"RobertMacy" wrote in message
newsp.xksligq22cx0wh@ajm
On Mon, 18 Aug 2014 05:54:05 -0700, dgk wrote:

...snip....
Seems that a Home Repair newsgroup might come up with a better answer.
It's tough when the budget for solving the problem is apparently zero,
but if the OP doesn't have enough money to spend a bit on the issue,
then perhaps there is a problem with wealth distribution in our
country.

But as for a fix, my cats all have collars with RF chips that I can
locate with the Loc8tor. (www.loc8tor.com). There are similar products
that do key the pet door to the animal. Just check "RFID Pet Door" and
get a bunch of hits.

...snip...

We used to live in 'downtown' of the 7th largest city in US, about 5
blocks from main street and one block from City Hall, Police Dept,
Federal
Buildings, meaning very urban area. In an old Victorian style home,
separate garage. One night as I drove into the drive along the back yard
I
could see a family of raccoons 'gleaning' for something in our lawn.
They
were taking their little hands and feeling for something in the grass,
then would place what they found in their mouths, and kept moving along,
like 'grazing' [later I found out they were pulling all the slugs and
grubs off the grass, great!] I purposely ignored them as I parked in the
drive to carry in groceries. One juvenile of the group came over towards
me, so I 'talked' to it. In response, it stoodup on hind legs and swayed
back and forth, like a greeting. The other members of the family kept
clear, but this one would always aproach me when I'd come home. So,I
bought him a can of cat food, opened it in front of him, and set it out.
Wow! friend for life here. After eating the cat food, being a juvenile,
he'd run around, grab low hanging branches and swing back and forth in
play. I guess that means thank you in raccoon. Finally come back to me,
stand on hind legs swaying back and forth with those outstretched arms,
then leave with his family. This kept going on until, you guessed it,
he
kept getting 'too' friendly. Started following behind me as I carried
groceries to the steps of the back door. While following me, he'd reach
out with his paw and swipe my heel causing my foot to deflect and
lock/catch on my other foot almost causing me to fall [This raccoon must
have gone to the same high school I did, since that was also a favorite
sport amongst us]

After time, they all grew quite large, the siblings evidently moved on,
but that one precocious one stayed around, until one day when I came
home,
there he was right in front of me, but now about hundred feet away I
could
see he was accompanied by a female and three very little ones of his
own.
So I stopped and gave full attention, and one by one the little ones
came
from distance away to come up close and parade in front of me, like
trying
to gain approval. Each passed 'carefully' by. The female would not leave
her safe distance, but acquiesed to have all her offspring be paraded in
front of me. Looked like a small May Day parade. So I rewarded with the
can of cat food, and they all played around the lawn for awhile. except
female who was quite happy to 'hide' in the open under her tree.

Don't know what happened to the original, got old, died don't know. But
the three little ones slowly grew and adopted our lawn as 'home' I
guess.

Over time, and many cans of cat food, they'd now started to congregate
up
on the steps beside the back door waiting for me to bring groceries up.
All three would stand on their hind legs while waiting, like small
children. As I would turn my back to pick up sacks from the car; they
would intently claw at the back door trying to open it [all while up on
hind legs], then as I would turn carrying the sacks, they'd all stop,
quickly turn their attention away from the door, back to me, drop their
arms down to their sides, and all start milling around, some looking up,
another looking down, all trying to look innocent, like "we weren't
trying
to get in" but turn my back and they'd all be back at that door clawing
away. Like a scene from a film.

Ok, ok. So one night I opened the door for them, and they dropped dwon
from their standing positions to the level of the top step, staring
intently into the 'forbidden' space. Actually, one got head over the
threshold, but that was enough, with curiosity satisfied, they all
turned
and ran out to the lawn to continue their grazing, and never clawed at
the
door again.

They never touched our garbage, and always grazed our lawn for slugs and
grubs. I had long ago given up spraying for the slugs, to not hurt the
raccoons. And always greeted me when I came home, all three standing on
their hind leges with arms up in the air swaying back and forth.

That's a nice story, thanks. I had a pet raccoon when I was a
kid,,,weighed 1.5 pounds when I got him, became my good buddy. I still
have a soft spot for them, would never hurt one.

--

dadiOH
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