Raccoon vs. Cat: What Happened During My Surprise Visit?

  • Thread starter Math Is Hard
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In summary, a raccoon was in the kitchen doing homework last night and my cat got scared and attacked it. The raccoon ran out the front door. I would call animal control if I saw it again. The raccoon is a strange animal and I've never seen it do this before. I prefer possums in my house.
  • #1
Math Is Hard
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Last night after class I was in the kitchen doing some homework, and I had left the front door cracked for the cat to come in from the patio. I suddenly hear her in the living room growling at something. I figure my neighbor's cat had come upstairs to pester her. Then she starts making this I-am-really-upset noise so I go over to see what the problem is and shoo the neighbor cat away.

What do I see in my living room but a full-grown raccoon and it's nose to nose with my cat! Luckily, when the raccoon saw me it turned around and ran out the front door. I don't know what I would have done if it had headed for my room and gone under the bed!

This raccoon is quite bold. I have seen it around before at night- in a staring contest with the neighbor's cat as a matter of fact. Even after I chased it off it was still sitting at the bottom of the stairs so I had to clap my hands at it to get it to move on.
 
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  • #2
Raccoons are cool. I wish they lived in England. The most exciting mammals I get in my garden are my guinea pigs.
 
  • #3
matthyaouw said:
Raccoons are cool. I wish they lived in England.
I will send you one! :biggrin:
matthyaouw said:
The most exciting mammals I get in my garden are my guinea pigs.
I did not know guinea pigs roamed freely anywhere these days. That's pretty cool. I thought they could only be found in pet stores anymore.
 
  • #4
These roam freely around their cages (oxymoron?)... And occasionally the floor when I put them there, but they are hard to get back, so I don't do that often.
 
  • #5
At first I thought Sylvester Stalone had visited. :rofl:

A racoon is much better. I prefer possums in my house though.
 
  • #6
Evo said:
At first I thought Sylvester Stalone had visited. :rofl:
A racoon is much better. I prefer possums in my house though.
well, it is L.A. and people do occasionally find mentally deranged celebrities wandering around their yards. :biggrin:
 
  • #7
Racoons are very dangerous to small animals. A real problem around here, a buddy had a small dog killed by a racoon about a year ago. I would call animal control and have it removed or you might end up with seriously damaged [or worse] kitties.
 
  • #8
I thought it was Stalone too lol. Interesting story, good that your cat is ok :smile:
 
  • #9
Ivan Seeking said:
Racoons are very dangerous to small animals. A real problem around here, a buddy had a small dog killed by a racoon about a year ago. I would call animal control and have it removed or you might end up with seriously damaged [or worse] kitties.
if we see it hanging around anymore we might have to do something. There are two apartment buildings next to each other where I live and everyone has at least one cat.
mattmns said:
good that your cat is ok
thanks, matt. yeah, the funny thing is that my cat is a spoiled little cream puff, but when she saw another animal invade her territory she was instantly as fierce and furious as any feral you'd see in a dark alley. Her tail 'bottle brushed' out so completely that it rivaled the coon's tail in size! God, I am glad she didn't lunge at it. She tried to go after it down the stairs, but I grabbed her in time.
 
  • #10
I've been reading this story about a couple who raised some unwanted baby raccoons that people were going to hand over to animal control. There was one amusing story they told about a nature lover bemoaning the sad existence of their raccoons because they would never get to play in a stream like the ones in nature.
yes, but the raccoons in nature don't get to play in cabinets! they countered.
:smile:
http://www.loomcom.com/raccoons/info/saga/fcabnt1.jpg [Broken]
http://www.loomcom.com/raccoons/info/saga/saga0.html [Broken]
one of the babies
http://www.loomcom.com/raccoons/info/saga/fbotl4.jpg [Broken]
 
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  • #11
Awwww... those are cute.
I once got to hold a baby opossum. It was so cute, like an extra large rat.

bemoaning the sad existence of their raccoons because they would never get to play in a stream like the ones in nature.
You mean like the gutter? I suppose they won't get to play in other people's garbage cans either.
 
  • #12
TheStatutoryApe said:
You mean like the gutter? I suppose they won't get to play in other people's garbage cans either.
The urban racoon does not live an idyllic life, no.

I find their behavior strange, too. A family, or perhaps gang of them sometimes climbs up a tree that is too close to the building here, and they cavort on the roof. I can't explain it since there's no food or water up there for them. They seem to be playing tag.
 
  • #13
Math Is Hard said:
well, it is L.A. and people do occasionally find mentally deranged celebrities wandering around their yards. :biggrin:

As long as they don't believe they are celestial beings awaiting the return of their spaceship I think we are alright. :uhh:

Who knows what raccoons think? Maybe they like living in gutters and poking through people's nasty garbage. It's good enough for some homeless people and they don't even get to play tag on Zooby's roof.
 
  • #14
Zooby, do they ever try to come into the brush shelter? (the raccoons, I mean, not homeless people)
 
  • #15
Math Is Hard said:
Zooby, do they ever try to come into the brush shelter? (the raccoons, I mean, not homeless people)
No, and I'm glad because there's five or six of them and I think, working together, they could take me.
 
  • #16
Evo said:
At first I thought Sylvester Stalone had visited. :rofl:
A racoon is much better. I prefer possums in my house though.

I guess my age is showing, I was thinking of the squirrel.
 
  • #17
Les Sleeth said:
I guess my age is showing, I was thinking of the squirrel.
:smile:

Les, how do your felines get along with the local wildlife?
 
  • #18
Math Is Hard said:
Les, how do your felines get along with the local wildlife?

They all get along, but as you know we live in a very open, undeveloped area where there's enough space and food sources for all. I have heard a number of stories like Ivan's where raccoons living around developed areas get more aggressive. They are tough and can kill cats easily.

The other wildlife, like foxes and the occasional Great Gray Owl, or the Bald Eagles and Ospreys (on their way to the Pacific to fish) have worried me. Probably the most worrisome is the mountain lion hanging around a nearby park. I've told my wife she would be a very tasty morsel and to make sure to carry cat repellant with her when she jogs there. :biggrin:
 
  • #19
zoobyshoe said:
The urban racoon does not live an idyllic life, no.
I find their behavior strange, too. A family, or perhaps gang of them sometimes climbs up a tree that is too close to the building here, and they cavort on the roof. I can't explain it since there's no food or water up there for them. They seem to be playing tag.
Ugh! In my last house, there were a couple of raccoons that would do that, and always at 3 AM...or thereabouts...I'd just be drifting off to sleep and Thump thump thump thumpity thumpity bumpity thumpity pitter pitter pitter patter bump thunk scritch scritch scritch Then there'd be a pause, and I'd calm myself back down and just start to fall asleep, and again bump dadump dadump dadump thumpity pitter patter bump thump :grumpy: I was never in a good mood the next day.
 
  • #20
Moonbear said:
Thump thump thump thumpity thumpity bumpity thumpity pitter pitter pitter patter bump thunk scritch scritch scritch
A surprisingly accurate rendition. I guess their routine is the same everywhere.
 
  • #21
Les Sleeth said:
I guess my age is showing, I was thinking of the squirrel.

Well, i was thinking she meant Rocky Horror... Of the Rocky Horror Picture Show...

wait, actually, what did she mean by rocky?
 
  • #22
Gale said:
Well, i was thinking she meant Rocky Horror... Of the Rocky Horror Picture Show...
wait, actually, what did she mean by rocky?
Does this ring a bell...
Paul McCartney said:
Now, somewhere in the black mountain hills of Dakota there lived a young boy name o' Rocky Racoooooooooon now.
And one day his woman run off with another guy...
 
  • #23
zoobyshoe said:
Originally Posted by Paul McCartney
Now, somewhere in the black mountain hills of Dakota there lived a young boy name o' Rocky Racoooooooooon now.
And one day his woman run off with another guy...

Cool! I had no idea Paul McCartney was a member here! :smile:

but I do know this..

Rocky Raccoon checked into his room
Only to find Gideon's bible
Rocky had come equipped with a gun
To shoot off the legs of his rival
His rival it seems had broken his dreams
By stealing the girl of his fancy.
Her name was Magil and she called herself Lil
But everyone knew her as Nancy.
Now she and her man who called himself Dan
Were in the next room at the hoe down
Rocky burst in and grinning a grin
He said Danny boy this is a showdown
But Daniel was hot-he drew first and shot
And Rocky collapsed in the corner.
 
  • #24
update on Rocky: turns out he is rather tame. My neighbor across the alley pets him and feeds him, and her cats play with him. Hope she knows what she's doing. But that explains why the little critter had no qualms about walking into my living room.
 
  • #25
Math Is Hard said:
update on Rocky: turns out he is rather tame. My neighbor across the alley pets him and feeds him, and her cats play with him. Hope she knows what she's doing. But that explains why the little critter had no qualms about walking into my living room.
Even if it's tame, I wouldn't let your cat near it if it has that aggressive/fearful reaction. The cat could still get into a fight and get hurt if it instigates or escalates a confrontation.
 
  • #26
By the way, a few months ago I saw a raccoon roaming around in Manhattan. I thought it was the coolest thing ever (first time I saw a raccoon in person). He was a suspicious fellow. I think he was involved in some espionage.
 

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  • #27
I think that first picture is actually a baby bigfoot.
 
  • #28
hypnagogue said:
Even if it's tame, I wouldn't let your cat near it if it has that aggressive/fearful reaction. The cat could still get into a fight and get hurt if it instigates or escalates a confrontation.
Hopefully, my cat will have enough sense to stear clear.

I think my biggest fear is that my neighbor will hand-feed it, and the raccoon might accidentally bite her while it's taking the food. That would mean a death-sentence for the raccoon since it would have to be caught and tested for rabies, and it might mean rabies shots for my neighbor. Bad news either way.
 
  • #29
hypnagogue said:
By the way, a few months ago I saw a raccoon roaming around in Manhattan. I thought it was the coolest thing ever (first time I saw a raccoon in person). He was a suspicious fellow. I think he was involved in some espionage.
I think that raccoon is in need of an exorcism! :biggrin:
 
  • #30
I could be mistaken, but I believe that raccoon could be one of Dr Foofer's henchmen in the illegal possum smuggling ring.
 
  • #31
That makes perfect sense because raccoons are notoriously good and breaking and entering.
He could be placing possums in locked garages.
 
  • #32
Les Sleeth said:
I guess my age is showing, I was thinking of the squirrel.
If it makes you feel any better I was thinking the same thing and I'm twenty-six.
 
  • #33
TheStatutoryApe said:
If it makes you feel any better I was thinking the same thing and I'm twenty-six.
Heh heh, yeah, I was going to comment that it's a good thing Bullwinkle didn't show up with him. :rofl:
 
  • #34
I think he got himself caught up in something on the way...
http://soap.chattablogs.com/archives/images/moose_aloft-thumb.jpg [Broken]
 
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