A raccoon and a cat can be friends, but they can also be enemies. A raccoon is a curious animal, but mostly it is interested in finding food, so if it appears that
the raccoon is a friend of your pet cat, it's likely actually friends with the cat's food!
You might also want to know Do raccoons attack cats, dogs, or other pets?
I have a story and hope you can advise. Well, last summer we had a large stray tuxedo cat sitting on our hill and it and another cat would just hang around and watch
the cars go by. The black cat was feral and the other a neighbors tabby that hangs around. This cat adopted us and we actually have a lady who takes the cats to be
spayed or neutered and given shots/checked blood tests and then put back as feral cats to the environment. We were feeding the cat, it turned out to be a male, and
was neutered and wondered around after his vet visit then we never saw him again. Another friend of his a stripped male was also trapped and neutered by our local
vet through our "cat lady" and then released again and we never saw him anymore. Now last winter I made cubbies out of storage bins for these cats , putting in
insulation and straw for warmth for protection from our northeast cold weather. Because the cats were ferel there was little we could do to try and train them.
The cubbies were put up in the summer and then I re-checked them and recently put them back out for fall and winter. We have a raccoon and a skunk, apparently living
in the shelters next to our above ground deck. I thought that the cats were living in them but to my surprise they were not. The raccoon and skunk are apparently
friends, they are coming up on the deck late at night and eating the cat food that I thought I was putting out for the cats. They have a system of communication.
The skunk taps its paw hard on the deck and then the raccoon starts to eat. When it is done it moves away hits it's tail on the deck and the skunk starts to eat.
This goes on until late. Then when they are all done they usually leave the deck together and go under it ... routinely every night, only occasionally I see the
raccoon alone eating. They do not bother me and I do not bother them. They only come out at night. Should I remove them or just let them go? They do not seem to
harm anyone and run when the back door is opened. The raccoon is afraid and the skunk I see on occasion if I get in late from work and turn the deck light on early
in the morning before dawn. I think I have created a zoo out back by feeding the feral cats and I am not sure that it is ok to have a few critters under the deck.
I live in the outskirts borough area by our highschool and we are kind of in town but on the forrest/ hills and field side. What do you think? I need advice. I
think that the cats are gone because of the raccoon and skunk. I'm not sure what is actually going on out there except that new critters are showing up and leaving at a high rate.