I have a raccoon that is coming up on my back porch and steals my out side kitty's food at high noon I have

Question

tryed several times to scare him or her away he jest come back up on the porch to get the food I got a real close look at him thru the window he had a metal tag in each ear I live in central FL does any body know what this means thanks

Answer 1

The metal tag means that someone may be tracking where this animal's range is--often with only two or three points of reference: where each of the two tags was put in and where its dead body is found.

They can be real pests, and are terribly bold. They pose a danger to your cat, so you need to remove her food and water from an area accessible to the raccoons.

If the outside kitty is feral, this may be really hard to do. If it's tame but prefers to eat on its own schedule, tough break. Bring it indoors to feed for at least a month. By then the raccoon will move on to someplace else.

Leave the food out, though, and that guarantees it'll stay.

Answer 2

He has definitely been caught before. Report your "sighting" to your local "dog catcher".

Answer 3

Hmm not to be rude about it, but you shouldn't keep the food where the raccoon can get it? They always scour for food, but they usually do that because they're hungry! IF you leave the food only where the cat can get it the coon wont come...also...he might have a tag in his ears if he was treated by a local vet for something.

the last time i had a racoon on my property, it was tryin to dig through trash, and it was almost 20 lbs and FEISTY.

stay away..far far away from raccoons

Answer 4

dont go near it. they can be extremely vicious.

Answer 5

The easiest things you can do is:

bring the cat food inside

  and

call animal control.

The ear tag probably means he's been caught before by someone.  Who was it?  You'd have to check the ear tag to find out.

Raccoons are notorious scavengers.  He will keep coming back because he's discovered an easy source of food.  And if he catches your cat, he can do a LOT of damage to it.  So you have to take action now.

My guess is that Animal Control will put out a live trap, and catch and remove the critter.  You could do that yourself if you want - I caught a raccoon and 4 woodchucks that way earlier this summer.  If you do, though, take the animal at least 5 miles away from where you live.  If you take it to the end of the street, it will be back by tomorrow.

Also - if you do catch it and move it yourself - be aware that these things probably have a nice crop of fleas.  Don't put it on the back seat of your car, or in your trunk, if you can help it.  Put it in the back of a pickup truck.  Otherwise, you could have fleas all over your car.  

One other warning - raccoons can carry diseases that can be transmitted to your cat - and you.  You really need to be careful if you take care of it yourself.  Better call animal control.  This is what you're paying them to do.

Answer 6

Call animal control, tags may mean rabies shots or something. or just remove food to inside of the house.