Cat door height, Raccoons

[Snip]

I want to put a small cat door in for our barn cats (2) to access the shop/barn this winter. I want to reduce the possibility of raccoons coming in but have seen the chip activated doors can be opened by the raccoons. I have read that while great climbers they are not the greatest jumpers. If true ( and please correct me if I am wrong here) I could elevate the door level and build a small shelf/ landing for the cats to jump on to to get in and out. Have any of you here done this and how high would you place the landing above the ground? Any idea how high a raccoon can jump? This is a metal sided building. TIA

 

[CombatNinja]

I've seen them jump over little streams to avoid getting wet but I don't think they can land precisely like a cat.

I'm picturing you inside the shop and hearing stupid trash pandas banging off the side of your building trying to stick the landing.

 

[bbbarracuda]

I had raccoons coming into my garage though a cat door. The easiest way to stop them is don't keep food out for the cats.
As soon as I started putting the food out in the AM and removing it before dark, the ***** stopped visiting.
They only wanted the free food.

 

[wyo george]

Raccoons are cats too, don’t discriminate.

 

[619DioFan]

***** are very good climbers but have no vertical leap ability. The lowest you want any shelf is 4 feet up . make sure there is nothing for them to grab.

 

[Mainiac Mat]

***** seem to be able to smell the dry cat food a mile away. Had a whole posse visiting nightly (Ring cam) and the day we stopped leaving the food out, they stopped coming around. I've trapped 10 or so ***** in a large Have-A-Hear trap over the years, but it's a major bummer when I wind up with a skunk, so I don't do it so much anymore.

 

[bwringer]

Our cats a while back actually made friends with the local raccoons and possums. They would just hang out together on the deck and chill, or commune, or something, for hours. There was no food or trash, just... relaxing out there like it's a damn Disney film.

One sleepy night a couple of the raccoons actually got in line when I was letting the cats back into the house and damn near made it in.

"Gray cat, black cat, long-nosed cat... HEYYYY!"

So we considered a cat door, but quickly gave up on the idea.


As noted above, they can't really jump (although squirrels can...) but they are CRAZY good at climbing. It's really hard to figure how you could keep them out and let cats in, other than exceptionally large, aggressive cats, or a good dog.

 

[Dave Carney]

Here ya go. I took in a stray kitten last November and built her, her own entrance with porch. Made entirely from scraps except for the actual flap door itself which is the aluminum framed PetSafe. No raccoons have hacked it yet.

Watch how high each of them can jump. That's your height. In my case various obstacles forced me to go a few inches higher than that, hence the stone launch pad. That rock also keeps me from smacking the porch with the mower.

This is a slippery slope though....it's one thing after another as they grow on you. Just finished her own air conditioned space inside for the extreme heat. Oh well, it's only money.

 

[AffableCurmudgeon]

This is what you need. It will only unlock when your cats approach the door and it senses the microchips in the cats. Won’t unlock for the raccoon.

CAT MATE Elite Super Selective Microchip & I.D. Disc Cat Flap, White - Chewy.com

Buy Cat Mate Elite Super Selective Microchip & I.D. Disc Cat Flap, White at Chewy.com. FREE shipping and the BEST customer service!

www.chewy.com

 

[PelicanPines]

I built a platform to put a doghouse on it... to feed my outside cats in the winter... I put a 60watt bulb to supply some heat... with clear rubber flaps in the doorway of the doghouse.

I started 1 foot off the ground... we got Racoons, Possums, Skunks, and one really stupid Vulture got a free meal in the doghouse.

We moved it to two feet off the ground... no help... same crew.

Three feet off the ground seemed to be the winner. It lasted 3 winters. Now we have trained the cats to come during the day and we clean out the food at dusk. We feed them under the platform now, mostly because our outside cat has arthritis and can't jump.

Since nobody was "sleeping" in the doghouse anymore... we eliminated the heat. The first 2 years... we had a black and white cat live in that dog house 23 hours a day. Pretty sure "the Coyote" got him.

 

[Dave Carney]

"Three feet off the ground seemed to be the winner."

Yes, 3 feet is working for me. In the pics I posted, the wine colored wainscoting on my shop is 3 feet tall, the top of the landing step is a few inches higher than that, and the stone launch pad offsets the few inches.

 

[Uncle murph]

I had raccoons coming into my garage though a cat door. The easiest way to stop them is don't keep food out for the cats.
As soon as I started putting the food out in the AM and removing it before dark, the ***** stopped visiting.
They only wanted the free food.

This is my experience,a hungry **** will find a way.Kill the **** or remove the food.

 

[Plastikosmd]

Here ya go. I took in a stray kitten last November and built her, her own entrance with porch. Made entirely from scraps except for the actual flap door itself which is the aluminum framed PetSafe. No raccoons have hacked it yet.

Watch how high each of them can jump. That's your height. In my case various obstacles forced me to go a few inches higher than that, hence the stone launch pad. That rock also keeps me from smacking the porch with the mower.

This is a slippery slope though....it's one thing after another as they grow on you. Just finished her own air conditioned space inside for the extreme heat. Oh well, it's only money.

Love what U did for your buddy

We are on the other end of things, the older cat is loosing ability to jump and thus all beds, perches etc now have handicap access

 

[Metal-Marc]

This is my experience,a hungry **** will find a way.Kill the **** or remove the food.

Every racoon is a hungry racoon.

 

[Snip]

Here ya go. I took in a stray kitten last November and built her, her own entrance with porch. Made entirely from scraps except for the actual flap door itself which is the aluminum framed PetSafe. No raccoons have hacked it yet.

Watch how high each of them can jump. That's your height. In my case various obstacles forced me to go a few inches higher than that, hence the stone launch pad. That rock also keeps me from smacking the porch with the mower.

This is a slippery slope though....it's one thing after another as they grow on you. Just finished her own air conditioned space inside for the extreme heat. Oh well, it's only money.

Dave,
Cool thing you built for your cat, Both of our cats were "drop offs" as small kittens. Kinda common when you live out of town a few miles I'm told. What you built is along the lines of what I was thinking, just didn't know the height. Ours would be under the lien-to already so I would just need the platform. Currently I leave the rear door up about 4-5" and haven't had issues with raccoons yet (but cooler weather is coming, lol). I have had a skunk come walking in awhile back but left alone it wandered back out and hasn't returned.
Thank you to all that offered advice. General consensus seems to be 3-4" vertical jump, feed the cats during the day only.