Get yourself raccoon proof cat feeders and save cat food from the raccoons!

If you stay in an area where wildlife visitors go to every door for food frequently, then you might need raccoon proof cat feeders for securely feeding your stray cats. Raccoons are very clever and adamant at stealing food away and thus, you only have the option of making cat food inaccessible for them with the tips that we are going to give below as you read.

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Need for keeping raccoons away

Raccoons are omnivores and that speaks all about their food preferences and this means that they can eat anything that they can find. This includes the food that people keep for the feral cats too as they are a delightful mix of various tastes. Any food that is kept outside the house for strays can become an easy target for raccoons if you live in an area where houses receive a lot of wildlife guests.

Also, once the raccoons come to know that any place is a potential source of food, then they will keep coming back daily for checking and having the food. This will increase the chances of a tussle between raccoons and cats if they come for food at the same time and the cats get more vulnerable to attacks and injuries. The cats might also get discouraged from coming for food at any spot where the raccoons visit more.

Significance of Raccoon proof feeders for cats

While all the traditional remedies and other methods may or may not work for ‘how to keep raccoons out of cat food’, a specialized solution may turn out to be a great answer to the problem of raccoons feeding on the cat food and this is where the raccoon-proof cat feeders emerge as the key players. These are the cat feeders designed keeping in mind the need to prevent raccoons from getting access to the good meant for cats.

Some of the traits of raccoons that help them to steal food easily are:

Excellent climbing skills
Great grip on almost anything like stone, rocks, bricks, wood, etc

Thus, the major idea behind the designing of these feeders is to make climbing and gripping impossible for the raccoons so that they can’t steal the food.

Types of raccoon safe feeders for cats

The first thing to understand is there are no cat feeders available in the market that are essentially built for keeping the raccoons away. We mean that technically there are no raccoon proof cat feeders and all that we have are certain advanced feeders that are able at keeping the cat food for strays safe from other wildlife visitors, raccoons being the biggest stealer of them. Thus, in a way, these feeders are advertised as being raccoon deterrent but they are safer and effective cat food dispensers.

Here are some of the different types of advanced cat feeders that have been deemed as raccoon safe as per the experiences of their users.

Automatic cat feeders

These feeders are the perfect option for everyone for a variety of reasons other than being raccoon safe. Here are some of the major advantages:

With every filling of the food in the feeders, the servings would continue being dispensed for a long time and you can go on with your busy schedule without missing out on feeding your strays.
They help in the maintenance of routine in serving food to the cats.
You can set them to give a regulated portion of food at once and that would help prevent the strays from overeating.
Most of these operators can be operated easily and need to be programmed just once.
They come with advanced features like anti-food jamming, easy monitoring, high capacity, easy cleaning, battery operation, detachable components, voice recorders, camera monitoring, no spillage, etc.
They have the option of dispensing both or either of the dry and wet cat foods.
These feeders come with a safe built to safeguard the cats against any damage from their parts.
You can install these feeders both outdoors as well as indoors.
Most of them are available at affordable prices and you wouldn’t think twice before buying them because they are very cost-effective too.

However, even though these automatic feeders do the job of keeping food safe from raccoons but they need some kind of raccoon proofing. This means that it is important to securely place the feeders in their spot via some chains or any other link because there are possibilities that the raccoons might try to knock off or rather destroy the feeder for getting out some food. These feeders also need to be protected from the weather elements like too much sun and rains as their parts can get damaged.

Mechanical cat feeders

If you are not sure about installing an automatic raccoon proof cat feeder, then you can try the mechanical feeders that aren’t the ones like usual. These feeders are made in a unique design where the food station or bowl is hidden in an inside cabinet, making it very difficult for the raccoons to access them or even detect where they are. These are usually made of good quality and sturdy material like wood which makes them damage resistant, secured, and heavy enough against toppling over.

These feeders only need to be installed at such a place where only the cats can reach and not any other animals as the problems with these are the same as that with automatic feeders. Also, a small opening can be made a suitable spot in the feeder from where the cats can reach out for the food as they are very flexible but the raccoons can't because of their bigger size.

You may have to spend a bit higher for these kinds of cat feeder but they will be long-lasting enough to prove cost-effective.

Tips on building a cat feeder yourself

As per the needs dictated above, you can even try to build a DIY raccoon proof cat feeder with some of these useful features that will make it effective at safeguarding the food meant for cats fully:

The height of the feeder must be a minimum of 40 inches so that the animal finds it difficult to reach the lid.
There should be a plating of any smooth substance like plastic or metal sheet on the feeding platform for making it frictionless and this will in turn make it difficult for the raccoon at getting a grip on the surface even if they manage to climb up the pole base.
You can even attach a waterproof roof on the top of the structure for safeguarding the cat food from getting wet due to any reason.
The feeder must be covered and closed to prevent the small rodents from sneaking in or the birds from getting small bites off the food.
Additional platforms that are at a lower height can also be added to make food accessible to the older or sick cats easily.

Here are some quick steps for making a safe feeding spot:

Get any strong container bigger than your feeder.
Cut an entrance into it on any convenient side and place the feeder inside it.
Put sticky tape on all the edges of the container to prevent any animal from climbing.
Place any heavy object on each side of the feeder to prevent flipping or knocking.
Secure the bowl by fixing it against moving.

More tips on keeping the raccoons away

Other than getting a secured feeder, you can use some of the great tips on how to keep raccoons out of cat food:

Make sure to keep the cat food bowls on elevated spaces as cats can easily reach there.
Enclosed spaces of eating are also good with cats and they can deter the raccoons from reaching the food.
Set a fixed time for feeding the strays under personal supervision if possible to deter the raccoons.
Avoid night time feeding to the feral cats as that is the time when raccoons are mostly out for food hunting. Mornings are more suitable thus for stray feeding.
Erect high fences around the house that raccoons can’t cross.
Try to feed the cats indoors so that the food remains intractable to the raccoons.

Conclusion

The raccoon proof cat feeders may not be able to solve every aspect of the problem but they surely are an effective step towards keeping the cat food for your cats only. Share your experience and thoughts about these feeders with us.

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Luna Tran

My name is Luna and I am a great cat lover and a cat owner of three lovely cats. I have owned many cats till now and have dedicated many years to nurturing and caring cats. Through this blog, I am here to share my knowledge and experience about cats.