighbor who never talks to anyone. He only talked to me one time. I came home from a day of wildlife control work, and he came storming over. I guess he could tell from my truck that I do wildlife control work. He barked at me, "Hey buddy! I seen a raccoon out during da day today! Dat thing has rabies!" I carefully explained to him that many healthy raccoons are active during the day, and that this is normal. "No it aint, pal! My grandfather taught me that if a raccoon is out during the day it has rabies. It aint right!" and he stormed off. Nice neighbor.

People are very scared of rabies. Animal control offices across the US have done a great job of containing this dreadful disease in North America. It is now extremely rare here. Alas, people get swept away when it comes to rabies, and below is an email exchange from a lady who lost her dog because of a likely ignorant animal control official. Remember, rabies is a debilitating disease, and any raccoon in the contagious stage will be nearly incapacitated and very sick. If it looks healthy, it almost surely is
 

buehler740

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well I have tried all kinds of things so far and not giving up, the latest was last night, I put a platter full of leftovers and black oild sunflower seeds out, the racoon filled up on that and left the cat food for the cats, I have an arbor full of seeds they should be going to so maybe I can keep them going to that section, I guess as a last resort I could try to trap him and let him out in that section, its just that one that does it , most of the others will go right to the section they are supposed to go in take a look, this seems to be somewhat of a solution http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/
 

taryn

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I never said it had rabies I said it was sick, it could have had distemper which is more common in raccoons than rabies anyhow but who knows. It was standing right next to a human in broad daylight(Paul could have literally reached down and touched it), so even if it wasn't sick(and it was it wasn't acting right and raccoons aren't supposed to walk sideways in a drunken manner) it was too comfortable with humans. It's besides the point anyways, it went for Paul's dog so it wouldn't have changed the outcome.

I don't care about them as long as they leave me and my cats alone. If they are obviously sick or injured then we put them out of their misery otherwise we live our lives and they live theirs.

Taryn
 

chausiefan

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people tend to say a native wild animal attacked their dog when clearly they and their dog cornered the poor animal forcing it to defend itself because it was scared for its life !

or the animal had a nest of babys near by and was protecting them

barking loud hyper dogs are almost always the ones that start fights with other animals (including cats)

i am sorry but even a sick raccoon unless it had rabies (which it didnt) would NOT just walk up to a dog and pick a fight! Wild animals dont go picking fights just because they are sick there is always a reason for it.

the sideways drunken manner is common for a coon that is giving a threat display because its scared and trying to tell whatever to back off or its ready to fight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJNwL...layer_embedded

as u can see from a video its a bluff kinda like a cat puffing up and hissing at a dog
 

elayman

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Originally Posted by LDG

We like using fixed hours to feed because we get new feral visitors, and having the set times for feeding not only deters the wildlife, it makes it easier to trap.
What hours do you use to encourage ferals and keep the local wildlife foraging for their food ? Or this is only a trap situation and not left out at a feeding station unattended ?

One thing I have tried is placing the bowl on a one-legged plant stand attached to an iron support beam that raccoons can neither get their hands around or jump (as they carry all their fat in their rear end), but the really daring ones do end up climbing the rod. It also isn't balanced or sturdy enough freestanding. Plus, there are cats that can't reach the bowl either, for physical reasons. The freestanding "skirted" tube of aluminum hung over a stake would be a similar concept.

The only times dry food is left out overnight are in winter or bad weather (when the cats are in a nearby shelter). Otherwise it is in between nine and midnight and out before dawn only with at least one of the 3 kitties having been spotted and me up and watching from a patio door.
 

ldg

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We generally put food out around 8:00am and pick it up at sunset. When we're trapping, we put it down for two hours in the morning and two hours before dusk.
 

featherduckie

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We nicknamed our pesky raccoon "Scout." He used to run up the nearest tree and peek around the trunk when we came out on the carport. Now, he boldly eats the cat food in front of us. Unfortunately, because he has lost his fear of humans, he will have to be trapped and relocated out in the country.
Because raccoons are bright, intelligent little scavengers, I suggest you consider calling Animal Control or a private agency to relocate your raccoon. If anyone has found a feeder that they can not break, I look forward to hearing about it.
 
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