Help with feral cats and raccoons
Looking for some help or advice for dealing with feral cats and raccoons. We live in a densely populated suburb, so very close neighbors. We have several neighbors surrounding us that leave food out for feral cats and raccoons. These animals then come onto our property and pee and poop everywhere. We clean up at least one bag of raccoon shit each morning from our backyard, usually more. We have very little kids and it’s becoming a bio hazard. Our entryways reek of cat pee. We cannot leave even bikes outside because they’ll get peed on. One neighbor has been trying to TNR for a few years (which we’ve fully supported and even helped pay for) but more cats keep showing up. Nothing is done to curb the raccoon population.
What can we do here? We’ve talked to the neighbors, they aren’t interested in stopping the feeding. We’ve tried motion activated lights, animals don’t care. Any sort of automatic sprinkler would just spray us too. We have a large dog who is no deterrent at all. I’ve looked into coyote or wolf urine but it seems that that has mixed reviews and requires constant reapplication. Our city does not offer any services or animal control for these issues. It is also not legal in our city to trap and relocate these animals. I’m running out of options but the problem is just getting worse and worse. Has anyone dealt with this?
To be clear because I know I’ll get a lot of hate - I love animals. I don’t want them hurt. I also want my kids to be able to use their own backyard and toys without dodging raccoon shit. I want my dog to be able to explore his fenced in yard without worrying about parasites and worms that he may get from the raccoon shit. I want to see birds at my birdfeeder, I want to be able to leave my kids bike by the garage. It’s just really infringing on our ability to use and enjoy our property, and like I said, it’s just getting worse as the years go on.