Do raccoons eat cats? It’s a query many cat-loving house owners have pondered. If you have a furry companion that spends time outdoors, in particular at night, you might also worry about your cat’s safety, and with suitable reason. So yes, under some circumstances, raccoons can and will kill a cat, and if they do, they may additionally go as far as to consume your beloved pet.
Why Are Raccoons A Threat To Cats
Like pussycats, raccoons are also nightly critters, meaning that they’re active substantially at night. still, unlike your cat, a raccoon has to fend for itself, which means looking anywhere and everywhere for food.
Territorial Instincts
Unfortunately, their largely sensitive tips can bring them right to your doorstep or yard. What attracts raccoons to your emulsion, you ask? The most common culprits are the contents of your trash cans. The other thing that can attract these ring-tagged bandits to your compound is a precious food.
Nevertheless, anyhow of the reason, they will be stepping into your yard. Now, if you know anything about kitties, also you know how territorial they can be. thus, while the raccoon might simply be looking for a snack, your cat might not take kindly to the blatant trespassing. Depending on your cat’s personality, a fight may ensue, with the cat being the aggressor.
Size & Skill
However, size does matter. A good illustration of why size matters are the need for weight classes in professional combat sports, similar to boxing. A 200- pound existence is likely to beat a 135- pounder indeed if the ultimate is more professed.
Also, a raccoon is nearly likely always going to beat a cat in a full-blown fight, despite the cat’s superior revulsions. The bandit is simply too big for your kitty. Fortunately, it’s largely doubtful that a raccoon will kill a cat during a fight. Battles generally last a few seconds, with the less-determined party scurrying away.
Illness
Still, it doesn’t matter who the victor is. As long there was a fight, it means that both parties entered a couple of bites and scrapes. This is where the real peril is; raccoons carry all kinds of sponges and conditions, including rabies.
Thus, indeed if your kitty didn’t die during the fight, it can contract a nasty infection or complaint from the raccoon. And without immediate vet care, your cat might succumb to the complaint or infection.
When it comes to the subject of raccoons eating pussycats, it’s largely doubtful. As mentioned, raccoons don’t see pussycats as prey. still, you can not put it past a raccoon to attack and eat kittens. They’re opportunistic predators.
Do Raccoons Attack Cats
Raccoons are substantially nightly brutes, similar to pussycats. Plus, their wild hunting instincts mimic the inborn instincts of your kitty. And due to the nimble territorial behavior, it’s possible that your cat could come face to face with a raccoon.
While it depends on the situation, it’s quite common for a raccoon to attack a cat.
Still, territorial and intelligent hunters similar to the raccoon and the cat match, but they won’t become best buddies, If two meat-loving. And having in mind the raccoon’s advantages in terms of size, speed, and attacking chops, numerous domestic pussycats can’t beat them.
On the other hand, it’s also possible for two mammals of these species to come friends. Depending on the cat and the raccoon’s emotional responses to their surroundings, they could tolerate each other’s company. But if they engage in a fight, don’t go on your pet’s sheer luck.
Do Raccoons Eat Cats
Even even though this has been the challenge of some relatively serious controversy, raccoons can certainly eat cats, small dogs, and different tiny animals.
Kittens are in fatal hazard if a raccoon is close to them. The wild creature will most truly try to attack and devour the kittens.
Larger home cats are ways less probable to be eaten by means of a wild raccoon, but they can nevertheless get bitten. In such cases, the kitty might also in the end be lethally injured or may additionally contract a serious ailment that should in return shorten its lifespan. Or in different words, if the raccoon doesn’t devour the cat, it should still motivate a deadly outcome.
Protect Your Cat From Raccoons
There’s no need to opt for animal cruelty with poison or traps. Here are some tips and tricks on how to avoid raccoons wandering around your home and your cat.
Clean your yard. Don’t leave full trashcans outside or anything which may smell appealing to hungry and curious animals.
Secure windows and cracks/ holes. Raccoons can easily get inside attics and basements through unsealed cracks and open windows. Once the creature is in your home, it becomes much more difficult to protect your kitty from it.
Don’t leave food around. Don’t leave food near open windows or within the yard. The identical holds for table scraps and leftovers, as they might also attract an unwanted visitor.
Opt for a better fencing system. Pro tip – these can keep your cats cornered too.
Conclusions
The only time a raccoon can assault a cat is when the cat insists on confronting it. Nonetheless, it will attack and kill kittens.
The exceptional way of heading off plausible altercations between your cats and raccoons is by making your compound as unattractive to raccoons as possible. How do you do that? Simply with the aid of letting raccoons recognize that there are no meals to scavenge in your yard. This capacity now not leaving pet food outside, in addition to investing in raccoon-proof trash cans.
If possible, do now not enable your kitty to sleep outdoor at night.