Raccoons!

honeychile · #1 08-07-2007, 10:24 PM

Our feral cats ("the Will Ferralls") are a second-generation colony - there's one mom & dad, and their four kittens who are totally bonded. KittenDaddy & three of the kittens are Siamese (one lilac point), Mom is a tortoise shell, and the other kitten is solid black. They all take care of each other, and especially the little Lilac Point, who's the runt. I'd love to set a camera up on them, as they're terribly interesting. Oh, there are two others who were from last year's litter who come around occasionally - they don't "formally" live with the Will Ferralls. All of them leave food for each other, and the Mother will watch her babies eat, and then finish up. Think Kitty Vanderbilt. Oh, they also have all of their age appropriate shots.

When there was just one raccoon, it wasn't that bad - but now there are three. One is totally insolent, and if s/he doesn't get to the food first, s/he will grab the plate and toss it, rather than share. It's just bad news. These critters are easily 30# or more, and I did find out that it's illegal for me to shoot or poison them.

Not that I would poison them - I'd feel horrible if one of the cats got the food first.

I'm just frustrated with them. Is it possible to change the cats' feeding time, or do you think their habits are too ingrained by now?

jon1856 · #2 08-07-2007, 11:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by honeychile

Our feral cats ("the Will Ferralls") are a second-generation colony - there's one mom & dad, and their four kittens who are totally bonded. KittenDaddy & three of the kittens are Siamese (one lilac point), Mom is a tortoise shell, and the other kitten is solid black. They all take care of each other, and especially the little Lilac Point, who's the runt. I'd love to set a camera up on them, as they're terribly interesting. Oh, there are two others who were from last year's litter who come around occasionally - they don't "formally" live with the Will Ferralls. All of them leave food for each other, and the Mother will watch her babies eat, and then finish up. Think Kitty Vanderbilt. Oh, they also have all of their age appropriate shots.

When there was just one raccoon, it wasn't that bad - but now there are three. One is totally insolent, and if s/he doesn't get to the food first, s/he will grab the plate and toss it, rather than share. It's just bad news. These critters are easily 30# or more, and I did find out that it's illegal for me to shoot or poison them.

Not that I would poison them - I'd feel horrible if one of the cats got the food first.

I'm just frustrated with them. Is it possible to change the cats' feeding time, or do you think their habits are too ingrained by now?

The cats will come to the food.
My girl friend is a volunteer in local pet rescue group. She pulled about 15 cats out of a parking lot near where I worked in one weekend.
She has four rescued cats.
And trust me when I say the cats will come to the food.

ErinIsBadNews · #3 08-07-2007, 11:16 PM

You could slowly move the time forward. I sit outside with my kittens at night when they are eating. Wagner usually won't come on the porch if I'm out there. My adult cats are a little more difficult since they are less comfortable with me being so close, but the raccoon is more timid with them.

I have some pictures of some of my cats. I'll post them if you'd like to see. them. I have more of my kittens than my adult cats, because I can get closer to them. I usually take a ton of pics on my digital camera and only get a couple pics that are any good.

aggieAXO · #4 08-08-2007, 09:25 AM

i bet the cats don't care what time they are fed as long as they get fed. Try feeding them in the morning and see what happens. I bet they will adjust.

My raccoon story: i use to leave my atrium door open during the spring. there is a small palm tree in the atrium that reaches the roof. For about 2 months I could not figure out why my cats were going through a bag of cat food per week when it would usually last them almost 1 month. Then I noticed there water was always dirtywith their food. I came home late one night and found a huge coon snacking away on my cats food in my living room. the cats did not care they just went about their business, it was like he was part of the family. I got him out of the house wihout incident -he ran up the palm tree onto the roof-from then on I kept the door closed.

The wildlife rehaber that takes my possums and my techs coons (I have a tech that raises orphaned raccoons) feeds them all at the same time every night (including his cats). They all apparently eat side by side with no problems.

honeychile · #5 08-08-2007, 01:10 PM

That's how we got the Will Ferralls neutered, with a feral cat ranch. We have calls in to the Siamese Rescue for the Siamese to get real homes, as much as we'll miss them. Part of me doesn't want to break up the family, too.

ForeverRoses · #6 08-08-2007, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by honeychile

Our feral cats ("the Will Ferralls") are a second-generation colony - there's one mom & dad, and their four kittens who are totally bonded. KittenDaddy & three of the kittens are Siamese (one lilac point), Mom is a tortoise shell, and the other kitten is solid black. They all take care of each other, and especially the little Lilac Point, who's the runt. I'd love to set a camera up on them, as they're terribly interesting. Oh, there are two others who were from last year's litter who come around occasionally - they don't "formally" live with the Will Ferralls. All of them leave food for each other, and the Mother will watch her babies eat, and then finish up. Think Kitty Vanderbilt. Oh, they also have all of their age appropriate shots.

When there was just one raccoon, it wasn't that bad - but now there are three. One is totally insolent, and if s/he doesn't get to the food first, s/he will grab the plate and toss it, rather than share. It's just bad news. These critters are easily 30# or more, and I did find out that it's illegal for me to shoot or poison them.

Not that I would poison them - I'd feel horrible if one of the cats got the food first.

I'm just frustrated with them. Is it possible to change the cats' feeding time, or do you think their habits are too ingrained by now?

The cats should be fine with a changed feeding time. you might also consider an enclosure where the opening is big enough for the cats, but too small for the racoons.

Also, check in your area if you have any type of feral cat rescue (I am not talking about animal control or the humane society). Usually feral cat rescue will come out and trap the feral cats, spay or neuter them, "tag" them (they tag their ears here in Indy) and then they return them to wherever they were trapped. So you would have your ferals back, but they would not be able to reproduce. IndyFeral even insists that the cats be re-released where they were trapped because cats will try and get back "home" even if you release them somewhere else.

I have helped a neighbor catch 2 feral cats so far this summer and we are working on our third (the momma to the 2 we caught). I also ended up with the son of one of the ferals (we were able to domesticate the kittens fairly easily because we got to them when they were only a few days old).