Raccoons have always been a part of the wildlife on my block because there are patches of woods around us. Over the past half dozen years, there have been at least 3 raccoons who were out during daylight and appeared sick, and my neighbor shot them and called animal control--so there is a history of sick raccoons (and opossums) on my block. Yesterday evening I saw a young, smallish raccoon tentatively approach my porch--he must have smelled my feral's dry food I leave out during the day. I chased him off, and he lingered by my neighbor's porch a few minutes before leaving. It was about a half hour before darkness when he appeared. Does his appearance prior to the dark necessarily mean he's sick, or could hunger drive him to come out during daylight? I once saw a mama raccoon out with her babies eating out of my cat's food bowl a few summers ago in the afternoon, and I assume that's normal for a mama with hungry babies. However, my only experiences with single raccoons out before dark have been that they've acted strangely, were assumed to be sick, and were put down. I'm worried, of course, because I don't want the raccoon to encounter my feral, especially since it's cold outside at night all week and Muffin will be in his house on my porch, and since I'm working nights, I've been leaving food out for him, too, with no problems up untnil last night. Muffin has always known how to handle himself around raccoons and they've co-existed together for years, so I don't know how worried I should be.
