On Friday, October 2, 2015 at 10:17:30 AM UTC-4, Stormin Mormon wrote:
On 10/1/2015 10:41 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
I've got raccoons coming into my garage through the cat door and
eating/spilling the cat food. I've been recording them with a security
camera to try to figure out how to dissuade them from this activity.

Blocking the cat door for about a week seemed to discourage them but it also
prevented my cat from using the garage at night. Once they stopped coming
around I unblocked the door, but now, after more than a week of no activity,
they are back.

I put the food up on a center-legged table that the cat can jump onto, but
last night one of the critters was just tall enough to knock the food onto
the floor. It took some effort, but the critter was persistent. The table
is adjustable so tonight I'm going to raise it up a notch so the critters
can't stand on their hind legs and support themselves with their front legs
like they did last night. It'll be interesting to see what they try next.
Maybe I'll see one raccoon standing on the back of another or one of them
giving the other an old fashioned "boost". ;-)

I may have to eliminate the cat's midnight snacks for a while.


Board over the door, and shoot the cat?


Ain't shooting the cat.

I have a method to block the door, which is how I discouraged them in the
first place. They stayed away for about 2 weeks after I unblocked it, but
they are back.

The single leg table didn't work either. The first night one of them grabbed
the edge of the table and hoisted himself right up. If I get around to
putting it on youtube, I'll post the link back here. They came back later that night and because the food container was pulled closer to the edge
from the earlier meal, he was able to pull it down onto the floor.

Last night, I raised the table about 6" and also removed the runners along
the edge that the critter had used to hold onto while he hoisted himself up.

This morning the food container was on the floor again. I haven't watched
the DVD yet, so I'm really curious as to how he was able to reach it. They
could barely reach the top of the table the first night, so I'm really
curious as to how they reached it after I raised the table. I'll find out
tonight when I watch the DVD.