A Raccoon at Home: Why This Cute Animal Can Become a Serious Challenge for Its Owner
Kyiv • UNN
A Veterinarian Explains Why Raccoons Need Space, Activity, and Special Care. The Animals May Bite, Damage the Home, and Suffer from Obesity.
A raccoon kept at home may seem like an amusing and cute pet, but in reality, this animal has many characteristics that are worth knowing about before it appears in your home. Veterinarian Yelyzaveta Babii told UNN journalist in more detail why a raccoon needs a lot of space, constant intellectual stimulation and special care, and why keeping one in an apartment can be difficult.
A raccoon is a wild animal
First of all, the expert says, future owners should abandon the idea that a raccoon will behave like an ordinary pet, because in any case, such an animal remains much closer to the wild than it may seem.
"First of all, you need to get rid of the illusion that it is a dog or a cat. It is a completely different animal, psychologically speaking as well. These animals have not fully undergone the domestication process, as cats and dogs have. So even if a raccoon lives in an apartment, with a family or with one owner, it is still, in fact, a wild animal. You must always remember that," the veterinarian explains
Are raccoons really mischievous?
Raccoons are very curious, the veterinarian says. These animals can open cabinets, drawers and garbage bins, as well as examine practically everything they can reach - which is why they are quite difficult for owners to manage.
"They are very curious and active by nature, and their front paws are exceptionally well developed. If, for example, there is a cat sitting in an apartment, it will look at a cabinet and think, well, fine, a cabinet is a cabinet. At most, it will jump on it and sleep there. A raccoon, on the other hand, is interested. It will sit there for 40 minutes until it opens it," Yelyzaveta Babii emphasizes.
Because of this behavior, a raccoon owner will have to constantly adapt the home to the animal’s needs.
"They will gnaw everything, then throw things out of cabinets, scatter them around, sit on top and either continue rummaging through everything or sleep. They need to open everything: cabinets, drawers. And the garbage bin is sacred to them. No matter what you put on it, whether it is a latch or a box, the raccoon will still find a way to get inside," the veterinarian said.
Yelyzaveta Babii explained that for a raccoon, not only physical activity is important, but also space to move around and constant intellectual stimulation, because without it, its curiosity may be directed toward dangerous objects or even its own body.
"Theoretically, it is possible to create suitable conditions for a raccoon, but in practice, especially in an apartment, this is very difficult. It needs a large space where it can climb, explore and play, because it is a very intelligent animal. If a raccoon does not receive enough intellectual stimulation, it initially starts causing damage - ruining things and looking for something to do, and over time this can even develop into self-harm," Yelyzaveta Babii noted.
In particular, objects that a raccoon may try to investigate can pose a danger.
"Doors, wires, household chemicals - all of these can interest a raccoon, and in the absence of other ways to occupy itself, such investigations can pose a serious danger to its health," the veterinarian emphasizes
According to the veterinarian, raccoons can also cause significant damage to a home if they are left without sufficient activity. She gives the example of owners who left an adult raccoon alone for a long period of time.
"I have clients who took in an already adult raccoon. They worked 10–11 hours a day, and one day, when they returned home, they saw that in the room where the raccoon had been, it had removed the whitewash from the wall from the ceiling down approximately one and a half meters. In some places it had gnawed at it, in others scratched it, in others found something or simply tapped at it. In fact, it was investigating everything it could," the expert says.
Can a raccoon bite its owner?
Another characteristic that is important to take into account is a raccoon’s behavior when in contact with people. The animal may bite, although this is not always due to aggression.
"All raccoons bite, and the force of their bite is quite noticeable. Of course, it is not a bulldog, but their jaws are strong. Most often, they bite whatever we touch them with - that is, our hands, and if the animal is being held, it may also bite the shoulder or neck," Yelyzaveta Babii remarked.
However, a raccoon does not always understand that its bite causes a person pain. Therefore, punishment for such behavior will not produce the expected result.
"Due to a lack of sufficient communication skills and because they have not been domesticated, raccoons do not understand how to communicate. In other words, this "bite" can occur when the animal is feeling good, when it does not like something, or when it is nervous or scared. So this is an expression of emotions that has not yet developed into a means of communication," the doctor explains.
At the same time, Yelyzaveta Babii notes that raccoons do not intentionally cause pain.
"It is simply a way to express an emotion; the raccoon has not yet learned to read a person's reaction and understand that it is hurting them. Therefore, the animal does not always understand what it is being punished for. To it, it looks like this: "I am just living my life, and then suddenly a person starts shouting or may even smack me on the nose," the expert noted.
How and what should you feed a raccoon?
The raccoon's diet is a separate issue. The animal is practically omnivorous, but that does not mean it can be given just any food from the table.
"Physiologically, a raccoon is almost omnivorous. Therefore, if you remove the foods it cannot eat from its diet, its nutrition can be quite varied. I know an interesting family where a raccoon and a dog live together—essentially, two omnivorous organisms," says Yelyzaveta Babii.
According to the doctor, a raccoon's diet should not contain spices or fried food. Bread and sweets should also be limited, and the food should be natural.
"The owners take good care of the health of both animals. They have a shared menu: no spices, no fried food, no bread, very little that is sweet—everything is natural. And in fact, this option can work too; it just has other specifics, but the animal turns out not to be particularly demanding," the doctor explains.
However, overfeeding can also become a problem. According to Yelyzaveta Babii, owners often try to demonstrate their love for the animal through food, but this should not be done.
"The biggest problem I see in raccoons is, once again, the mismatch in how we express love. People try to convey their affection through food. That is why almost all the raccoons I know have a very high degree of obesity. Almost all of them," Yelyzaveta Babii added.How should a raccoon be kept?
A raccoon should have a separate area where it can be alone. For this purpose, Yelyzaveta Babii recommends setting up a cage that will serve as a kind of safe place for the animal.
"A raccoon must have a cage—what is known as a no-go zone, as with dogs. At any moment when the animal does not want to interact, it must have a place where it can withdraw. Usually, absorbent pads are used there because raccoons do not burrow into them, but it is important that everything be absorbed quickly," the expert emphasizes.
A raccoon can also be trained to use a litter box, but its cleanliness must be monitored regularly. Otherwise, maintaining the hygiene of the animal and its living area will be more difficult.
"A raccoon can be trained to use a litter box, but it must be monitored regularly and kept clean. It is important to clean it in time to maintain the animal's proper hygienic condition. Otherwise, problems may arise," the doctor emphasizes.
You should arrange a veterinarian for your raccoon in advance
Even before the animal arrives at home, a future owner should think about veterinary care, the expert advises. Raccoons can share parasites with humans, and because of bites and scratches, vaccination and prevention of infectious diseases are important.
"The most important aspect of care is to remember that they share parasites with humans. This is very important. Vaccination, deworming, and the prevention of infectious diseases are essential. Because, as I have already said, there can always be bites and scratches, and so on," the expert says.
At the same time, finding a specialist who has experience working specifically with raccoons can be difficult. According to the veterinary doctor, there are not many such specialists.
"At present, I know only four specialists in Kyiv. I mean, in my view, that is very few for a population of 2 million. So that is the specific issue: with rabbits, it is still more or less manageable—there are more doctors who understand them—but raccoons are something else entirely. Raccoons, hedgehogs, bats—that is already a very specific, highly specialized field," Yelyzaveta Babii concluded.
Thus, a raccoon can be an interesting pet, but keeping one requires significantly more preparation than may seem at first glance. Raccoons need not only space, constant activity, a safe environment, a carefully planned diet, and specialized veterinary care, but also considerable attention from their owner.