Not As Cool As A Pet Zombie, But Close

[thehefner]

So I think we now have a pet raccoon.

Well, the thing is, we got a new dog (because every year or so Mom has to fill that childless hole with some new animal), and as such we've been keeping the cats outside for now. We leave a small dish of food out there, not too filled so as to hopefully not attract ants (HATE. ANTS!). But what we *have* attracted as well is a young raccoon. It comes around 1-2 in the morning, eats the food, and leaves. I'm watching it right now. With the glass door between us, it's only five feet away from me. And two feet above it is Selina, my black cat, sitting on the chair and watching.

There's a strange kind of stalemate going on here, it's rather fascinating. It knows it's safe as long as the glass door is between us, so I can watch this rather lovely animal up close as it eats. Did you know raccoons eat with their hands? It's so cute! It scoops the food into its hands and eats it!

I wonder if a fight will break out between Selina and the raccoon, whom I shall henceforth refer to as "Hamburglar"? I suppose since my orange cat Georgio has his evil doppelganger, it's only fair that Selina should have Hamburglar to be her own arch-nemesis.

Comments

[little-dinosaur.livejournal.com]

Awesome icon.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Thankee!

It's all part of my grand scheme hatched with fishymcb to create a whole series ot TITUS icons with quotes from Simpsons, Futurama, and of course South Park.

[thirdbase.livejournal.com]

If you leave a water dish out there, Hamburglar will also wash his food. Be careful leaving just the screen door open, because he will bust through that if you're not around.

My grandmother had a couple, plus a skunk and an opossum that would come for the cat food right outside the slider door. Keep an ear out for local rabies problems, and keep an eye on Hamburglar - if he starts showing up in the afternoon, call animal rescue because he might be very sick.

[skalja.livejournal.com]

... Okay, I have to ask who Georgio's archnemesis is.

[thirdbase.livejournal.com]

Chanel, the Skunk?

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

He has an evil twin. One of our neighbors has a poofy orange cat who looks almost just like him. We've often mistaken it for ours on first glance many a time. Doppelganger and Georgio duke it out frequently, leaving tufts of orange hair in places sometimes. Georgio's even missing a bit of his ear from a tussle.

[kali921.livejournal.com]

As a card-carrying SPCA member, here's the obligatory statement about how dangerous it is to suddenly force cats to live outside, let alone let them outside at all.

Outdoor cats have half the life expectancy of indoor cats. The hazards are numerous: wild animal attacks, dog attacks, antifreeze, poison, kidnapping, being hit by a car, etc.

Not to mention the psychological disruption of bringing a new pet into the home and suddenly not letting the cats in at night.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Upon closer second reading of your comment, I decided to replace my first with this one.

Again, they were always outdoor cats, so this this nothing new. And secondly, Georgio particularly is OBSESSED with outside. He wants to be out there very, very much. If he isn't, he lets us know. Consistently. So let him.

Psychological distruption? Of this new pet? Heh. HEHEHEHEHEHEHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Oh lordy. Ohhh lordy. Remind me to tell you about the month there when we had a rabbit, four goldfish, three dogs, and seven cats.

Aheheh. Ohh lordy loo.

[deliapuppeh.livejournal.com]

When I was about eight or so, I went to a ranch that belonged to some relative of my mother's, and they had a pet domesticated raccoon. It would let me hold it, pet it, and other thing that normally you do with a cat. It rocked.