Do cats and raccoons get along? Is your cat in danger if she encounters a raccoon?

My dear fellow furry friends,

Do you like other animals? Well, being a cat I prefer to choose my own friends. Think cats and cats, cats and dogs, cats and raccoons, cats and opossums.

From a small age I was not happy with fellow cats – sorry my furry friends. But I just wanted to protect my territory. So when dad took me out and I saw another cat, I ran and chased it away – big time. I know this was not nice, but I cannot help myself. Even big cats ran away from me. Mom was not happy with that behavior, because we have some homeless kitties and mom felt so sorry for them. She wanted to take care of those cats too, but I would not let her.

Now little dogs are no problem for me. I don’t care about them at all. Our neighbor has several little ones like chihuahuas, they are annoying, but I just ignore them and they do the same. There are a couple of larger dogs in our neighborhood, but I only hear them, never see them.

My favorite time to go outside is when it gets dark, or is already late. We live in a residential neighborhood, but we do have a lake – very common in Florida. So there are some wild animals around too – no, nothing as scary as alligators. But we always had opossums and raccoons. And every spring/summer they have babies. I find them cute, but mom is not so amused by it. Mama animals protect their young at any cost. So our raccoons already attacked one of the residents in the stairway, so not a good situation. cute or not, they stand their ground and will attack when they have children.

So when I go outside my dad keeps me on a long leash – that way I can roam around wherever I want. But with mom it is a different story. She won’t let me go far. She always has me in her sight because of those wild animals.

Now once in a while I meet the raccoons and the opossums, but even dad pulls me back and puts me in the house. Which does not prevent them to come around to our windows and doors.

The other day I was inside sleeping while dad was watching TV and I saw the raccoons in the parking lot, right outside my door. They were very close and they had their kids with them. It was a nice sight, at least for me.

But mom says they all carry deseases, besides having flees. You can get Baylisascaris infection (round worms) from raccoons, as well as Leptospirosis, which is a bacteria that even in humans, if not treated, can cause kidney damage, liver failure, meningitis and even death.

So, as much as I like to be outside and make friends, it might be a good idea to stay away from wild animals.

Now it is time for my afternoon snack and a nice long nap.

Miau and leave me a comment below, if you ever encountered a raccoon or opossum.