Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Something Needs to be Done About These Raccoons

We're still under a raccoon siege here at the 'Post. We stay buttoned up all night because the raccoons still visit the neighborhood. You can tell, because they're digging holes in everyone's yards looking for grubs. Meanwhile, I can't seem to explain the situation to our Maximum Leader. She's used to going outside and playing at night. Staying inside is so boring and when she gets bored, she eats.

Last night she woke me up at 2AM to feed her and play with her. She got a snack and I tried to ignore her, but she wandered around the house ripping at things. She didn't go after the furniture because she's a very good cat, but she went after any books or papers that were within reach.

I can't say as I blame her. I'd be bored silly if I was cooped inside during my normal waking hours, too. I've just got to find a solution for the raccoon problem or we're all going to be shouting and meowing at each other.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

There are things you could do, K T, but most of them are probably illegal in LA. Raccoons travel as families and if they witness the death of one of their members, they tend to stay away.

Anonymous said...

We have them too. Back 15 years ago, a
4-5 month old Socks (cat) treed one. I
saved him before the raccoon realized what happened.

Last week, the raccoon's left several, err, presents on the deck. We're thinking
about coyote urine tablets.

http://raccoon-x.com/repellant.htm

But we're wondering if that will cause problems for Socks as well. He sneaks out periodically.

K T Cat said...

Thanks for the comments! I'm leaning towards a more mechanical engineering approach. I would bet that our Maximum Leader can jump better than they can, so a cat door that was elevated might work well. She could leap through while they snuffled about on the ground.

Kelly the little black dog said...

I keep telling you that the Maximum Leader needs her own dog. A dog in the back yard will keep the raccoons away and can double as an exercise trainer for ML. And with a little training the dog won't drool or gum her too much either. ;)

Unknown said...

My solutions usually involve firearms and/or other violent means. All of which I'm sure are illegal within city limits.... :(

Yet more proof the police (even the Knight-Protector) can't be everywhere at once.

Anonymous said...

Well, if you get a dog, KT, make it a BIG one who would instinctively hunt raccoons to begin with. I had a poodle/spaniel mix that got attacked by a family of seven coons back in 1992. At three in the morning, I was woken up by a scream (my dog) that sounded human. A raccoon was on her back chewing on her neck. I treed most of them with a water hose and a rake. There's more to the story, but I'll leave it there. They never came back. (And yes, we had fruit trees - what they really wanted was our dog's "territory!")

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