Disadvantages of a Cat Door, Part 2

Remember this guy?

If not, read this.

Now let me tell you the latest.

For a few days, we thought we had solved the raccoon problem. We simply closed the cat door before going to bed. Then Mr. Raccoon got smart. He set his alarm clock earlier and started arriving in our kitchen around 9:00 p.m. rather than 11:00.

Then, while we were trying to figure out our next move, the situation became even more complicated.

MRS. Raccoon showed up. With her babies. FOUR babies.

They were SO CUTE!

But dang! I can’t have raccoons in my kitchen.

Time for a couple of asides . . . (Have I ever explained that I have Attention Deficit Disorder?) Anyway . . .



Sweet Girl says we are the weirdest family she knows. She asked why we’re photographing raccoons in our kitchen and putting pictures on the internet for the entire world to see, rather than immediately chasing them out. Furthermore, she was not amused when I told her Little Guy was taking the opportunity to conduct a scientific experiment; he moved the food dish farther away from the water each night to determine the distance needed for the raccoon to stop washing his food.

Wild Child has an opinion about our raccoon invasion, too. As a child, he loved raccoons. He wrote a cartoon series about a raccoon named Bloogy, and he owned an assortment of plush raccoons. He wants to know why raccoons are showing up in our house NOW, when he lives thousands of miles away, rather than during his childhood.

Back to the story . . .

At one point Mama Raccoon got spooked and departed through the cat door. Her babies apparently became confused and didn’t follow her. They darted under my Hoosier cabinet and huddled together.

(Please excuse the dirt under the Hoosier cabinet. What can I say? Many things in life interest me, but house cleaning is not one of them.)

(And please excuse yet another moment brought to you by ADD.)

Dr. Lobo bought dry dog food, made a self-feeding food dish for the raccoons, and placed it on our patio. Each morning there is less food in the dish, and our cat food appears to be undisturbed. It seems that dog food is the raccoon food of choice.

We’re hoping our raccoon problem is solved. But stay tuned. I’ll update if necessary.