OT: Raccoon thru cat door

This has been going on ~ years. Awful. I

I finally closed the cat door. Cat has to go through my bedroom and out part-open window. Iffy when guests using space!

I've been on-line several times looking for repellants. They seem to come in (a) odor -- ammonia, etc. and (b) taste - various concoctions of capsai cisn, onion, and other ingredients. All need periodic renewal after rain. (I wish!!!) The below solution from an on-line contributor is intriguing. Anybody ever try it?

"...raccoons seem to love to get into the enclosed area above our front por ch, the only thing I I have found to work is to place an old clock radio pl aying a talk radio station at just a low enough volume that we don't notice it in the daytime but the human voices do keep away the raccoons at night, the old radio finally crapped out and sure enough the racoons were back.."

Thanks for any input

HB

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. " Voltaire

Reply to
Hypatia Nachshon
Loading thread data ...

I heard (but never actually experienced) that a large cage trap (e.g., Havahart) baited with sardines will catch but not harm a raccoon. Then your local fish and game agency might advise you on how to relocate it.

Reply to
David E. Ross

I've done it. I use peanut butter which catches practically every critter. Only problem I have is my trap is groundhog size and will not catch the larger raccoons as it will not close on them.

Picture I probably posted before:

formatting link

Catch and release laws vary. Here you can catch and kill but not release. I do it anyway and once released a squirrel in the park near a cop who said nothing.

Reply to
Frank

They make special pet doors that only open for your pet. Like this:

formatting link

I've seen others that have a special device that hangs on your pets collar that triggers the door. The version above, company, also sells an external chip for a collar. Scroll down to "Customers also bought" on same page. Just another idea...

Reply to
Leon Fisk

Right, Leon - hic jacet lapin! I looked at electronic doors in the past for my chipped cat, but alas, there's a chain of events - involving replacing the actual house door -- that's too expensive for me at the moment.

An electronic collar tag wouldn't do it. He loses collars as fast as I can buy them and pay extra to have his info engraved on a tag.

Sigh..

HB

Reply to
Hypatia Nachshon

Can't you just replace/substitute one in place of the old pet door?

It doesn't have to be perfect. Perfection can wait till you have the funds to replace the house door. In the meantime you'll be happier, your guests will be happier, the kitty will get in and out and best of all the raccoon/critters won't be a bother...

Raccoons are very clever and persistent. All the other solutions (odors, noises...) they will eventually figure out and be problematic again.

If it wasn't such a long drive I'd be willing to help with it ;-)

Reply to
Leon Fisk

My solution works best... my indoor cats never go out and my outdoor cats never come in. My outdoor cats are ferals, born in my barn. Ferals have excellent outdoor survival skills and are far stronger and more agile than indoor cats, they can climb a fifty foot tree as well as a squirrel, they can climb thirty feet up into my barn rafters faster than the eye can see. Ferals weigh twice as much as house cats but without an ounce of fat, they are 25-30 pounds of solid rippling muscle... natural selection ensures only the strongest, healthiest, and those with the best skills survive. Winters get frigid here in the northern Catskills (-20º/-30º is normal) so I provide heated houses and heated water bowls for them on my deck, and they are very well fed. They are very happy being outdoor cats, but they are very leery of humans so don't interact much, only a couple will let me pet them for about two seconds, and then back off, the rest won't come near but wait at a distance to be fed and only approach once I close the door and back away. All these habits ensure their survival. My indoor cats are essentially couch potatoes, they can climb into bed, and have never had to face outdoor preditors, they are very happy being house cats, they've no desire to go outside... their experience with a pet door is the one in my basement door that they use in summer when the AC is on so I'm not cooling the basement. I think letting housecats go outdoors if cruel, most will be short lived. I have six regular ferals that sleep in their heated houses on my deck but there's a large community of ferals that all watch out for each other, even the coyotes here won't mess with 20-30 huge feral cats, lest the coyotes get shredded... the raccoons and 'possums don't stand a chance with feral cats because unlike the loner bobcats the ferals are team mates. Only the skunks get to steal cat food.

Reply to
Brooklyn1

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.