
Raccoons are omnivorous and will eat anything, including chickens. Always keep both your pet and its food inside at night and do all you can to keep raccoons away from your house altogether.

You play a significant role in preventing raccoon run-ins. If your dog is big or medium-sized, he may survive the encounter, but he will come away severely injured. A raccoon’s claws and teeth are sharp weapons, and they can kill small dogs. When raccoons and dogs have a confrontation, pets are the ones who typically pay the consequences. If he spots the raccoon stealing his food, a fight will start in no time. You know how jealous your dog is at mealtimes.

The raccoon’s first reaction is to flee, but if he is cornered and feels trapped, he will attack your dog.Īnother potentially dangerous scenario is when the raccoon visits your house to eat your dog’s food. If they see a raccoon in the yard, they may chase after him either out of curiosity or to defend their territory. Dogs are curious but territorial creatures. If there are raccoons in your neighborhood, you should still be cautious. This is not the norm raccoons do not usually attack dogs without cause. There are reports of raccoons attacking dogs for no apparent reason. A raccoon can easily kill a cat, or at least inflict severe wounds.Īs a preventive measure, make your house raccoon-proof and always keep your cat and its food inside at night. If a fight breaks out between your cat and a raccoon, there will not be a happy ending for your pet. But if you aren’t careful about putting your cat’s food inside at night, you may be inviting raccoons to visit your property, a bad habit that could easily answer the question of are raccoons dangerous by putting your cat in harms way. That’s why it’s not common for raccoons to attack cats. If they get used to feeding from your cat’s bowl, a fight could easily ignite.Ĭats are by nature reserved and usually don’t pay much attention to raccoons. If the raccoon feels trapped, he will defend himself by attacking your cat. This usually happens for one of two reasons. Incidents with cats are not frequent, but your pet and a raccoon could get into a conflict. Raccoons are wild animals, and they behave as such.

Let’s look at some facts about raccoons and the reasoning behind this statement by answering the most popular questions that people ask when raccoons come too close. Keep in mind this statement that encompasses an essential truth about raccoons: In most cases, are raccoons dangerous? As dangerous as you allow them to be. Which is the correct approach to raccoons?Īs we often say, the truth lies somewhere in between. While some people welcome such a meeting, others may panic if the animal is spotted around their house. and more and more people every year are likely to have a raccoon encounter. Generally, however, this is not the kind of “dangerous” we commonly have in mind when it comes to raccoons. When you have raccoons around your property, you don’t feel like they are about to kill you at any time, right? In some very rare cases, the presence of a raccoon can be fatal to humans, but we will explain that later. To say that raccoons can cause death is probably not fair to the animal. The first part of the above definition is pretty drastic. Do raccoons fit this definition? Are raccoons dangerous?

“Able to cause harm or death, likely to cause problems or have adverse consequences.” This is the definition of “dangerous” as found in the dictionary.
