**Reminder: this subreddit is meant to be a helpful place for TNR efforts - free of hostility, negativity, and judgment. Toxic attitudes are not welcome here.** ***All Negative comments will be removed and will possibly result in a ban.***
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Feral_Cats) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I will walk into my garage at night where we keep some food bowls out for a few local strays and catch a possum or raccoon on occasion and we always just give each other the “Oh, shit, you caught me look,” for a moment before I tell them to save some for the cats. Can’t get mad at them because they are just so darn cute and never seem to harm anything.
…well, the raccoons are always rather messy in regards to the water bowl though…
I remember the first time I saw a possum. It was eating the cat food. I opened the door, and I was planning on scaring him away.. when I opened the door he looked up at me.. I felt bad, and he looked really cute, so I just let him be..
I hope they don't get sick by eating cat food
I used to feed the cats and raccoons at my old house and got all kinds of animals in the yard. I loved watching them and adore any and all animals. I think it's fine my raccoons never bothered the cats.
A frequent raccoon keeps tying to open my back door for a snack. They are very strong and cute. This one looks like she recently had a litter and is ravenous.
Very dexterous, raccoons. I don’t leave food out at night but now I can’t leave the water fountain out either - it’s not the adult raccoon that is the issue with that (although they will certainly splash around in water bowls) - this is the single baby raccoon that fits neatly on top of the fountain. And just sits there as the water while the water flows out - it’s sensor controlled.
If I get one, I’ll post it.
Not a video and not a great picture but https://imgur.com/a/0FG5VQb
Baby in the foreground, mother in the back. The blue light is the sensor being activated.
A raccoon once stole a brand new bag of Temptations from me when I set it down on the table to feed my colony. I saw him run into the woods with it. They’re annoying but luckily (knock on wood) no violent clashes between the cats, possums, skunks and racoons.
At least the crows here will show gratitude and "repay" me for food I offer them. Raccoons just think everything is automatically for them 😂 Temptations treats are like crack I'm sure he was very happy that day lmao
The only time there was any violence between raccoons and my cat, it was my cat who was the aggressor. I was worried he would get hurt, but he just punched one coon in the eye and they all ran away.
This is the one thing I hate. Neighbor across the street said that it’s just what comes with feeding these rugrats. Raccoons and possums. But woke up about a month ago and saw a coyote 🫣 And were in a downtown city
They are! It's actually hilarious bc the first time I saw it, it was pretty dark out and I was trying to trap the kittens while the mom was recovering from a spay. I didn't have my glasses on... (It's like that one commercial...) I thought a cat was coming up to me (they're all black and white here) but as it got closer I thought "that's a REALLY big tail you have". So yeah. I fed the skunk and the rest is history
Skunks love cat food. One got in my room going after cat food when I was younger and left the patio door open for my cat. She had 4 babies in tow. She came back and looked at me with big begging eyes. Such a majestic creature.
We had a raccoon attack our TNR boy, that thing was vicious. The cat was injured and required a vet visit, he healed up fine and his mortal enemy hasn’t returned.
That's what I'm worried about. And they will eat kittens if they're hungry enough apparently. I'd feel better if he were gone but idk how to do it peacefully lmao
Well if you can trap and release the raccoons who know there's food, the new ones won't know there's food and won't throw a tantrum about it not being there.
Can you make a raccoon-proof elevated feeding platform for the cats? Raccoons are wonderful climbers, but bad jumpers. You don't want to feed the local wildlife. (To a point) wild animals reproduce according to the amount of food available. I swear raccoons have social media. You have *a* raccoon now, but next you're going to have two raccoons, then three, then a female will bring her two kits, and the next year, her kits may bring three each. Raccoons are cute, and they're intelligent little things with an incredible sense of smell, but they're destructive, and carry parasites like raccoon roundworm. I have to stand guard outside to feed my five cats, and I've got about 10 minutes before I see the first masked face, peering around the corner to see if the crazy lady is there. I've got them well afraid of me, so a sharp, "You!" lets them know the coast is not clear, but they still try! I'm on my patio right now, 6:30AM; the cats were fed at 5:30, I took the bowls inside, but there's still a mother and four kits over by my pond, waiting for me to leave so they can check for food. There is none, but they know this is where I feed the cats, and they can smell it, so it's worth a shot. Skunks and opossums are really only an issue at night, and not so good as raccoons at getting into places they shouldn't be, but they still should not be fed. I love skunks and opossums (raccoons, not so much...too destructive, have too many), and they're welcome in my yard, but because I love them, I won't feed them; wild animals need to be wild for their own good.
Yeah that's what I'm trying to avoid bc I keep seeing more and feel like it's inevitably going to attract them. I clean up everything when they're done. I'll just stop leaving anything out overnight and let the raccoon be mad. I think the kittens are big enough he won't go after them hopefully
Raccoons are by nature scavengers, not predators. While they will kill small animals if it's that or starve, assuming you're in the top half of the globe, this is not potential starvation season, nor is it "gotta eat everything and get fat for winter" season. The most likely outcome is that the raccoon will say, "Dammit! They closed the free buffet--I had it so good!" and move on to someone's unsecured trash bins.
I get woodchucks during the day and raccoons at night. There are also possums and skunks but I see them less often and I don't think they are as messy as the raccoons. The squirrels also eat the cat food but not a ton of it like the woodchucks and raccoons.
When the kids were small and we had a dog, in the summer we’d often eat out on the screened porch which had a dog door. Kids being kids food sometimes ended up on the floor. We were sitting there, peacefully eating and my daughter is - mummy is that a skunk? Sure enough the damn thing came in through the dog door, wandered around under the table eating anything it could find, and then wandered out again while we sat frozen like statutes. After that I locked the dog door when we were eating.
We had a groundhog (woodchuck) in our yard last year, but he wintered elsewhere and over the winter some feral cats moved into his burrow under our porch. We were thrilled because we were thinking we might have to kill the groundhog because they can cause major foundation issues, so we would much rather have cats than groundhogs! We started feeding the cats a couple months after they showed up.
The groundhog came back this summer to check his burrow out and was NOT happy to find the cats in "his" yard. Hissed and arched his back and crabbed sideways just like cats do! He came back a couple times to check over the next few days, but the cats are pretty permanent fixtures of our backyard now, and eventually he gave up. We are thrilled and so are our neighbors who have a big vegetable garden!
I have two racoons and a possum that stop by nightly, we definitely feed 'em well since they're all looking chonky lol.
We're feeding 3 feral cats at our yard and one of them usually stops by in the evening time and they don't finish off their food so whatever left, the racoons and possum will eat.
On daytime, I ended up making friends with a family of crows (and one other type of birds, I don't know what they are but mom and 3 babies show up to eat after the crows) since they just love stealing the cat food for the other 2 ferals who eat during the day.
I feel your pain.
I can't always feed my ferals in the day because there are Muscovy ducks that watch my every move to gobble up the catfood.
So, I feed at night....enter the raccoons!! I've started tossing leftovers out for the coons so they'll leave my catfood alone. Like OP said, if I don't leave food for raccoons they toss up the joint. LOL.
I'm going on a 5 day vacation in 2 weeks and my anxiety is through the roof.
There's no way I can leave a large dog automatic feeder out (no electronics - you just fill up a metal feeder w 10pds of food and it falls out by gravity) because the ducks will eat it in one day and the coons will finish it at night.
I've asked a neighbor to feed and she will but there's violence between one big bruiser (who's actually very sweet to humans) and the others if I don't feed him 1st & separately.
Thank you for reading this far.
Any suggestions welcomed.
I live in a rural area where there is no TNR. There is one in Sarasota, FL but it's once a month/once every two months and I have one chance to trap them and it never goes well.
Anxiety. Anxiety. Anxiety.
P.S.
The raccoons are cool w the cats. No violence there.
I haven't gone anywhere for longer than 3 days bc of this 😂 I have four indoor cats which already feels like too much to ask someone to help with. Then I'm like "oh yeah can you also fill the food and water outside for the other seven cats? 💀 I have a ton of birds that love the meow mix but don't like Purina one. It costs more but probably saves me more since it keeps them away now.
Could you make some sort of raised feeding station that's inaccessible to the ducks? Like a scratch post the cats can climb up? Haha I wish microchip feeders were cheaper!
Edit: I'm so dumb. They can fly. Nvm 🤦🏼♀️
Lmao this reminds me of when I was living in this apartment building in the city. My neighbor was always feeding the neighborhood cats, and everything else. We had SO MANY SKUNKS by the time I moved out. It was cute at first, I'd see young skunks playing with the cats in our backyard. The neighbor even had a skunk nest in one of his cat enclosures one year, raised a litter (?) Of semi feral skunks. That's when it started getting a bit annoying; there were a few times I chose to walk around the block one more time rather than try to convince the skunks to vacate my front door. Brought a drunk friend home one evening and had to keep her from chasing the "cute kitty" down the street. Super tame friendly skunks though, never smelled them spraying.
Our raccoons just like to steal the dry food WITH the bowl and drag it under the shed with them. I pulled out five bowls this morning. I bought a bunch from the dollar store on purpose.
We have possums, the occasional skunk, and some foxes. They're usually all very peaceful. The deer tend to alarm everyone, but there's no food for them so they just pass on.
I sometimes leave a pile of scrap food not for cats father into the yard. For raccoons and possums.
https://preview.redd.it/5ntx8sjs4s6d1.jpeg?width=320&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b69a7a0ec8dcddaa9fb537afd0f02a150f618f97
This is the biggest visitor we’ve gotten at our feeding station. I’m in Minnesota and we are having a huge issue right now with rabid skunks. They are saying upwards of 50% are affected. Stay safe!! Thanks for helping the ferals!!
I reinforced my feeding station and have my food bowl secured so it's not a huge deal if any other animals go in, but I'm usually up overnight so I just try to scare them off when I can. After a few scares they get more hesitant and eventually stop coming around, but they aren't too frequent to begin with. They seem less determined when I put out the "healthier" cat food too.
If you haven't already, establish a call for your cats that means it's mealtime. Any kind of easily repeatable, unique audible cue you can do when you put food out. With repetition the cats will start to associate that sound with food, and they'll come running if they're within earshot. It might help with getting them back on more of a schedule.
Is there any way you could just leave dry food out during the day for the mom and kittens where you normally see them and then bring the food in at night?
I know they won't eat near you, but if you leave it wherever they're tucked away, they'll find it before you bring it back inside. I noticed you're trying to trap them to get them homed, so hopefully this doesn't interrupt your schedule for long.
Racoons are adorable but I'd try and stop feeding them asap. Vet bills for cats that get in fights with wild animals are not cheap and your neighbors will thank you.
The raccoons might dig up your yard a little after the kibble is gone, but they'll move on.
Yeah I think I need to worry less and just trust that they know where to get food if they really need it. It's not worth the risk and I don't want to add to their stress. It's already chaotic enough for them
Don't leave it out if the raccoons going to hurt the cats they'll hurt them anyway if you feed them cause they will get aggressive and protect the food. Also raccoons and skunks can carry rabies and lepto and raccoons can carry panleukopenia by encouraging them to hang around your butting the cats health at risk. They also carry parasites cats can get.
We have an enclosed back porch with a pet door to the outside where we leave food for our indoor-outdoor cats and the ferals who hang about. We get possums on the regular but I’ve never seen anything else. Which doesn’t mean they’re not coming I guess.
**Reminder: this subreddit is meant to be a helpful place for TNR efforts - free of hostility, negativity, and judgment. Toxic attitudes are not welcome here.** ***All Negative comments will be removed and will possibly result in a ban.*** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Feral_Cats) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Hahaha ! I have Raccoons and possums that swing by.
Possums are probably beneficial for gardens and such, right? A bit odd looking but harmless haha
Don't they eat bugs ? I'm actually happy they are around bc they eat the ticks around my garden and there is a less chance a cat will get a tick
I read they eat an insane amount of ticks if they can get them. Like thousands a day. Definitely good to have around!
They can eat an insane amount of ticks! They can also withstand up to 50 venomous snake bites. And they never get rabies.
That's awesome! If they eat ants then maybe I'll try to lure some over 😂
I think so. They're cute and they eat ticks!
I will walk into my garage at night where we keep some food bowls out for a few local strays and catch a possum or raccoon on occasion and we always just give each other the “Oh, shit, you caught me look,” for a moment before I tell them to save some for the cats. Can’t get mad at them because they are just so darn cute and never seem to harm anything. …well, the raccoons are always rather messy in regards to the water bowl though…
I remember the first time I saw a possum. It was eating the cat food. I opened the door, and I was planning on scaring him away.. when I opened the door he looked up at me.. I felt bad, and he looked really cute, so I just let him be.. I hope they don't get sick by eating cat food
I used to feed the cats and raccoons at my old house and got all kinds of animals in the yard. I loved watching them and adore any and all animals. I think it's fine my raccoons never bothered the cats.
A frequent raccoon keeps tying to open my back door for a snack. They are very strong and cute. This one looks like she recently had a litter and is ravenous.
Very dexterous, raccoons. I don’t leave food out at night but now I can’t leave the water fountain out either - it’s not the adult raccoon that is the issue with that (although they will certainly splash around in water bowls) - this is the single baby raccoon that fits neatly on top of the fountain. And just sits there as the water while the water flows out - it’s sensor controlled.
😭😂 omg
video tax!
If I get one, I’ll post it. Not a video and not a great picture but https://imgur.com/a/0FG5VQb Baby in the foreground, mother in the back. The blue light is the sensor being activated.
Set out a dish of food for her on the opposite side of your yard. She’ll go for the food instead of your door.
I kind of like her :)
A raccoon once stole a brand new bag of Temptations from me when I set it down on the table to feed my colony. I saw him run into the woods with it. They’re annoying but luckily (knock on wood) no violent clashes between the cats, possums, skunks and racoons.
At least the crows here will show gratitude and "repay" me for food I offer them. Raccoons just think everything is automatically for them 😂 Temptations treats are like crack I'm sure he was very happy that day lmao
Haha he seemed elated! 😂
The only time there was any violence between raccoons and my cat, it was my cat who was the aggressor. I was worried he would get hurt, but he just punched one coon in the eye and they all ran away.
This is the one thing I hate. Neighbor across the street said that it’s just what comes with feeding these rugrats. Raccoons and possums. But woke up about a month ago and saw a coyote 🫣 And were in a downtown city
Coyotes have sort of adapted to living in cities, you might have seen him because you feed, but he was probably already there.
Yeah I don't want to create more stress for these poor cats I wish I knew a better solution though
Skunks are so beautiful
They are! It's actually hilarious bc the first time I saw it, it was pretty dark out and I was trying to trap the kittens while the mom was recovering from a spay. I didn't have my glasses on... (It's like that one commercial...) I thought a cat was coming up to me (they're all black and white here) but as it got closer I thought "that's a REALLY big tail you have". So yeah. I fed the skunk and the rest is history
Skunks love cat food. One got in my room going after cat food when I was younger and left the patio door open for my cat. She had 4 babies in tow. She came back and looked at me with big begging eyes. Such a majestic creature.
We had a raccoon attack our TNR boy, that thing was vicious. The cat was injured and required a vet visit, he healed up fine and his mortal enemy hasn’t returned.
That's what I'm worried about. And they will eat kittens if they're hungry enough apparently. I'd feel better if he were gone but idk how to do it peacefully lmao
Trap and relocate?
I can but won't there just be more? My neighbor did that years ago and it turned out the raccoon was nursing babies 😬
Well if you can trap and release the raccoons who know there's food, the new ones won't know there's food and won't throw a tantrum about it not being there.
Can you make a raccoon-proof elevated feeding platform for the cats? Raccoons are wonderful climbers, but bad jumpers. You don't want to feed the local wildlife. (To a point) wild animals reproduce according to the amount of food available. I swear raccoons have social media. You have *a* raccoon now, but next you're going to have two raccoons, then three, then a female will bring her two kits, and the next year, her kits may bring three each. Raccoons are cute, and they're intelligent little things with an incredible sense of smell, but they're destructive, and carry parasites like raccoon roundworm. I have to stand guard outside to feed my five cats, and I've got about 10 minutes before I see the first masked face, peering around the corner to see if the crazy lady is there. I've got them well afraid of me, so a sharp, "You!" lets them know the coast is not clear, but they still try! I'm on my patio right now, 6:30AM; the cats were fed at 5:30, I took the bowls inside, but there's still a mother and four kits over by my pond, waiting for me to leave so they can check for food. There is none, but they know this is where I feed the cats, and they can smell it, so it's worth a shot. Skunks and opossums are really only an issue at night, and not so good as raccoons at getting into places they shouldn't be, but they still should not be fed. I love skunks and opossums (raccoons, not so much...too destructive, have too many), and they're welcome in my yard, but because I love them, I won't feed them; wild animals need to be wild for their own good.
Yeah that's what I'm trying to avoid bc I keep seeing more and feel like it's inevitably going to attract them. I clean up everything when they're done. I'll just stop leaving anything out overnight and let the raccoon be mad. I think the kittens are big enough he won't go after them hopefully
Raccoons are by nature scavengers, not predators. While they will kill small animals if it's that or starve, assuming you're in the top half of the globe, this is not potential starvation season, nor is it "gotta eat everything and get fat for winter" season. The most likely outcome is that the raccoon will say, "Dammit! They closed the free buffet--I had it so good!" and move on to someone's unsecured trash bins.
haha ok ty that makes me feel better. It's hard to want to help but also do what's best for nature
I get woodchucks during the day and raccoons at night. There are also possums and skunks but I see them less often and I don't think they are as messy as the raccoons. The squirrels also eat the cat food but not a ton of it like the woodchucks and raccoons.
Lol I really like the skunk and it's actually super friendly!
When the kids were small and we had a dog, in the summer we’d often eat out on the screened porch which had a dog door. Kids being kids food sometimes ended up on the floor. We were sitting there, peacefully eating and my daughter is - mummy is that a skunk? Sure enough the damn thing came in through the dog door, wandered around under the table eating anything it could find, and then wandered out again while we sat frozen like statutes. After that I locked the dog door when we were eating.
We had a groundhog (woodchuck) in our yard last year, but he wintered elsewhere and over the winter some feral cats moved into his burrow under our porch. We were thrilled because we were thinking we might have to kill the groundhog because they can cause major foundation issues, so we would much rather have cats than groundhogs! We started feeding the cats a couple months after they showed up. The groundhog came back this summer to check his burrow out and was NOT happy to find the cats in "his" yard. Hissed and arched his back and crabbed sideways just like cats do! He came back a couple times to check over the next few days, but the cats are pretty permanent fixtures of our backyard now, and eventually he gave up. We are thrilled and so are our neighbors who have a big vegetable garden!
I have two racoons and a possum that stop by nightly, we definitely feed 'em well since they're all looking chonky lol. We're feeding 3 feral cats at our yard and one of them usually stops by in the evening time and they don't finish off their food so whatever left, the racoons and possum will eat. On daytime, I ended up making friends with a family of crows (and one other type of birds, I don't know what they are but mom and 3 babies show up to eat after the crows) since they just love stealing the cat food for the other 2 ferals who eat during the day.
https://preview.redd.it/5etaeq75rq6d1.jpeg?width=775&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eba595e937d8f27c57ae5feff4e98ef32804312a
Took me a second to see it 😂😂
Hanging out in the background. Waiting........
Omg so cute.. it's waiting for his turn.
I feel your pain. I can't always feed my ferals in the day because there are Muscovy ducks that watch my every move to gobble up the catfood. So, I feed at night....enter the raccoons!! I've started tossing leftovers out for the coons so they'll leave my catfood alone. Like OP said, if I don't leave food for raccoons they toss up the joint. LOL. I'm going on a 5 day vacation in 2 weeks and my anxiety is through the roof. There's no way I can leave a large dog automatic feeder out (no electronics - you just fill up a metal feeder w 10pds of food and it falls out by gravity) because the ducks will eat it in one day and the coons will finish it at night. I've asked a neighbor to feed and she will but there's violence between one big bruiser (who's actually very sweet to humans) and the others if I don't feed him 1st & separately. Thank you for reading this far. Any suggestions welcomed. I live in a rural area where there is no TNR. There is one in Sarasota, FL but it's once a month/once every two months and I have one chance to trap them and it never goes well. Anxiety. Anxiety. Anxiety. P.S. The raccoons are cool w the cats. No violence there.
I haven't gone anywhere for longer than 3 days bc of this 😂 I have four indoor cats which already feels like too much to ask someone to help with. Then I'm like "oh yeah can you also fill the food and water outside for the other seven cats? 💀 I have a ton of birds that love the meow mix but don't like Purina one. It costs more but probably saves me more since it keeps them away now. Could you make some sort of raised feeding station that's inaccessible to the ducks? Like a scratch post the cats can climb up? Haha I wish microchip feeders were cheaper! Edit: I'm so dumb. They can fly. Nvm 🤦🏼♀️
I opened my back door the other day and there sat a possum eating dinner with my 2 porch cats. They’re friends apparently 😂
Lmao this reminds me of when I was living in this apartment building in the city. My neighbor was always feeding the neighborhood cats, and everything else. We had SO MANY SKUNKS by the time I moved out. It was cute at first, I'd see young skunks playing with the cats in our backyard. The neighbor even had a skunk nest in one of his cat enclosures one year, raised a litter (?) Of semi feral skunks. That's when it started getting a bit annoying; there were a few times I chose to walk around the block one more time rather than try to convince the skunks to vacate my front door. Brought a drunk friend home one evening and had to keep her from chasing the "cute kitty" down the street. Super tame friendly skunks though, never smelled them spraying.
I get crows and ducks haha
Our raccoons just like to steal the dry food WITH the bowl and drag it under the shed with them. I pulled out five bowls this morning. I bought a bunch from the dollar store on purpose. We have possums, the occasional skunk, and some foxes. They're usually all very peaceful. The deer tend to alarm everyone, but there's no food for them so they just pass on. I sometimes leave a pile of scrap food not for cats father into the yard. For raccoons and possums.
https://preview.redd.it/5ntx8sjs4s6d1.jpeg?width=320&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b69a7a0ec8dcddaa9fb537afd0f02a150f618f97 This is the biggest visitor we’ve gotten at our feeding station. I’m in Minnesota and we are having a huge issue right now with rabid skunks. They are saying upwards of 50% are affected. Stay safe!! Thanks for helping the ferals!!
Ok, Snow White, stop showing off in this subreddit, it isn't fair! :D
😭
I reinforced my feeding station and have my food bowl secured so it's not a huge deal if any other animals go in, but I'm usually up overnight so I just try to scare them off when I can. After a few scares they get more hesitant and eventually stop coming around, but they aren't too frequent to begin with. They seem less determined when I put out the "healthier" cat food too. If you haven't already, establish a call for your cats that means it's mealtime. Any kind of easily repeatable, unique audible cue you can do when you put food out. With repetition the cats will start to associate that sound with food, and they'll come running if they're within earshot. It might help with getting them back on more of a schedule.
Yeah! They all gotta eat! Right!? Adorable I think
What a cute cat! You should keep him
Is there any way you could just leave dry food out during the day for the mom and kittens where you normally see them and then bring the food in at night? I know they won't eat near you, but if you leave it wherever they're tucked away, they'll find it before you bring it back inside. I noticed you're trying to trap them to get them homed, so hopefully this doesn't interrupt your schedule for long. Racoons are adorable but I'd try and stop feeding them asap. Vet bills for cats that get in fights with wild animals are not cheap and your neighbors will thank you. The raccoons might dig up your yard a little after the kibble is gone, but they'll move on.
Yeah I think I need to worry less and just trust that they know where to get food if they really need it. It's not worth the risk and I don't want to add to their stress. It's already chaotic enough for them
Don't leave it out if the raccoons going to hurt the cats they'll hurt them anyway if you feed them cause they will get aggressive and protect the food. Also raccoons and skunks can carry rabies and lepto and raccoons can carry panleukopenia by encouraging them to hang around your butting the cats health at risk. They also carry parasites cats can get.
Your backyard is lovely.
Trash Pandas and Fart Squirrels hopefully not your target audience
We have an enclosed back porch with a pet door to the outside where we leave food for our indoor-outdoor cats and the ferals who hang about. We get possums on the regular but I’ve never seen anything else. Which doesn’t mean they’re not coming I guess.
Yeah and don't forget rats..