A Visit from Shortie the Raccoon

Those who have followed this blog for awhile will know that I have a lot of wildlife come visit my back door. One memorable night a mother raccoon brought five of her babies by to snack on the kibble I put out there for Miss Kitty. (Miss Kitty is a story in herself, but suffice to say she's a feral cat I had fixed after I adopted out her kittens and kept one for myself.)

Well, I think one of the babies stuck around, grew up, and is now a mom herself. I named her Shortie because in the dark her tail looked kind of short. Today she came at dusk for a snack, and a showdown commenced with Miss Kitty while Lucy (my cat and Miss Kitty's daughter) looked on from behind the screen door.

Miss Kitty meows as Shortie moves defensively behind the steps. Lucy's ears lurk in the foreground as she watches it all like a movie.

Shortie circles around and comes back from a different angle as Lucy continues to observe. Miss Kitty is off camera to the left.

Shortie stands up to get a better look at me and Lucy. You might not be able to see it, but at this point I saw that she must be nursing, which means she has little ones somewhere. She needs to eat to feed them!

As Shortie noses the kibble, Miss Kitty moves in behind the raccoon and pokes at her tail with a paw.

Shortie backs away. An uneasy moment or two passes as the trio eyes each other.

All is resolved when (no photo of this) I pour a cup of kibble in a line down the back porch area, so that Shortie and Miss Kitty can both eat at the same time, far enough apart for everyone to be happy.