Silly raccoon. He thinks he's a kitty!

I fed the dumpster kitties tonight and followed my usual procedure:

1. Turn on lantern


2. Pick up empty cans from yesterday so I don't piss off the maintenance men.


3. Rinse out the water dishes and refill with cold, fresh water.


4. Dump out 1 gallon Ziploc bag of dry cat food.


5. Open 2 cans wet cat food


6. Take the empty cans from yesterday and go around the corner to throw them into the dumpster.


7. Peak again behind the dumpster with the lantern to see who showed up for dinner.

It was during the last step that I noticed the anomoly. At first I thought it was a very pregnant cat I'd never seen before. As I stood there perplexed it turned around and I was startled to see it was a raccoon instead.

The kitties were not happy about his presence. He developed a pattern where he would walk up to the huddle and then all the cats would hiss at him. As a colony, feral cats have a pack mentality where they watch out for each other but do not willingly welcome new comers. Raccoon was not being deterred by their hissing. He would walk up, scoop up two fistfuls of dry cat food and waddle back a few steps while still on his hind legs. Then he'd eat the food out of the palms of his hands, get back on all fours and approach the group again. This continued until he'd had his fill and waddled back into the woods. I stood there stunned the whole time.

Raccoons make me ever so slightly uncomfortable with their dexterity. Plus they look intelligent. Those two qualities make it possible they could make a run for dominance of the planet. Anyway, raccoons need to eat too and I'll gladly let him eat with the dumpster kitties once in awhile even if it causes a ruckus. I just hope he doesn't start bringing any of his friends.