Heidi Chronicles: A New Year Begins!

Uhm, KyWoods,

A magnesium supplement may never taste quite as good as a Dove bar.

Thanks, doccat,

I do need to start picking up some bananas again. Seems like I pick up every other fruit but that one lately. I think they are the king of potassium with something like 620mg or so per banana.

HRH and Heidi really do often remind me of an old married couple. They can be funny to observe.

Hi Ruth,

BTW I must agree with your assessment both of HRH and Heidi acting like an old married couple and of HRH wearing a lot of hats in this story. It just wouldn't be the same without that big, old teddy bear sitting around in his Winnie the pooh position popping kibble with everything hanging out. LOL

Thanks for the info on trying to make the produce less raccoon accessible. I was also thinking enclosure. I understand what you are saying about the delicate balance between sturdy enough to climb easily and loose enough to fall down under the weight. What kind of posts do you envision and how would I seat them? Would I need a post hole digger? This will be in the backyard behind the privacy fence so it doesn't have to be pretty. The ground here gets pretty wet when it rains a lot; we are at or below sea level. After a few good days of rain you can dig a hole in the backyard and it will fill up with water. We can't have basements in our homes for the same reason; we have enough trouble keeping the foundation solid. Anyhow, I find that after Heidi swings on the feeder poles, Shepard's hooks, etc enough they start to tilt and then it's all over. For this reason, I had to anchor the arbor in cement. Do you think I need to do that with the posts for the garden? I was thinking about maybe putting wire over the top, too. I'm only 5'2 so I don't need it so very high. I've already handed the strawberries, blueberries, and grapes over to the critters so that's not a problem. I just want to keep the tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, onions, lettuce, radishes, and other greens - for now. Oh, and I don't have room for corn anyhow. After reading that one article on the softball sized, patio perfect melons I was thinking of trying those but probably need to perfect the fencing 1st.

After spending so much time with the raccoons now I really understand the extent of the problem, because I've found that the kits do things as much for play as for food. I can still remember watching Dennis day after day fishing around in that compost pail, sticking his one 'arm' through the air hole on top and fishing around in that toxic sludge apparently just to see what was in there, and pulling up bits of rotted collards. Yuck! But he seemed to be totally enjoying himself. (I could see him trying the same thing with a rotten log out in the forest and finding a handful of BEES!)

Fresh produce would be great for my healthy eating plan which is important to improving and maintaining my health. Some things (tomatoes, cukes) just aren't the same from the store. Others (lettuce, kale, spinach, green onions) don't keep well and are difficult to have on hand when needed but easy to grab from the garden. Any help you can provide in keeping the peace between me and my furry friends would be greatly appreciated.

Soft ground: another challenge. This is getting very interesting. In our veggie patch, we use posts from the local HD or Lowe's; I think they're called U-posts, and come in 6' or taller lengths. There are regularly-spaced notches up the posts that make it easy to thread cable ties through post and hardware cloth. If the ground is that soft, a small area of concrete around each post would probably help a lot. Covering the top could be a mixed blessing: if the critters crawl out across it, as they would, you'd need supports through the garden to keep the top from collapsing from their weight.

Now that I think of it, there's fencing designed to help cat owners keep their cats from leaving the yard. It angles in at the top, so the cat can climb up the fence but not over the top of it. Let me look into that, and I'll send you a dmail. You'd have to erect it backwards, if you know what I mean, since the goal is to keep critters out rather than in.

Yes, I'd definitely work on the enclosure before planting melons: waaaay too tempting. Home-grown fruits and veggies are an awesome addition to the diet, both for health and just for enjoyment. Grocery tomatoes are pretty much a waste of time once you've grown your own...

Seems like you have really perked up!! That is so good and that you managed to work on the book while is amazing! I am working on the decluttering thing myself. I used to have a hard time getting rid of things , but am getting better at it! lol

Friday night I left a couple eggs out for my new friend and they were gone. So somebody enjoyed them! I can't do it often, but a couple times a week Imay leave one out

Ruth,

Good catch on that issue of adding a top; I hadn't thought about that. The cat fence sounds like an awesome idea. Actually, I grew up on garden fresh veggies and even fruits. My father was an avid gardener who could be found outside with hoe in hand at the crack of dawn on weekends and after work the rest of the week. He loved the good earth and kept a rather large and very tidy, healthy, productive garden. In addition, he planted several peach trees at the back of the garden and a pear tree in the back yard. My grandparents grew peanuts, corn, plums, pecans, grapes, apples, and walnuts. It wasn't until I moved out on my own that I had the 1st unpleasant experience of tasting grocery store produce, and let me tell you I was just appalled. I didn't know how all those other people could eat that stuff. It took a while before I acquired any tolerance at all for it. In time I realized the city folk had an advantage in dealing with grocery store fruits and veggies since most had never tasted the 'real' stuff. So, I'm going at this 'backwards' in that I'm trying to get back to the fresh food I grew up on.

When I 1st moved here and before my accident and subsequent knee surgery, I planted a small veggie garden for 3 yrs during which Heidi was here and she and her progeny were patrolling the yard nightly but never bothered any of the vegetables. During that time I grew a ton of tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, green onions, garlic, lettuce, chard, beets, eggplant, and green peas. At that time the raccoons were raiding the bird feeder regularly, Heidi could be seen hiding behind the roses at night when I went out for something. It was during this time that she 1st showed up in the backyard during daylight nibbling seeds from the ground under the feeder (which was much closer to the patio than where she now eats). On one occasion back then a couple of her kits had at first totally freaked me out and then given me quite a chuckle by appearing at the kitchen door one night where they stood upright like a couple of very strange looking children at the french doors looking in.

I mention all of this to say that I may be trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist since they never bothered the vegetables back then. Due to size limitations and because I don't mind the grocery store version, I don't plan to grow corn. Although the tiny melons sounded interesting, there again I'm ok with the grocery store version of these things. Maybe the raccoons won't be interested in the things I plan to grow. Still, I'd like to plan for the worst just in case. I've learned to love the raccoons like pets, so I'd like to work things out so that we can continue to be happy together, even with a small garden.

BTW, last summer I planted a few tomato plants on the patio. About the time the plants were heavy with a bunch of full size, green tomatoes and I was already able to taste them in my mind, something started eating them. Whatever it was ate every single tomato while they were still green. I was never sure whether the culprit was Trouble or the rats. I was having problems then with rats outside attracted to the bird seed and had read that they love green tomatoes. Since the raccoons had never bothered the tomatoes before, I'm inclined now to think the offender was probably a rat.

Thanks, nanny,

Yes, I'm feeling great. I'm getting ready to go out and tackle that flower garden - and looking forward to it.

My recent illness spanned several weeks. It was during the 1st week when I was not yet so violently ill that I found some time to work on the book. During that time I didn't feel well enough to compose thoughts to write posts or even to sit out with the raccoons, but was able to manage the simpler task of collecting and organizing the existing stuff for the book. In the last week of my illness I was truly down for the count. I didn't get anything at all done during that time.

I'm a pack rat, too, and have to work at giving things up. But the house really got to be a wreck during the time when I was recuperating from surgeries. For a year or more after surgery when i tried to walk it felt like the part of my leg below the knee had a knife sticking out of it that stabbed into my upper leg with each painful step. It was excruciating just to get the minimum done - like bathing, dressing, combing my hair and brushing my teeth. Suddenly the large, spacious design of my house became a drawback. With time I found myself putting more and more things down (and giving up) long before I got them back to their assigned location. Then I had a 2nd surgery which made things even worse and a car accident which made my back hurt on top of everything else. Soon clutter was piling up all over the house. I ordered almost everything from the net to avoid stores. That led to a proliferation of boxes left at the front door by the delivery man and painfully dragged in onto the foyer rug by me. Pretty soon it became difficult to get in the front door for the accumulation of stuff I couldn't move without great pain. And on it went for 3 years or more. You can no doubt imagine the mess I ended up with.

I'm sure your raccoon(s) will enjoy the occasional egg and be very happy with whatever scraps, etc you put out on other days. I don't give mine eggs all the time either. I do spend too much money spoiling them, especially when the kits come around. They are just too cute and too much fun to spoil. But all that isn't necessary. They will be happy with whatever food you give them I'm sure.

morning Cheryl.... and i made a slight error ... it's IRON not iodine.

I knew it started with an "I", and after i posted, i went back to check , and it is indeed IRON.

I know there is something for iodine, think it's Kelp ....

Hi, Terese,

That sounds about right. Iron for raisons, iodine for kelp. Good to know. Thanks.

but -- who in the heck craves Kelp?? i had it once... nasty stuff.

ROTFLOL! Terese, I'm with you on that. I guess one would need to have one heck of a raging iodine deficiency.

Hi, Everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that I had a great day today out working in the garden. It was 75F with blue skies, sunshine, and fresh air. I got a lot more done this weekend than I ever dared to expect. In fact, if I continue at this rate I should be able to have the garden ready for spring by, oh, say mid May. I had a wonderful time, at least, that is until late afternoon when my rude neighbor put that annoying dog out, the one that somehow manages to bark endlessly for hours and still breath.

Unfortunately, they did not take that annoying creature in after dark, so when I went out with Heidi's food and egg, she refused to show herself. Sorry, no story tonight. Thanks to the rude neighbor and the endlessly barking dog. The good news is that last summer Heidi quickly got used to that little mutt and started ignoring him. (Sorry, I do realize that it is the neighbor who is being rude and irresponsible, not the dog; but that is the most annoying dog I've ever seen in my life.)

Really glad to hear you're feeling so well, Cheryl, and got stuff done in the garden: jealous of that (lol). I sent you a dmail with info on a cat fence. The one I remembered is designed to attach to an existing fence, which wouldn't work for you; this one is new and looks promising. If the coons didn't bother the veggies you grew in the past, a fence might not be essential; but on the other hand, you're all co-existing so beautifully it would be a shame to introduce a problem into paradise. Guess it would boil down to the cost and effort of putting up the fence vs. the desire to protect the crops. The other point is that, even if the coons don't bother the veggies, the rabbits and possums might well do so. And then there are voles and chipmunks; but don't get me started on them, they're my nemesis here, and a fence is useless to keep them out.

Guess a lot of us got our gardening inspiration in childhood. My dad always worked two jobs, but still made time to garden, and loved it. His was a low-budget operation: no mulch, for example, beyond what he could create from leaves and such; so he was out there weeding in every spare moment he could find, but it was his relaxation.

Hi Ruth,

Thanks for the dmail re the fence. I really did appreciate the info, just been all in a rush. I spent all day Sunday working in the garden from around 9AM (not the sunrise type here) until dark. Then I fed the coons and crashed. I was exhausted from pulling weeds and cutting back huge rose canes. It had been some 3 years since I'd worked that bed - due to surgery, illness, etc, so the growth was substantial.

Oh, thank goodness we don't have chipmunks here! I've not seen any sign of voles either, but I can sure sympathize with your plight as I had a dreadful run in with them when I lived in a rural area some 30mi inland. I had a big garden then, and came home one day to find some 5 or so formerly healthy bean plants, loaded with immature beans wilted and dangling (from the support) above an empty hole where the roots used to be. Every day 5 more plants succumbed until I lost them all - before eating a single bean. I never found a solution. I cringe at the mere thought of those horrid creatures.

Sounds like our dads had a lot in common where gardening was concerned. In the final years of his life my dad was very ill, his circulation so bad that he appeared to have a blue cast in photos, but still he worked that garden (with a hoe) until the day he died. Worked the garden that day, hung up his tools, and went to sleep that night for the last time. Guess we got it honest, something genetic.

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for that little meltdown over the annoying dog/neighbor. I had been listening to him bark non-stop (that still amazes me) for hours. Guess I need ear plugs. Before they got dogs I really liked the neighbors. Still do but can't help thinking them irresponsible and rude where the dogs are concerned. The police have already taken one dog from them.

The pit bull had attacked my dog and then a small child. Thankfully, in both cases there were enough people around including the owner to stop the dog before any serious injury occurred. To keep the pit bull from attacking anyone else, they locked her away in the garage (no lights, no heat or AC) 24/7, only taking her out 2x day for a walk to the back yard for the necessary things. They left a small crack at the bottom of the door for air. One very hot, humid day in summer I noticed her lying down with her legs and face sticking through the hole under the door. I really felt sorry for her. Then one day the police came, and after a few more visits they took the dog with them. So now they just have the Shitzu mix, and they tie it out in the back yard because they don't want to deal with it. They never took the time to work with it or train it, so the little dog has a nasty, ever quite vicious, temperament - and it barks endlessly. These are not people who need a dog. Hopefully, the police will come for the Shitzu soon!

Ok, enough of my OT whining.

Tonight Heidi was the only one there. Guess maybe the guys can't even stand to be around her now. I do think she looks a bit 'fat'. Tonight I got all the way to my bench and then remembered to call her. Sure enough, as soon as I spoke she hopped over the fence. Without thinking, yesterday I had spilled some debris temporarily in the path she usually follows to get to her dish. This change may have made her apprehensive. Anyhow, she walked well around the limbs and debris and stood to one side looking at me. I had finished pouring her food but did not walk away from the dish. Instead I leaned back down to lower my profile and called to her, speaking in my 'sweetest', most cajoling voice. She responded by coming to me, standing a few inches back from the dish, and while eying me carefully, reaching in with one hand to grab food as she had done on previous occasions. At that point I walked away to fill the other dishes and sit down.

Nothing particularly noteworthy happened, but I did notice this one thing. If you recall, in the past I mentioned how Heidi always eats her food the same way - sort of Monkish (the TV character) I now realize. She eats left to right, just like we read. Starting on the left side of the rectangular dish she eats the kibble left to right and front to back always keeping a neat trailing edge, never reaching over to grab some from the middle or the far side. She always does this, but tonight it was particularly noticeable because instead of sitting down and then rolling her egg over to her, I left it in her dish. Not thinking, I set it down on top of the kibble in the left back corner (from her perspective).

When she had finished eating a 1in wide trench of food from front left to middle left Heidi reached the point where the egg was in her way. It prevented her from continuing to eat that strip of food all the way to the back of the dish before starting on the next leftmost strip front to back - so OCD. So instead of just eating around the egg, what did she do? She picked the egg up and moved it over to the far right so that she could continue to eat in the 'proper' left to right front to back manner. OCD!

After a while when she had finished her kibble, she again picked the egg up, this time to put it on the ground in front of her. She turned the egg over a time or 2 as she normally does when looking for the correct spot from which to open it, but then she abandoned it, ate some more kibble and left. Hmm. I always lightly chip the pointy end of her egg. Tonight I didn't do that, and tonight she didn't eat it. Moreover, she did pick it up and turn it about as though she were planning to eat it. I wonder. Is this just a coincidence? Did she just decide not to bother because she's tired of eggs for a while, or does she for some reason actually prefer her egg chipped? I know that chipping the end compromises the shell making it easier to break, and that's one reason I do it, but I'm surprised to think that would matter to an old pro like Heidi. Given her age, could she have bad teeth/gums such that it may be painful to bite into hard items; I had an older dog with tender gums (despite annual cleanings) who avoided 'crunchy' food. Just curious. Found her decision not to eat the egg a bit odd. I guess I'll chip them from now on just in case.

That's about it. She ate and left. Nothing spectacular - but, thankfully, no barking.

I really don't understand people who keep their dogs outside 24/7; what exactly is the point of having them? It's no life for the dog and, as you said, the lack of socialization and interaction turns many nasty. What a shame, and a nuisance for neighbors.

Heidi's eating habits are too funny, and do sound very OCD. I can't think of any "natural" reason for her to eat that way; must just be an idiosyncracy of hers. And the egg thing is very odd. It's certainly possible that she has a sore mouth or gums, but that's not a common problem in wildlife -aside from rare instances when they break a tooth. I suspect she just wasn't in an egg mood, or maybe she was annoyed at it for ruining her eating pattern (lol).

Makes you wonder why people get dogs in the first place , if they don't want to deal with them!! That is one of my top pet peeves!!

I understand Heidi's OCD completely! AFter years of me driving dh crazy about certain things it was sooo nice to find out it had a name!!!! LOL

Maybe you just have her spoiled by chipping her eggs for her, and now she expects that! LOL It would be fun to watch her eat in her predictable pattern.

time for a squirrel up-date, not much really, however she has been down from the tree several times today, hunger won out, she told several nuts the other night, and ate one right after another, very hungry:) today full of spunk, I called her over to show her I brought not the average peanut, but a prime walnut, she started over and run past me fast as could be. climbed the oak tree sharpened her teeth and then came over upside down and took the walnut. that was worth stopping and eating right there, the crack and scrap of those little teeth, makes one shiver. I also offered part of my breakfast bar, it was worth a going over, ate a little then tossed it aside, funny to watch her, and then the sound she makes when you offer something that isn't all that great to her. anyway, scutler glad to her you are out in the fresh air, does a soul good!!!!! hope you continue to feel better and better.

makj, that sounds so cute!! I am having a problem with starlings at my birdfeeders so I am cutting back on things like peanuts and BOSS seed. That did not make my squirrles happy and they were up banging on the sliding door to file their complaints!!

She complained about the breakfast bar, huh? Well, I guess a mother-to-be has a right to be picky. lol

I think she had her babies, she is thin, and spends a lot of time in the tree, i can see her nest. i would love to see those babies:) Ky how is it going?

Makj, I had a feeling she might have given birth, when you said that she was really spunky! Congrats Grandma! LOL!

Cheryl & Spartacusaby, I had some interesting raccoon visits, last night, which also raised some concerns & I need your wisdom. Last night, I put food out, fairly early (around 6:30pm) & a couple of minutes later heard a ruckus outside the kitchen door. I looked out to see my (elderly, semi-feral, hyperthyroid) 8 lb. cat puffed up & chasing Ms. Coon away from his food. Usually she comes back quickly, but this time it took her more than 20 minutes, so my kitty put the fear of cat into her! When we finished eating dinner, I peeked out the window & she was eating.... she looked up & saw me in the window & slowly left, but when I opened the door she was on the patio looking at me, instead of running away, (guess she's getting comfortable). After I closed the door, she returned, so the kids (18 & 22!!) & my DH were able to peek at her with me. She finished eating & moved to her getaway hole under the bridge, but didn't go under bridge. Pretty soon, I saw a second coon head poking up from the bridge - there was another smallish raccoon preventing her from scooting under the bridge. They had a stand-off for quite a while & after a small scuffle they changed places. The new coon didn't head for the porch, where the food is (so I'm assuming it's not the one I've been feeding up there), but headed down the walkway to use the hole under the fence that leads under the hot tub deck.... waiting there were both my cats, one of either side of the hole (they use it too) & they chased the raccoon down the hole.

Now, my concern (sorry for the book leading up to this)... obviously, the coons outweigh my kitties (8 lbs & 12 lbs) & I'm wondering if they will be a threat to my cats territorial nature, as the coons become more comfortable and/or have kits to protect...

Any thoughts? I know that Cheryl's dog has never been attacked, but he doesn't live outside as much as my kitties do. I should also say, that up until now, the cats & coons have seemed to co-exist nicely - even interacting at times... but I don't know if I'm changing the dynamic.

Thanks.

Liz

spunky I'll say the late afternoon, she was trying to get a drink out of her water and it flipped up and slashed her, kind of funny but she was not too happy. so was full of it though, jumping off my leg, grabbing my hand to see what I have for her, new rule don't go out to see her without something for her, she's a little pushy:) watched her go up the tree and into her house, pretty cute.

Liz, you raise some interesting and valid concerns. Frankly, raccoons don't usually regard cats as much of a threat. Unless they are ill, raccoons will not usually start a fight with domestic pets - dogs or cats - they will simply retreat if allowed to do so. If cornered, however, they are formidable fighters; I've seen them do impressive damage to large dogs, and shudder to think what they could do to an elderly cat. Having said all that, you mention that at least one of your cats is a semi-feral; and they all clearly display a territoriality to rival the wildlife's. This helps to level the deck a bit; raccoons have a clear understanding of territory, as Cheryl's stories show, and they usually respect when another animal makes it clear that they are not welcome on someone else's turf.

The bottom line is that I'm not comfortable advising anyone to do things that might put their pets at risk. The first thing I'd advise is to be sure your cats' vaccinations are and remain current. Rabies, of course, is important, but so is the feline FVRCP vaccine under the circumstances. Raccoons are known to be vulnerable to several canine diseases, including parvovirus; and parvo is actually a mutation of the feline panleukopenia virus that's one of the elements of the FVRCP vaccine. I don't know for sure that raccoons are vulnerable to panleuk, or can transmit it as they can parvo; but better safe than sorry.

It might also be wise to put out the raccoons' food at a greater distance from the house, to lessen the chance of close encounters between them and the cats. I know this would lessen your chances to observe and interact with them, which is a bummer; but I always advise more caution, rather than less, when dealing with wildlife and pets. Your elderly hyperthyroid cat does worry me in terms of possible fights with the coons; the cat owns the territory and clearly has the will, but in a real fight it could get very ugly.

I really hate to suggest that anyone back off from feeding wildlife, however mildly; but at the same time I'd hate to see anything happen to the cats if the coons ever decided to stand up to their challenge.

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I've been AWOL for a day or so, just been super busy. With the daffodils blooming and the lilies above ground, spring can't be far away and I'm still way off schedule. Last night I came in to pooped to even pick up the laptop, just crashed.

Liz,

If I understand correctly that you are feeding the raccoons in the same area as you feed the cat(s), I would definitely suggest that you move the raccoons feeding area. They might still try to sneak food from the cat's dish if they can get away with it, but I wouldn't encourage them to eat in the same location. When I started this thing with the raccoons, I was encouraged to locate the dish as far as possible from my house. For me that's the area back by the fence which is where I have been feeding them all along. I think that also discourages them from associating my house with food. In my case the feeding area back by the fence isn't really all that far from the house, maybe 50-60ft but it seems to be working out fine.

During the time that I've lived in this house and have shared a yard with Heidi and her progeny, I've had 2 different dogs, both Maltese. The other one (who died a few years ago) was a female who weighed around 10lbs. She chased raccoons daily for fun and would wake me up in the middle of the night 'swearing' she had to go outside - just to chase raccoons. I would open the door and she would bolt out like a race horse and the chase was on. None of the raccoons ever touched her although I have no doubt they could have done her up pretty bad. On one occasion one of the raccoons was running just ahead of Sassy (the other dog). They were stretched out and running at Sassy's top speed. When they reached the fence, the raccoon jumped onto the middle of the fence (there claws don't hold well on those boards. they always come and go via the posts). The raccoon's claws didn't hold and the raccoon fell back onto the ground almost on top of Sassy. Trapped between dog and fence, the raccoon turned on Sassy. Sassy go the message and moved out of the raccoons way, allowing the raccoon to climb the fence and leave. No body was harmed.

Widget is a 2yr old male who thinks he's King Kong. He chases the raccoons every chance he gets. I used to be terrified that he would get killed. He only weighs 4.5lbs for heaven's sake - less than a bag of sugar. I've seen him get right up in the raccoons' faces and I mean an inch or so away, menacing them. They never harm him. Once he got Heidi penned between him and the fence. He was even leaning in toward her and only a hair's breath from toughing her. She was leaning away from him. I just knew he was toast, but Heidi turned, jumped onto the fence, and left.

My experience with the raccoons has repeatedly shown that they will not fight unless they absolutely must defend themselves. They are perhaps the least aggressive animal I've known (well, aside from horses). As long as they have an option to leave, they will. That's one of the reasons I felt as confident as I did about reaching out to touch Dennis and the other kits when they got bigger. I knew if they felt threatened they would just move away from me. I have also found that when the rubber hits the road so to speak the animals understand each other so that if the raccoon is sufficiently threatened he will communicate that to the cat or dog and the other will probably back off enough to let the raccoon leave, at least that is what I've repeatedly observed with my bunch.

If you move the raccoon feeding area away from the area claimed by the cats (where the cats eat), I believe the two (cats and raccoons) will work it out. They may still not like each other but will probably not hurt each other. But realize that mine is just a novice opinion. I doubt that anyone can promise you how it will work out. I also think - just based on my observations of the raccoons interactions with each other - that even if they should somehow come to 'blows' with my dog or your cat it will likely just be over with just a single bite or slap. If the other backs down, I don't find raccoons inclined to take a skirmish beyond that initial "I told you to leave me along" smack.

As for watching the raccoons, I know it will be a little less convenient, but if you know when they come by you could wait outside for them in an area where you can see them but far enough away so as not to be too scary. If that's not an option, you may also start walking out there each night, maybe a few times a night to see if you can catch them there. Just walk over to the spot mentioned above, where you can see them but are still not too close. You might try saying something in a very sweet tone like, "It's ok" (or whatever works for you). They seem to respond to the tone. They may run off at 1st but will likely soon learn to be more comfortable.

Thanks so much Spartacusaby & Cheryl for your comments! You're both right - I need to move the food bowl away from the kitchen porch, so the raccoons learn that their bowl is separate from the cats & the cats won't have as much opportunity to corner the coons.

The cats have peacefully lived with the raccoons, until now. The semi-feral lived outside exclusively, until we moved in 3 1/2 years ago, but he was a muscular monster of a cat, when we moved in, not the skinny elderly hyperthyroid kitty he is now. Our siamese mix was a rescue kitty, (but not feral) & we've seen him kissing & playing with the raccoons in the past. The cats are up on their vaccinations, but I'll ask our vet, when she comes out next Tuesday, to do the next set of thyroid blood tests, if interaction with raccoons requires any other vaccinations - we have a mobile vet, (who makes house calls,) because there's no way we can take the semi-feral into a clinic. The cats' safety is far more important than my entertainment!

Thanks again!!!

Ok gang, we got raccoon to be moms, we got squirrel moms, I want equal time for worm moms...........see my article on worm romance right here...it's for adults only of course.........LOL
http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/562/

Liz,

Since my post earlier today (when I was at work and being naughty), I thought of another thing to add, something you very probably already realize but...Many if not most domestic cats stay outside a good portion of the time and the majority of those probably live in yards visited nightly by foraging raccoons and all w/o incident. But I reiterate that there is, of course, no guarantee.

My dog gets an extra vaccine (Ruth said what it was here once but I forgot already) for animals that may be likely to eat and drink behind wildlife (because I told my vet that we have raccoons in the yard nightly and I've seen Widget drink from their water dish). Don't know if this vaccine is appropriate for cats but you might ask and also mention to the vet that the cats come in contact with raccoons regularly.

LOL, doccat. Thanks for the reminder. It's been a very busy week, but I will be sure to read about worm romance (I love my worms) if not today then this weekend.

it is probably Lepto the vaccine although there are several viruses of lepto, I would keep the water up for the raccoons and let Widget drink inside, we have had a dog at work that has Leptosporosis, and it really trashed the kidneys, it is a rough time and sometimes they don't make it, if we had vaccinated her for it, it would not have helped as that particular strain was not in the vaccine, there were I think 5 others though. food for thought

makj,

Thanks for the info. Widget has 4 water containers inside, all much cleaner than the water outside. He has a hamster type where he drinks from a tube so that the water stays clean, a filtered fountain type, and 2 ss bowls that are changed at least 2x day, and even though he doesn't spend a lot of time outside I STILL occasionally see him drink from the raccoon's pool or the low birdbath or even from the saucers under outdoor plants. When I see him, I stop him, but...what can you do.

Just as a humorous aside, the reason why 1 tiny dogs needs so many water dishes is because as I've mentioned before the house is rather large, and Widget is afraid to go to the other side of the house by himself, especially at night. Recently when I was sick I spent most of my days and nights in bed. That posed a real problem for Widget because while he has water in various rooms, he only has food in the kitchen. (It's supposed to be in the utility room, but I KNOW he'd rather starve than go in there alone. Anyhow, while I was sick Widget was starving and, at times, driving me crazy about it because the kitchen and MBR are on opposite sides of the house. When I would take him to the back door to go out for his appointed 'rounds', he take a detour through the kitchen to scarf up a few mouthfuls. Poor thing.

Anyhow, I really do appreciate the info, but as much as I care about Widget's health, I also know how important the water I provide is to the raccoons, birds, butterflies, opossums, rabbits, not to mention all the squirrels, and who knows what other creatures, especially with our intense summer heat. Even if I removed the pool and all of the birdbaths, water would find a way to collect in some nook or cranny in the crowded cottage garden, in plant saucers on the patio, in a tubtrug I forgot to put away, etc and Widget would drink it. I do my best to protect him from the things I can, but in the end I figure life's a gamble for him and for me, and I can't protect either of us from everything.

Sorry 'guys', no raccoon news. Yesterday I got out there too late to catch Heidi and tonight I was too early. She's a picky one that Heidi. It's her way or the highway, and lately she is the ONLY raccoon in my habitat. Seems like she has already put everybody else on that highway. It's starting to look like even the king may have been exiled - or perhaps he just abdicated to escape Her Grouchiness.

About that OCD thing, I've watched (with amusement) Heidi eating in that same ultra neat, very predictable manner. It wasn't until I saw her move the egg to avoid changing her routine that I realized it was more than just a coincidence.

Lastly, it now seems official that I'm all better - for now (fingers and toes crossed). The Dr said that all of my tests came back normal, except for the potassium which we've addressed. She did another blood test today to check the status of that. She also said that at this point it looks as though I just had a very nasty stomach virus. She said (and I've heard from others) that there is one going around the area right now and that she has been treating a rather large number of such cases just lately; however, in most cases it runs its course in a few days to a week, but she has seen a handful of cases in which it lasted much longer. Apparently, I was the latter. Unfortunately, if I did have that nasty virus, her initial but incorrect diagnosis of problems due to Aleve may have contributed to the longer course of the virus in my case, because she temporarily put me on one of those meds that inhibit the stomach's acid pumps (to combat what she thought was irritation due to the NSAID). In addition to digesting food, acid is part of the stomach's defense against pathogens most of which shrivel and die when subjected to the acid bath; with little or no acid, the stomach is much more at risk. Thankfully, I won't be needing that med anymore. As to the extreme pain I experienced, especially during the final week of my illness, it now looks as though some of that was caused or exacerbated by the dangerously low potassium level (due to the prior weeks of illness). Extreme pains and cramping of stomach, abdomen, and extremities are among the symptoms of low potassium, but since I knew I had some kind of stomach illness it seemed natural to attribute the pain to the illness itself. Oh, well, live and learn. Most important, thank goodness it's over. All better now.

Please, please, please let it be sunny this (long) weekend so that I can get lots of work done in the garden as, with daffodils blooming and lilies up, surely I don't have a lot of time left.

Hard to believe you're just a few hundred miles away and have daffodils in bloom. Our crocuses poked up some leaves during last week's warm spell, now are having nights in the low 20's. Grrr.

So glad to hear you're officially all better, and wish you that good weekend for productive gardening.

Makj, I think the extra vaccine Widget gets is for giardia; it's a microscopic intestinal parasite most known for causing "Montezuma's Revenge" in human travelers. Usually contracted by drinking water fouled by livestock, though some wildlife species, including raccoons, can carry it. Leptospirosis is one element in the canine DHLPP vaccine; but you're right, it's a constantly mutating bug, and not all strains are covered by any one vaccine. It too is usually contracted from drinking water contaminated by livestock; I've not heard of raccoons carrying it, but anything is possible. It is a nasty bug, and some dogs have a really rough time recovering from it.

Liz, it wouldn't hurt to give your cats the giardia vaccine if the raccoons drink from their outdoor water bowls. It is rarely a fatal disease, but the galloping diarrhea can be very debilitating, especially to old and very young animals. I think only dogs are vaccinated as a rule, but know of no reason it couldn't be given to cats. Having had semi-ferals, I certainly appreciate the need for a mobile vet; putting them in a carrier and driving down the road to the vet just was not an option!

I agree with Cheryl that (healthy) raccoons will do their darndest to avoid a serious fight; it's the age of your one cat that makes me very conservative in my advice. Moving the raccoons' food further away from the house should help to reduce the chance of conflict.

Doccat, I definitely need to check out your article: strange creatures, but worms are really fascinating.

Hi Ruth,

20? Ouch! But, remember that chill buys you the extra time to get your off season work done before the spring explosion begins. It's 40F right now but was 68F yesterday (Thur) and expected to be 70F today (Fri) and warmer for the weekend. I'm just hoping to avoid rain for the weekend since that will really spoil my plans. The secret to our strange weather - because it is actually strange even when compared to most of SC including even places just 30miles from here - is not just our latitude but also our proximity to the ocean. If you look at one of the more detailed zone maps (not shown on some of the simpler ones), you'll see that an ultra skinny (hence the reason it gets lost on less detailed zone maps) strip from Florida comes up along the extreme edge of the GA and SC coast to include Charleston - making our weather closer to that in the upper 1/3 of Florida than in SC. Even a few miles inland of my location the temps often drop by 10-15 deg F.

As I've mentioned before, I have this plant: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/37036/ growing in a pot (outside) between the garage doors. It has been out there since around 2001. The plant is rated for Zones 10-11. Recently, I was surprised to notice that the same plant is part of the landscaping around the local McDonalds. Also, since mine is in a pot above ground it is actually more exposed and yet is doing fine.

I am right smack on the ocean, not so close as to have a waterfront lot but close enough to be on the marsh - and close enough that with another decade or so of beach erosion, who knows? (lol) When my address is plotted on Google maps it shows up as a dot on the outline between land and sea. As I see it, we are more of a misplaced suburb of Florida. : )

But there is a price...I'll whine about that in July and August.

Edited because I suffered from another occurrence of the left over paragraph at the end.

This message was edited Feb 15, 2008 3:28 AM

scutler, of course I would not say "no water" for creatures outside, when my corgi goes out she is patroled by me or my husband, literally can't take a @#%#& in private LOL I remember before I worked for a vet, my dogs ran around outside and were not watched like a hawk, now if Christy looks at me I say are you alright? are you feeling ok, juz it really is crazy. on another note the squirrel was really playful yesterday, I wanted to have her out of the driveway, so I walked her down to my parents house, she thought we were playing I guess she would jog along side of me and jump off my leg, squeak at me, LOL she was pretty funny.

makj,

The squirrel sounds very cute. It must be very nice to have her for a 'friend'.

Oh, yeah! Now it's official. Tonight when Heidi showed up she looked like a large beech ball with a head -- a head the size of a softball. LOL and glad it's not me!

Also, I don't know what they are eating or where, but they sure aren't all that hungry. (Rupert was there tonight, too, hence the 'they') Both of them ate cat food, and Rupert did eat with some enthusiasm for the 1st 1/2 cup or so, but neither of them seemed starved. I had put a package of shelled peanuts in Heidi's dish - on the right side this time so as not to disturb her left to right eating pattern in case she didn't want them.

She ignored the peanuts altogether, picked at the cat food a bit, and then went over to sample Rupert's food which was the same as her sans peanuts. You know what we decided last year - when they start shopping around for variety they aren't really THAT hungry. Heidi didn't seem all that impressed with the fixins in Rupet's dish either so after a while she left.

I sat there scratching my head so to speak, trying to make sense of the dichotomy. No matter what I put in front of Heidi, dog/cat food is pretty much the only thing she will eat other than the occasional egg or peanut or grape. She won't eat steak, pork chops, chicken, fish, or cheese. Lately, she won't touch yogurt, milk, or cottage cheese. Ditto corn, crackers, granola bars, marshmallows, and virtually every other vegetable, meat, fruit, or treat - well except maybe watermelon but that's way out of season right now.

So I sat there wondering...if all she wants is cat food, why leave her dish (of cat food) to go over and see what's in the other dish? I mean, it's not like she will eat anything else anyhow. And that's when I realized the answer: sunflower seeds! They haven't been able to access the bird feeder for months, so last night I mixed their food 50:50 with sunflower seeds for a change, 1/2 thinking Heidi would have to pick them out of her dish to keep up her left to right pattern. But apparently she liked them. So tonight she was disappointed because there weren't any sunflower seeds in her dish, so after picking around a bit she went over to take Rupert's dish and see if maybe he had gotten the sunflower seeds. Oh, and she grumbled at me on the way by. (It's that cranky time again.)

I guess we'll have the sunflower seed mix tomorrow. Didn't I once comment on how nice it was to feed the raccoons because no matter what you gave them they ate it and were thankful? My how things have changed.

We've all heard about pregnancy food cravings, and Heidi seems to have a weird version of them: she doesn't crave the different, just the old reliable staples, thanks. Sounds like the great arrival is only a couple weeks away if she's suddenly looking so huge; that will give you a really long season with the kits. Hurray!

Frankly I'll settle for the cold winters rather than deal with your horrendous summers, Cheryl; I do hate hot weather. And you're right, I have lots of time for garden planning and, these days, for working on the seeds of stuff that has long germination times. Cut-leaf philodendron in SC is impressive, however... I never thought about the fact that being right on the coast makes such a difference in climate, but it makes sense.

How adorable to have mama squirrel using your leg as a trampoline, makj; that's priceless!