How To Keep Raccoons Out Of Cat Food

I’ve been noticing lately that my cat has developed a ferocious appetite, with his food bowl always staying empty. It turns out that we’ve had some unwelcome visitors in the backyard who are feasting on my cats’ food.

Raccoons are common pests, but there are ways you can avoid them interfering with your cats’ cuisine. Understanding the health risk raccoons pose and why they have started visiting your property can help you find ways to get rid of them.

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What’s A Good Deterrent For Raccoons?

You can use a few strategies to keep your cats’ food safe because nobody has the cash to feed raccoons!

• • Keep Raccoons Out Of Your Property With A Fence
    You can start by securing your property by installing a proper fence. Add wire mesh that extends 4 to 5 inches below ground level to help avoid raccoons digging under your fence.
  • Use An Automated Feeder To Feed Your Cat
    If you wish to have an outdoor feeding station for your cat, consider investing in an automatic feeder. You’ll need to place this feeder on a raised platform, though, as nothing stops a raccoon from trying to figure out how to break the feeder to reach the food.These nifty feeders only dispense food at programmed intervals. Any leftover scraps your cat leaves will inevitably attract the attention of raccoons, so be sure to clean the feeder regularly.

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• • Install A Platform For Your Cat’s Food
    As we all know, cats are great at jumping. However, raccoons are not. So anny outdoor feeding station will require a platform of at least 40 inches high, so it’ll be challenging for raccoons to get to. Move the feeder inside at night to avoid having your cat run into a raccoon attracted by the smell of cat food.
  • Light Up Your Property To Keep Raccoons Away
    Illuminating your property will deter pesky raccoons from your property. Motion-sensor lights will be ideal as they scare away raccoons as they approach your house. A well-lit yard will also help you detect their presence and is generally an excellent idea for overall home safety.

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• • Feed Your Cats Indoors
    Raccoons pose a serious health risk to you and your family because they are carriers of the rabies virus and feline panleukopenia virus (also known as Distemper). For this reason, feed your cat indoors and reduce the risk of them encountering a raccoon at night.Feeding your cat indoors will also reduce the risk of the smell of leftover food attracting raccoons onto your property. Of course, you should leave a water bowl for your cat outdoors that he can access while galivanting about.
  • Install An Automatic Cat Flap
    If your cat is still outside in the evening, you may be nervous about your kitty having a run-in with raccoons. An automatic cat flap works by a programmed tag that activates the flap. You can program the flap to remain closed after a specific time, helping you to keep tabs on your kitty’s whereabouts.

SureFlap – Sure Petcare Microchip Cat Flap

• Install Motion Sensitive Sprinklers
  Raccoons are generally attracted to your property because of the prospect of easy food. Throw them a curveball by installing a motion sensor sprinkler. Scaring them off with water will discourage them from entering your property. And also, your grass will thank you!
• Use Scents That Raccoons Dislike To Keep Them Away
  There is a list of smells that raccoons can’t stand, but you should be cautious about how you use these scents as your cat would also be sensitive to these scents. Raccoons are nocturnal animals, and you should try putting out scents in the evening once your cat is safely inside for the night.Soak rags in Ammonia and place them over tree branches, in the cat house, on top of trashcans, or at your fence. Only put the rags in place after safely getting your cat indoors for the evening.

You can also soak the rag in peppermint essential oil, onion and cayenne pepper solution, or predator urine. Be careful when using this strategy because your cat is susceptible to these scents.

Ensure your cat is inside before draping the rags over the top of the trashcan, over a tree branch, or any other area that raccoons have been frequenting. In the morning, be sure to get rid of these scented rags.

• Hire Pest Control Services To Keep Raccoons Away
  Raccoons are a danger to your family, as well as your pets. If the raccoons seem to be winning the battle, don’t be afraid to call in the experts! Animal control can help safely get rid of your raccoon bandits, alternatively, hire a pest control expert.Once your problem has been solved, ensure that you keep your environment safe by cleaning raccoon feces from your property, as these carry all sorts of germs, viruses, and bacteria.

 

 

 

How Do I Get Rid Of Raccoons Without Harming My Cat?

Keeping your home safe from invaders can be a full-time job, and some of the most dangerous intruders are not of the human variety. Raccoons pose a health risk, and even though your brave little tiger may want to challenge them, they carry bacteria and viruses that can make your cat very sick.

Ridding yourself of these creatures means finding methods lethal to raccoons but not cats. The problem is that raccoons and cats share many of the same characteristics, such as sensitive hearing, nocturnal habits, and a strong sense of smell.

With this in mind, there are a few strategies that you shouldn’t even consider using.

First of all, don’t use ultrasonic devices as your cat will likely experience distress. These devices work by emitting a frequency that is inaudible to human hearing but causes irritation to animals.

Ultrasonic devices won’t cause physical harm to raccoons but will repel them from your property as it’ll be an unpleasant place to stay. Unfortunately, it’ll also become a very unpleasant place for your kitty to be as well.

These ultrasonic devices are suitable for outdoors at a range of roughly 3000- 4000 square feet, which means you could inadvertently be driving your outdoor cat quite far away from home as he tries to escape the unpleasant sound.

Second, don’t even consider using poison. Your curious cat won’t resist nibbling on the poison you set out for the raccoons. Your cat will also likely find any substance that a raccoon can find.

 

Why Raccoons Are A Threat To Cats

Raccoons are a nuisance, scavenging on the garbage and spreading Rabies and Distemper. They’re generally bigger than cats, weighing on average 13.2 lbs. and growing up to 2 to 3 feet in length.

They have a powerful bite with a bite force quotient (BFQ) of 100 compared to a cat’s BFQ of only 67. Raccoons are omnivores and feast on leftover fruits and vegetables and animal meat such as seafood and other rodents.

Because they eat animal meat, their canine teeth are razor-sharp, and they’re not afraid to use them when threatened. A mother raccoon won’t hesitate to attack your cat as she’ll be protective of her litter. Unfortunately, cats are also very territorial and will strike a raccoon if it trespasses.

The dexterity and strength that raccoons display means that they can be pretty inventive when defending themselves. Sadly, a raccoon often has the upper hand over your otherwise brave kitty. Tiny kittens are also at risk of being eaten by these bandits.

Cats and raccoons are nocturnal animals and the chances that they’ll cross paths during the evenings are pretty high. They’re a considerable risk. This is why you should never discount the presence of raccoons on your property if you have a pet cat.

 

 

How To Protect Your Cat From A Raccoon

You can do four things to protect your cat once you become aware of the presence of raccoons.

First, ensure that all your cats’ vaccinations are up to date, as raccoons pose a severe health risk to your cat and your family.

Second, keep your cat indoors at night, especially since raccoons are most active at this time. This will lower the probability that your cat will make contact with this pest.

Third, move your cats’ water and food bowls indoors until you have rid your property of the raccoons.

Fourth, ensure that you safely clean your backyard of any raccoon feces or trash they may have strewn around the previous evening. Ensure that you use gloves when doing this as you may get infected with Distemper.

Items that a raccoon has nibbled on may contain saliva, which means your cat can pick up viruses and bacteria should they touch it.

 

Diseases That Raccoons Carry

It’s essential to protect your cat from two of the most dangerous threats a raccoon poses: Rabies and Distemper. It’s super important to keep your cats’ vaccinations up to date, as this could well mean the difference between life and death.

Distemper, or feline panleukopenia virus (FPV), attacks blood cells in your cat’s intestinal tract, bone marrow, and stem cells. When your cat is infected with this disease, it can quickly spread to the rest of your household. Anemia, bacterial, and viral illnesses can also develop as a result.

The symptoms of Distemper include:

• Vomiting,
• Diarrhea (often with blood in the stool)
• Dehydration
• Sneezing excessively
• Discharge from the eyes
• Runny nose
• Weight loss
• Fever
• Anemia
• Loss of appetite
• Fatigue
• Loss of coordination
• Depression
• Struggling to walk
• Death

Needless to say, your cat requires immediate medical attention should you see these symptoms. The risk of your cat picking up Distemper from a raccoon is high, as the leading causes are contact with infected saliva, blood, urine, feces, fleas, nasal discharge, a bite or scratch from an infected animal.

Even if your cat doesn’t make direct contact with a raccoon, it may come into contact with its urine, feces, saliva, or fleas left behind after it has feasted on your kitty’s food.

The second infection your cat may end up with is rabies. Rabies is such a dangerous health risk that authorities require you to vaccinate all your pets against it. It’s also highly infectious, and your whole family will be at risk if your pet is infected. Losing a beloved pet to rabies is traumatic; you want to avoid this at all costs!

Raccoons are carriers of Rabies, and a scratch or bite can be fatal for your cat. Even if you get immediate medical attention from a vet, recovery is not guaranteed, and most animals infected with rabies will die.

Rabies is a progressive disease whose symptoms may not be pronounced at first and can begin within ten days or as late as a year after the initial infection. This virus poses both a physical and emotional threat as it affects the central nervous system of your cat, and it has four stages.

In the Prodromal stage, your kitty will exhibit a complete change in temperament. For instance, your usually shy, lazy cat may suddenly become super friendly and active. Also, look out for a loss in appetite.

The disease will quickly spread to the Furious Rabies stage. This is the most intense stage, as your cat will become very aggressive. Extreme caution should be taken here as it is easy for an infected, aggressive cat to scratch you, or your children, leading to multiple rabies infections in your home.

The second stage of rabies includes excessive drooling, dilated pupils, and muscle spasms. The aggression will fade into depression, and your cat will lose its ability to move its throat and jaw. The last stage is the Paralytic stage, which usually occurs around day seven of the disease.

In the third stage, paralysis will spread through your baby’s entire body until death.

 

What Scent Keeps Raccoons Away?

Just because raccoons are scavengers doesn’t mean they’ll eat just anything. They can be sensitive to certain scents and will avoid these as much as possible.

The following scents will repel your unwanted guests:

• Ammonia
• Mothballs
• Black Pepper
• Cayenne Pepper
• Cinnamon
• Peppermint
• Epsom Salt
• Raccoon Eviction Fluid (This will keep a female raccoon away as it mimics the scent of a male raccoon)
• Predator Urine (Predator urine tricks raccoons into thinking a natural predator such as a coyote is in the area)

Remember that raccoons were attracted to your property because they could smell that there was food available. So, make your property a less attractive place for raccoons to hang out by removing the smell of food.

Securing your trashcans would be an excellent place to start. Trashcans brimming with garbage and unable to close are a tempting food supply for raccoons. Never allow your trashcan to overflow. Invest in a trash can lock and store the trashcan in the garage instead.

Your cats’ dinner should not be easily accessible for raccoons, and you should move them indoors. You can leave a water bowl outside for your cat but try to get your cat accustomed to eating meals and snacks indoors. Your cats’ food bowls are also an inviting scent for raccoons as this is practically a free meal.

 

How To Keep Raccoons Out Of A Cat House

Although raccoons are brilliant animals and can figure out how to access food, they’re limited in their ability to reach places too high. They are good climbers but not good at jumping vertically, which our tiny tigers are excellent at.

A practical solution to keep raccoons out of the cat house would be to mount the structure on a pole. Keep the construction sturdy and at a comfortable level for your cats to access, but makes it awkward for raccoons to get to. Make sure that raccoons can’t jump across from another surface horizontally to access the cat house.

At the end of the day, we would do anything to keep our fur babies safe, so ensure you’re vigilant of the masked bandits.

Resources:

• Nature Mapping Foundation
• Wag Walking
• Pet Safe
• Hunker