gained some new buddies

Ditch-Runner

this years has brought our place a couple new groups of "buddies " fist up a raccoon family three young ones I have seen regular and one older . eating with the cats and robbing eggs braver and come up to the back door with the cats . next up a family of skunks I see them every night I will guess 5 maybe 6 of them ( -1 I seen first three weeks ago the rest showed up to go to the funeral ) 3 or 4 are just young ones again eating cat food and scrounging eggs . the * are a bit shy and scurry off . the skunks have got use to me I guess as I encounter them every night
I even talk with them them to keep them calm . the cats even some what buddy with them sharing food .
the skunks just look at me and continue on they will walk away but I will not corner one they do not seem to to consider me a threat as they never strike the spry position just act like I am not there

I will have to get them out of here its only a matter of time before our dogs encounter one or the other maybe both
wife insist I do not dispatch them ( my top method of moving them ) I have lived trapped both * and skunks in the past
will have to decide ( when my wife is at work or asleep which I will do
getting older I honestly hate to just dispatch one ( still do but not as easy as when I was younger )
wife calls them my pets because I interact with them at night while doing a walk around to strech my leggs and make sure the cats ( not * and skunks ) have food :
shock: :shock:

I have also learned skunks at night hate to waste there spray its a last ditch effort on there part I have had them incontact with me thinking it was one of our cats
thank goodness my cataract's are getting repaired next month dag skunks and cats look too much alike in the dark and no they all do not smell like skunks all the time

varian

wild animals are strange. have a male and female quail that showed up a couple of weeks ago, act like yard chickens, my daughter can even pet the male. i have two barn cats but they havent bothered the quail yet but ill see as time goes on.

Ditch-Runner

I have always been surprised at out cats ( we have about 15 wonder in drop off and so on all have been fixed by us now ) any way
I have seen them share ther food with opossums , * skunks even our chickens and rabbits
they do not bother the chickens even when we had young chicks .

many years ago ( almost 40 years ) my wife made buddies with a raccoon that lived in a hollow tree in our then drive way she started tossing marshmallows to it then it would come up to her and sit on the back steps to get them with her . if she was late it would rattle the back door
she loves animals and wants to make pals out of anything that wonders in . I told her the new visitors have to go its only a matter of time before our house dogs get into it with a * or skunk. I do not want a vet bill for injury's or the clean up of a skunking been there done that
she understands when it comes down to the bottom line . I will try live trapping skunks are a bit tricky keep them in the dark and the cage covered they will not spray ( so far my luck has held out ) my son has our live trap so I have to pick it up and I am sure our cats will be caught more than the unwelcome guest

Brookwood

I once had an old tabby shop cat that adopted me and hung around for over 13 years. My shop had a built in doggie door that was there when I bought the place and the cat would come and go at his leisure. I always had a full food dish there for him and he rewarded me every morning with various "parts" of mice, chip monks, red squirrels, etc., always left in the same spot on the floor in the doorway.

I started noticing a faint skunk smell in the shop one day. Very faint, and after a few days I either just got used to it or it may have went away. I had just about forgotten all about it until one morning as I was entering the shop and started making a pot of coffee. The cat was sleeping in my chair by the desk. Under the desk a full grown skunk was sleeping on the floor!! Seems kitty had himself a new "girl friend" that he invited over for the night!

I quickly left the building and decided to just wait it out until Mrs. skunk would leave. By noon both her and the cat were gone. I just locked the doggie door. If that critter would have sprayed inside, it would have closed the shop for who knows how long! I figure I made a smart decision. I kept that door locked for about 2 weeks and reopened it when the cat cornered me outside one day. He never brought anymore live house guests over ever again!