a RACCOON came in through my cat door

[RainDog]

and was eating out of my cats' bowl.

SCREAAAAAAAAM.

not that there's anything wrong with them other than... rabies? the generally creepiness of having a wild animal in your home?

so it ran into the other room to go out the cat door and I followed it and shut the door from the laundry room --which has an indoor cat door - so I shut that one. but wanted my cat to be able to get inside just that room and now the raccoon is trying to open the indoor cat door and so I went to that door and hit it to scare it away and it just waited for me to go away and now it's at it again and so I locked that door in case it is so determined it might try to turn the door handle.

ugh.

the local raccoons and I have a one-sided relationship. I trap them and let them out far, far away in the woods.. but one has never started coming into my house until now.

[Rhiannon12866]

1. Must be pretty tame to come into the house...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZOeWFBy75A

[RainDog]

13. lol. no, it was definitely a raccoon

no doubt about it.

I've been dealing with them trying to colonize my attic forever. I think I'm going to have to have steel bars put over the vents to make them finally give up.

[Rhiannon12866]

20. Sorry, but your post immediately made me think of that commercial... ;)

And it's probably going to be difficult to keep them out, since they're around the same size as your cats. I applaud you for catching and releasing them, though. I used a have-a-heart trap that I borrowed from the vet to finally catch and bring in my rescued cat... :-)

There must be a way to raccoon-proof your attic. Because of their size, they have to be easier to keep out than mice and squirrels... :shrug:

[RainDog]

21. yeah, you'd think so, especially when you hired someone to do just that.

but apparently the vent panels were too easy to pry open.

raccoons have some amazing dexterity. and their claws sound like fingernails on a blackboard running across the floor. lovely.

[Rhiannon12866]

24. Yikes! I am sorry about that...

Raccoons are cute, but not when they get into your house. We used to see them at summer camp, outside the kitchens at night, would go through the trash cans, but they never came inside. There must be a way of keeping them out of your house...

I found these: :hi:

http://www.aaanimalcontrol.com/atticraccoon2.htm

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/raccoons

[Mike K]

65. You need a BB-gun.

Pop them in the ass. It won't injure them but it hurts and will keep them away.

[Withywindle]

25. I totally thought of that commercial right away too. nt

[Rhiannon12866]

26. It's one of the few I enjoy, always makes me smile... :-)

But now, I'll never think of it the same way again. x(

[Withywindle]

27. In a similar vein, this is my all-time favorite.

I know or remember or care nothing about the company or what it does, but...hee.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_MaJDK3VNE

[Rhiannon12866]

29. OMG! Thanks! I've never seen that one...

:rofl:

This one always makes me laugh, even while I'm cringing... x( :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-tJN-bktTQ

[Withywindle]

30. BWAH! Life comes at you fast!

:rofl:


Also on the cat theme, I love this one too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNlJ0E9vYmc

[Lavender Brown]

41. I love this one

Note what the dog is having nightmares about. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G7bGBUlx2M

[GoCubsGo]

56. My most favorite commercial ever!

More than a decade later, it still cracks me up! Does it remind anyone else of the Democratic Party?

[GoCubsGo]

57. Me, too!

I laugh every time I see it. Mostly, because it hits a little too close to home. ;-)

[KittyWampus]

2. had a possum do same one night. silly creatures, possums

[RainDog]

5. possums make me ill

I don't know why but they're just so giant ratty. I'm not a friend of rodents, except for rabbits. maybe.

I heard the other cat door so I hope it gave up.

[kimi]

3. It'll keep on coming in

unless you stop the access to the food. I made the mistake of feeding one raccoon one summer, and by the end of the summer had a gang of about six of them lining up outside my sliding glass patio doors, banging on the doors for food every single night. And if I didn't oblige them, they went and turned over the garbage cans. One had lost a leg in some gang war, and he was a fiend, which I felt awful about, but he was utterly dangerous, and I learned my lesson - feed the feral cat early in the evening, and take in all remnants of the food before the nocturnal critters come around. They're cute, but they have their issues.

[RainDog]

9. yeah, I just didn't want to go outside in the dark to close the other door

I'll do it tomorrow morning.

the raccoon came through the cat door in my basement, came up the stairs, went into the kitchen and ate out of the cat food in my kitchen.

I don't think this is the first night it's done this because the water bowl has been empty two days in a row.

probably, while I'm at work, that raccoon is in my house mixing kool aid and mad dog 20/20 and flirting with my cats.

[kimi]

12. Yeah, you want to watch out

for some very fluffy tailed kittens in a couple months. They'll be cute as hell, but have those bandit masks . . .

[NNadir]

4. When you capture the raccoon, do you read it it's rights before sentencing it to deportation.

Racoons are very bright, and some may have even gone to law school.

Even so, they seem not to understand property laws.

They are, like Coyotes, increasingly urban animals, not because they chose it, but because people built cities where they live.

[RainDog]

7. well, this house has been here as long as I've been alive

We do have a lot more deer than we used to because of a subdivision. I have deer corn to ask them to please not eat my peaches and plums (yeah.. but it seems to work to keep them away from hostas.)

[NNadir]

11. It's probably not a good idea to give the deer corn.

My ideal view of deer control, which is a "problem" where I live as well - as are raccoons - is reintroducing wolves and pumas, but I seem to be in a minority.

Giving wild animals food disturbs their balance, and let's face it, they are already out of balance because of their contact with us. They will breed to match the food supply. That's a reality.

The major deer predator where I live is the car. I can always think of a road nearby - 365 days a year, 366 on a leap year - where there is a dead deer lying.

[RainDog]

15. they have a regular path they take

that comes out at my back yard. one of them gave birth behind a stand of spruces in my neighbor's yard (in back of me.)

I starting putting out the deer corn because I didn't want them to eat the vegetables and fruit in my yard. they're here no matter what. this has been going on for years and years. they destroyed two asian pear trees I had.. ate them down to a nub.

in the past in my area they've had deer kills to reduce the population but last one I remember was a while ago.

[NNadir]

16. I do understand. When my wife and I moved here, we saw about 13 deer in our yard and said, "how...

beautiful!"

Later we came to see them as giant rats.

They do damage suburban flora, that's for sure.

I'm a vegatarian, truth be told, but I support hunting here, although gun hunting messes with the genome of the species by selecting for the weakest animals rather than the strongest.

It's not an easy matter with which to deal. We all love to live near nature, but paradoxically, in so doing we destroy nature.

Like I say, I think we need pumas and wolves. The puma, I was surprised to learn, had New Jersey as a part of its habitat in pre-European times. I believe the last puma here was shot in the middle of the 20th century.

They would go a long way to "solving" the deer "problem."

[RainDog]

17. best wishes to you

that's all I have to say. thanks for your input.

[Kali]

6. ...

[bluesbassman]

8. Here kity, kitty, Nice kitty.

:rofl:

[RainDog]

10. it can always be worse, I guess. :/

[KittyWampus]

14. check out the claws on that thing.

[Richard Steele]

22. Those aren't claws. The "fingers" on skunks are hairless- that's what you're seeing.

The actual claws are very small, compared to most mammals that size.

I guess that their highly-developed musk gland pretty much eliminates
the need for close-range weapons like claws.

[Kali]

23. no those are claws

they are digging sob's - one of their favorites is lawn grubs - I guess people hate them because they dig holes in suburban/rural lawns.
you should see the hole under my chicken coop!

[MiddleFingerMom]

38. Kali's version of a "skunk bud"

.
I happen to KNOW that poor dear ran away from home.
.
Kali (and by extension, her whole family) is nothing if
not famous (infamous?) for her powerful (and powerful GOOD)
pinto bean surprise.
.
.
Poor kitty.
.

.

[Richard Steele]

43. LOL without comment.! nm

[Richard Steele]

45. All kidding aside, and with all due respect, I must point out that you are WRONG.

Ask around amongst the older DUers...they'll tell you
that I often refer to myself as a fellow from "Polecat Hollow".

That's not a joke. "Polecat Hollow" is a real place, and it got that name
for a real reason. I grew up there, and in the years I wandered those woods
I had more skunks nod politely to me than rabbits or deer.

Rabbits & deer run away when a human crosses their path-
Bears rumble off to the side, & mountain lions flatten down
and pretend that they believe you can't see them, as long as you
pretend you don't see them, and you just keep walking

Skunks stroll BOLDLY along the paths through the wild vines,
the narrow places through the thorn-thickets and the rockslides...
They fear NOTHING and NO ONE.

I've seen deer cautiously step OVER skunks, and bears step aside
to let them pass...I've fed skunks pizza crusts from my hand.

With all due respect, I think it's safe to say that
I know a bit more more about skunks than you do.

[Kali]

46. no, I doubt it.

I've had them in my fucking house for several years now. In the barn, in the chicken coop. Last year I trapped and relocated three, then trapped and offed a half dozen more. They have long claws. I will agree they are not needed or used for defense. They are used for DIGGING. They have claws.

you can buy them for $5 (hmmm :think: )

http://www.chichesterinc.com/RealSkunkClaws.htm

"Skunk tracks show five toes on the front foot and five on the hind foot. The front tracks usually show claw marks farther ahead of the toe marks than the rear prints do. This is because the skunk has longer claws on the front feet to use in digging up roots and insects."
http://www.bear-tracker.com/stskunk.html

"The front feet are each equipped with five toes that have long, curved claws"
http://dnr.state.il.us/ORC/Wildlife/furbearers/striped_skunk.htm

"They have a moderately elongated body with relatively short, well-muscled legs, and long front claws for digging."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skunk

Oh and by the way...polecats - while a common enough usage for skunks in the US - are actually European weasels. They have claws too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Polecat

[Richard Steele]

48. OK- I appeciate you taking the time to tell me all this. Fascinating stuff.

Especially the bit about the word "polecat"
being an old European term for a species of weasel...

Imagine the first European guy in North America who thought that
the long haired black&white thing in his garden was just a furry weasel,
and tried to chase it off with a broom...BWAHAHAHA:rofl:




There were so many skunks where I grew up, they were fearless.
Absolute "Lords of the Forest", they were.

They would cross us in the woods at dusk when we were heading home from
hunting deer and squirrels, and just nod politely as we stepped aside
to let them pass. Not one of them ever showed me any claws.

I knew that they liked to live in holes, but it never occurred to me
that they dug those holes themselves.

Of course, that was long ago....in the late 80's, rabies swept through
the PA skunk population like the "Black Death" swept through White People
in the Middle Ages....

I guess nothing is like it used to be.

Grandpa Steele always told me:
"It's no sin to get old...it's just damned INCONVENIENT."

[Kali]

49. they do tend to use other animals' holes

but they will dig for food like crazy

They are fearless and ballsy - they would come snooping around in the house - walk right by while I was sitting here at the computer. Cruise down the hall and go under my bed! - and they are not THAT easy to get to spray. Unless you are a dog. A dog barking in a skunk's face is just about guaranteed to get it. The ones I trapped never sprayed even lifting the trap and hauling them 10 miles down rough dirt roads.

Shoot one and it will spray, though. Husband did that ONCE near the front door. Then he doubled his mistake and tried to hose the sidewalk off. Water seems to set the stink. DO NOT try to wash it off with water. Better to just let it evaporate over a few days. Or there are enzyme cleaners that work.

We have endemic rabies in Cochise County, there were a high number of reports last year, that's when I started offing them. Animal control was collecting so many they didn't want them, advised me to terminate what I caught unless they were acting strange.

I learned a lot about them because we were being invaded.


:toast:

[Richard Steele]

50. Pricy hightech "Enzyme cleaners", or gallons of cheapass bargain-brand tomato juice...

Either way, the $$$ seem to come out about the same.
Either way, you need to BURN the clothes that you were wearing
when you cleansed the dog!

Sounds like you and I have led very different lives;
we've come full circle and arrived at the same place
by travelling for a very long time in opposite directions.

Life is strange, innit?
:toast:

[murielm99]

52. This is better than pricey stuff, and it works:

Skunk Deodorant dog bath:

1 quart 3% hydrogen peroxide
1/4 cup baking soda
1 teaspoon Dawn dish soap

Mix into a gallon container. Use all of it to bathe the dog and follow with a good tap water rinse.


The main problem with trying to clean up skunk smell is the oily nature of the spray. The dawn dish soap cuts the oil in the skunk spray.

This does not bleach the dog. You can use this mixture on other things. Last year, a skunk was under our bedroom window during the night. My dog barked and growled and charged the window. The skunk sprayed the side of the house. I had to stop sleeping in the bedroom. I used this mixture to clean the siding, and the smell went away.

[Kali]

53. eh the hell with the dogs

they can sleep outside, stupid enough to get sprayed repeatedly? stay outside. the stench goes away in a week or so with no $ and no work. at least in this dry climate.

[Betsy Ross]

18. We had raccoons who used the cat door to come

into our basement where the bulk cat food was stored. Now my husband locks the cat door every night. Actually he chains a fence across it because they would break through the door given the opportunity.

[RainDog]

19. yeah, it's back

my cats are both inside now and it's back at the indoor door.

I had to put bungee cords on trashcans to keep them out on trash day for a couple of years till they stopped that.

this really became an issue when someone built a retirement community on some nearby farmland. I guess I should go torch it. :)

[Withywindle]

28. Could always be worse.

My parents have had issues with their trash cans getting knocked over and contents spread all over the driveway for years. They always assumed it was raccoons or possums. (A reasonable assumption in the very rural area where they live.) So one night my dad actually HEARD it happening at the time. He didn't turn the light on in the bedroom, he just crept to the window quietly to look out on the patio.

Mystery solved. The real culprit is one of these:

[carlyhippy]

31. ha, that reminds me of that commerical for sears optical

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2dShCL4rSk

I think I would shut the cat door and just put him out myself. Raccoons are cute but they have to push the envelope to see how much they can get away with, like helping themselves to the cat food in your house. They are smart little critters.

[RainDog]

32. Rhiannon was on it with the first post

obviously I am missing all the good commercials now that I no longer watch teevee.

[RainDog]

33. Sunday update on RACCOON TERROR IN THE HEARTLAND!!!!

I put a concrete block in front of the cat door that leads outside. I can't lock it anymore because the cats made sure that didn't work long ago.

and I put a huge shovel in between the cat door and the concrete block.

my two cats are not happy with this newest change.

I'm probably not going to be too happy either when they wake me up at 3, 4 and 5 in the a.m. because they want to go outside.

[Vidar]

37. Obviously only the cats should have the keys to the cat door.

[RainDog]

39. I refuse to let them drive my car anymore

they would AIM for the chipmunks, I tell you.

[woo me with science]

60. We put our cat door in a window.

The cats were clever about getting down safely using trees and sills.

The raccoon might still figure it out, but it might take him awhile.

[tosh]

34. We have one too!

He is showing up at the same time every evening on the back porch where I feed my "formerly ferals". Our dogs raise holy hell the entire time that he's out & about.

I guess it's time to get out the trap & relocate him but I fear that maybe he's a she. What if I leave some babies motherless?? (And NO!! I'm not gonna look!)

What to do, what to do!!!

[Dappleganger]

35. You could borrow my two doxies...

they'd think they'd died and gone to Disneyland if one of those made it into the house!

[RainDog]

36. eeeuuuwww.

one time (okay, not just one time) one of my cats brought in a live chipmunk (okay, not just a chipmunk. birds that have flown around in my house desperate to get out, rabbits, mice, moles... why do I have these cats again? oh yeah, my son.) anyway, this was early on in the wildlife wars in my house and I couldn't get rid of the thing and the man formerly known as my husband ending up with a bloody mess.

it was disgusting. I'm lucky I have old wooden floors rather than carpet.

[MiddleFingerMom]

40. You're right. Things COULD always...

.
... be worse.
.

.

[RainDog]

42. aaaaiiiiigggghhhhhh!!!

that's like my version of night of the living dead.

ummm, human remains... or trash.

[kimi]

44. Actually, this whole thread reminds me

of the time when I was outside at night putting my bunnies to bed, when I still kept them outside. I heard this odd clanking and thunking from the deck, and there was this raccoon trying to eat the cat food left out for the ferals, only he couldn't manage to get it into his mouth, cause he had a peanut butter jar stuck over his head. (He'd obviously gotten into the recycle bin - I wash out the jars, but I guess he could smell some peanut residue or something). So he lumbered around, I felt awful, and finally called my husband. He came out, took in the situation, and picked up the raccoon by his jar-head, and took him into the upstairs bathroom, followed breathlessly by several cats. Once in the bathroom, he cut the jar off the raccoon's head, we somehow wrestled him into a cat-carrier (all this time the raccoon was quite verbally unhappy with the whole process), and took him back out and let him go. It wasn't easy, and my husband ended up with several scrapes and scratches, which were concerning, but the raccoon was unscathed and lived to steal cat food another day from us.

[dana_b]

51. that was cool of you and your husband

to help it - scratches and all.

[driver8]

55. Your husband is a brave man!!

Raccoons can be nasty when they want to be!!

Very cool that you and your husband helped out this little guy...

[undeterred]

47. Well, is there a raccoon door?

[RainDog]

63. lol. rude of me, I know.

how dare I complain about the raccoons when I don't have a door just for them. I should set up one of those canopies over the basement door, hire a dog doorman and a chipmunk hat check girl by the dryer.

why didn't I think of this before!?!?

[driver8]

54. We had a raccoon come through our doggy door. Not only did he eat the food,

but he tried to steal the whole bag! I got up for work and heard my dog crying by his doggy door -- I went to see what was going on and his bag of food was stuck in the door!

[Dogtown]

58. Raindog, maybe

your house smells like a racoon den?


:shrug:

[RainDog]

62. raccoons seem to like the smell of food

so, yeah. my place is like the playboy mansion of raccoon life.

yours too, I bet.

when they were trying to take over my house via the attic, I heard one of them messing with the ceiling fan in my bathroom. I was scared to turn on the fan because I didn't want a raccoon paw to come flying into my house splattering blood all over the walls.

the raccoons were probably trying to set up a camera to spy on people in my house in the bathtub, too. let me know if you come across any raccoon-cam videos on YouTube. :/

[Dogtown]

64. Just messing w/ you, Raindog.

I've evicted squirrels from the attic thrice this year. You'd think the ambient aroma of my cats would dissuade them, but...

[Orsino]

59. Worst. Euphemism. Ever. n/t

[RainDog]

61. OMG! get your mind out of the gutter, bro!

lol.

when I first read your post I thought... whaaaaa?

:spank: :spank: :spank: