I always thought that raccoons were known as “trash pandas” because they will eat literally anything. Now that I’ve raised them, I know it is just because they’re often found diving into trash, rather like dogs. They are actually very picky eaters.
Mork was my biggest challenge. I think some of the blame for his oddities has to stem from his neurological issues that made him unreleasable. 90% of his diet (by his choice!) is cheerios. I have tried everything under the sun to get that fuzzball to eat a wider selection of things. He will take the odd treat- he likes freeze dried pumpkin and chicken treats that I got for the cat, and marrow bones, for example. He will take the odd piece of cheese if you catch him on the right day. But cheerios are his jam.
I’ve tried tricking him- mixing things in with his cheerios. Nope. He just flips the bowl and looks at you accusingly. I’ve tried eating a bite and offering it to him (works great on Mindy). Nope. If I hide it like it is precious treasure, I can get him to take it. But taking it just means it is going to be chewed into a thousand pieces and spit all over the place to add to his trash confetti cloud. The one thing I have to be extra careful with, because he will eat it with glee- tinfoil. You read that right, he will EAT tinfoil.
Mork is fascinated by the cat’s food. He often steals it from poor Cougar. He shoves him off of his bowl using his superior weight and size, then grabs a double fistful and dumps it into Cougar’s water bowl. He washes it for a minute, then walks away leaving his mess behind. Because that’s just the raccoon way.
Mindy is a bit more normal. She will at least try anything I give her. She won’t necessarily EAT it.. but she will TRY it. I often get looks of “Are you seriously eating this? This is NASTY!” from Mindy after she’s tried the offered tidbit. Then she’ll stick her nose, or hand, or both, into my mouth trying to understand how I can possibly stomach that stuff…
She eats more things (for example, she will eat dog or cat food. She doesn’t just wash it and leave it like Mork does.) but she insists that she is people and needs people things. This includes straws. She loves vanilla milk shakes. But she will not enjoy her shake until you put her straw in it. She will wrestle with the straw for a little while, licking the shake off of the straw, and in general making a mess. Then she will ignore the straw and enjoy her shake. If you just take the lid off and don’t give her a straw, she will protest and whine, and refuse to look at the shake. I wish I was joking.
If you’ve ever had a toddler, you might thing the eating habits are familiar. You wouldn’t be wrong. What they love one day, they hate the next. Mork eats a new kind of cheerios every month because the old kind becomes boring. I’m very glad for seasonal cheerios, or I’d run out of options fast! Of course, he’d be just as happy to exist on freeze dried pumpkin chicken or marrow bones, so I’m not sure he’s all that appreciative.
Mindy loves grapes. Wait… no. She hates grapes today. Today she loves apples! No… wait. Not apples today that was 2 days ago. Today its cheese!! Or anything that I’m trying to put into my mouth… because… that has to be tasty. Or at least it has to be worthy of making a horrible mess with.
Life with raccoons is never boring. It is challenging, messy, and frustrating at times, but never boring.
Raccoon Adventures 