Racoons in my backyard at 3am!!! (Austin, West: houses, disposal, living)

[Trainwreck20]

As for the cats running, cats and raccoons get along. My old tomcat used to follow them around.

My old tomcat and the coons used to fight like crazy....amazingly, the cat lived each time to tell the tale....

[512ATX]

Originally Posted by NY Annie

I hate raccoons - they are such a nuisance. I found that putting out rags soaked in ammonia helps. They hate that smell (like coyote urine, I think).

if you saw these two in my yard, you'd wanna shoot them. they looked angry and old. and you know the old ones are vicious..my dog would've had no chance if I had left her out there. good thing she was inside scratching up the door barking at them, which is how I knew they were out there.

As for the cats running, cats and raccoons get along. My old tomcat used to follow them around.

the ferel cats in my area just like to have sex, makes eery noises during sex and make more cats..oh and dig up my garden and poop in it. but when the Racoons showed up last night. not a ferel cat in sight. and they like to be up at that hour walking the streets having sex too..lol..sick

[Gorfml]

we have at least 5(probably more now)raccoons living in our yard for years...i'm about to do something about it...

[512ATX]

Originally Posted by Gorfml

we have at least 5(probably more now)raccoons living in our yard for years...i'm about to do something about it...

Raccoons "look" cute and cuddly but they are hardcore wild animals that won't back down from a fight. I saw one on youtube conerned by a big dog and he sliced that dog up too and got away. the dog chased it but you could see the lacerations on the dogs body as it ran by yelping and barking as if to be in pain and upset at the same time..lol..

AND Racoons carry rabies...so yes, you need to do something about that Coon family in your yard..lol

[orangetravelerJP]

Basically you are putting out food for them and then getting upset when they come eat it. If you stop providing a free meal, they'll probably move on without you having to do anything else.

[AMJ27]

Dumb question, but why can't you just feed your dog inside?

[512ATX]

Originally Posted by veggiegirl26

Basically you are putting out food for them and then getting upset when they come eat it. If you stop providing a free meal, they'll probably move on without you having to do anything else.

I got it now. only reason I'm at bugged out about it is because this is the first time in 15 years of owning my house that I saw some dog gone racoons. I was kinda put off by them showing up so I threw the question out there. good to know they'll move on if I stop the dog food dump. I thougtht they moved in, big difference.

[512ATX]

Originally Posted by AMJ27

Dumb question, but why can't you just feed your dog inside?

not a dumb questoin. I answered it in post #4

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by 512ATX

I got it now. only reason I'm at bugged out about it is because this is the first time in 15 years of owning my house that I saw some dog gone racoons. I was kinda put off by them showing up so I threw the question out there. good to know they'll move on if I stop the dog food dump. I thougtht they moved in, big difference.

They have probably been visiting your yard for a long time and you just didn't realize it because they were active only at night. I noticed that something had dug out a little of the dirt along the side of my yard storage shed and it wasn't until months later when my cat started to crawl under it and backed out hissing that I discovered there was at least one racoon living under there. We have bird feeders in the yard which they were attracted to. Even though the feeders were hung by chains above the ground, the racoons would climb the tree, shimmy down the chain and munch on bird seed while hanging on the side of the feeder. We found some plastic domes to add to the chain which eliminated that problem.



The other problem was the trash cans the City makes us use are easy for racoons to get into. A bunge cord and a couple of concrete pavers on the lid have solved that problem. https://www.city-data.com/forum/austi...l#post15938139

But I still see signs, scat, from time to time that indicates they still visit our yard, but don't hang around as much since there isn't much for them to eat except what bird seed gets spilled on the ground. The birds clean up most of that.

[opalminor]

HHmmm.. I always thought seeing a racoon once in a while was all part of living in Texas, not living in the city, and living on planet earth.... and especially now that it just stopped raining altogether in Texas, the wildlife is starving and dying of thirst. I've seen plenty of them ('Possums & dillos too) in my backyard and they come and go and I never understood why it's a problem....