ive had more than one housecat killed by raccoons where i grew up over the years, and at least 3 full on break ins by the bastards. then you gotta chase em out, but you have to be extremely careful not to get attacked.
i recall using a shower curtain flapping and yelling to get one to retreat. damn thing was watching tv with me, had absolutely no idea it was there. turned around and there it was sitting in the doorway to the tv room calmly watching. scared the daylights out of me. this was very far from any exterior door.

ultimately, we found they were getting into the crawlspace under the house through a rusty exterior well hatch and coming up through the basement. killed one cat in the basement, another outside a few years later, and maimed a third that only had one eye after that. if your house has any chinks in the exterior, the raccoons will find it, cats ar no match, and anything but a bigger dog will be in trouble, but even then you dont want it bitten.

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