Wild animals sometimes can be very problematic, especially when you are trying to get rid of them and need to care for your house pets at the same time. This particular scenario can happen when cats and raccoons share the same territory.
You can deter raccoons using hot pepper spray, ultrasonic devices, and predator urine. While these methods may also impact cats, you can take steps to ensure their safety while repelling raccoons.
Continue reading because we are going to cover all of them down below.
How Do You Repel Raccoons But Not Your Cats?
Numerous strategies exist to deter raccoons, but they can inadvertently affect cats in shared spaces. However, by following this specific set of tips, you can effectively repel raccoons without causing harm to your feline companions. Begin with:
1. Bring Your Cats Inside
A raccoon invasion usually is temporary (when you are doing something about it). Raccoons are creatures who are constantly moving from place to place, so if you are having a raccoon problem, bring your cats inside your home and begin to plan your strategy to fight them off.
If your cats are usually outside, they can become a little bit stressed when they are locked inside. To overcome this you can define a schedule for walking your cats out without letting them interfere in raccoons traps or specifically designated areas that are armed to fight raccoons off.
If you suspect your cats may run away or get into the “forbidden zone” walk them with a cat leash. This will prevent them from going on any undesired path.
2. Use Human Urine
Human urine tends to work very well against repelling raccoons, they cannot stand the smell of ammonia present in our urine. The downside of this is the smell, it can become unbearable to stand nearby the areas you are going to spray it, especially if the weather is hot.
If you have no problem with the smell or you can spray it in an area that won’t affect your daily spots, use it and abuse it. Cats have no problem with human urine and it won’t affect them at all but on the other hand, it will repel raccoons.
For better results, use it to make a perimeter; this way, you’ll have your surroundings protected. Cats will be on the inside perimeter while raccoons will be repelled to the outside by the strong smell of the ammonia present in human pee.
Pro tip: You can also use ammonia balls and place them in strategic spots to repel raccoons away.
3. Secure Your Trash Cans
This one is imperative to keep raccoons without any interest in your yard. If you keep your trash cans sealed, raccoons will not be able to find food resources to eat. One of the main things that attract raccoons is wasted food in trash cans.
Keep your trash cans sealed in strategic areas such as spots with plenty of light (even during the night). This will make them think twice before doing anything. Most raccoons can be bold, but they are intelligent enough to know they cannot be noisy in areas where they can be exposed to predators.
If you are concerned with electrical expenses, there are some presence lights that can charge during the day under sunlight and will hold a charge to use all night long. This way you can use them without increasing your energy costs.
Another great way to avoid this is by using a food waste disposer, so you won’t have smelly leftovers in your trash bins. This will definitely take out the raccoons’ interest in messing up with your thrash.
For additional information you can refer to our guide on ‘How to get rid of Raccoons.’
4. Use Rodent Repelling Trash Bags
Some raccoons will be stubborn and will constantly tear down your trash cans in search of provisions. But there is a way to overcome this, use rodent-repelling trash bags. These bags are made with eucalyptus oil, corn mint oil, methyl salicylate, and camphor oil in their formula.
The strong scent of minty freshness will repel away raccoons because they hate this smell. It is a great strategy to keep them away from your trash cans and it will be cost-effective too.
5. Remove Any Food Sources
Things like pet food, bird feeders, and crops may attract raccoons big-time into your yard. If you can, remove them or at least make them unreachable to raccoons. If getting food is too challenging for them they will give up and go away.
To secure your pet food you just need to remove it after your pets are done eating. Define a feeding schedule and never overload your pet bowl, just feed them enough to be satisfied and finish everything in their bowl.
If you like to keep your bird feeders intact, only put enough food for one day. When you do this, raccoons won’t have anything at night to consume. If you keep this strategy a few times in a row they will give up searching for food in that spot.
Having to deal with raccoons trashing your crops, is a little bit more laborious but not impossible. You can fence a perimeter around it, but there is always the risk of raccoons digging under it if the fence is not deep enough.
Another solution is to apply peppermint spray around your crops. If you spray them to cover enough terrain, the smell will irritate raccoons and they will give up on eating them. Since cats have no interest in crops, there is no risk in arming them with pepper spray.
Repelling raccoons is not always about using the most effective weapon against them, prevention can be a great ally to repel raccoons from properties and households.
Is It a Good Idea to Use Raccoon Repellers if You Own Cats?
With the right strategy is always a good idea to repel raccoons from your place, not only it will not harm any cat you own, but it also will secure your home from those nasty raccoon pests.
They can be quite trashy and make some undesirable expenses too. It is always a good idea to get rid of raccoons from your place, even if it gives you a little bit more work because of your pet cats.
Conclusion
Although keeping raccoons away may seem impossible when you have cats, truth is, you can achieve that very easily. With the right preparation and some strategic thinking, you will quickly dispatch any annoying raccoon straight away.
Don’t give them any chances to come back for more, roll up your sleeves and start right away applying these great tips to repel those pests away.
