With their adorable masked faces and mischievous paws, raccoons can seem like the perfect little bandits to keep as pets. While these furry creatures may look cute and cuddly, the truth is that raccoons generally don’t make good pets.
Despite their appealing appearances, raccoons are still wild animals with unpredictable behaviours and specialised needs that make them extremely challenging as household companions.
Do Raccoons Make Good Pets?
Can raccoons be pets? While it may seem hard to believe, raccoons have been pets throughout history, including by President Calvin Coolidge during his time in the White House. These instances are exceptions rather than the norm. Smart as raccoons are, they are still wild animals at heart.
Raccoons are known for their mischievous and unpredictable nature, and even when they’ve been domesticated, they still maintain aggressive behavior.
They can bite even the humans they’re closest with, using their long, sharp claws and vicious teeth to attack without warning. Pet raccoons can be friendly and cuddly one moment, but attack the next with no provocation.
Raccoons are indeed very intelligent and can be affectionate, but even the tamest raccoon is unpredictable and incredibly mischievous.
Are raccoons good pets? Caring for a pet raccoon would require a massive commitment of time, attention, and care that most pet owners simply cannot provide. So, in answer to whether or not raccoons make good pets: no, they don’t. We’ll explore the many problems with pet raccoons in more detail below.
Is It Legal To Have A Pet Raccoon?
In most places, the answer is a firm no – it is illegal to keep a raccoon as a pet. Here are some key points about raccoon pet legality:
- In the state of Utah, it is prohibited to hold a raccoon in captivity, except under very specific rules from the Agricultural and Wildlife Damage Prevention Board (Utah Code Title 4, Chapter 23, Section 111).
- Currently, there are only 16 states in the USA that allow private individuals to keep raccoons as pets, with strict regulations.
- In the UK and most other countries, keeping a raccoon as a pet is entirely illegal.
So unless you live in one of the few states where it’s permitted, having a pet raccoon is against the law. And even in those states, you’ll face many complex regulations, not to mention the inherent problems that come with raccoon ownership.
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The Problems With Pet Raccoons
While young racoons as pets may seem cute and cuddly at first, pet raccoons present a wide array of intense challenges that make them incredibly difficult to keep as household pets.
They Can’t Be Completely Domesticated
Many have attempted to breed raccoons in hopes of domesticating them into good pets over successive generations born in captivity. However, the results show that unlike traditional household pets like cats and dogs, raccoons simply cannot be truly domesticated.
When raccoons reach sexual maturity around 2 years old, even those raised from birth by humans often become aggressive and unpredictable. Numerous cases exist of “tame” pet raccoons suddenly turning on their owners and inflicting serious injuries with their sharp teeth and claws.
Even after generations of captive breeding, raccoons maintain their wild instincts and behavior deep down. So while a raccoon may seem friendly as a baby, its wild side can emerge at any time as it gets older. This poses constant risks to the raccoon’s owners and other pets.
What’s more, because raccoons can never be domesticated, any raccoon that has been raised in captivity should never be released back into the wild. They simply lack the survival skills and instincts to fend for themselves in nature after being raised in a household environment.
They’re Nigh Impossible To Train
Unlike domesticated pets like dogs and cats that can be trained to obey commands and follow rules, raccoons are extremely difficult – some would say nearly impossible – to properly train. This is because raccoons retain their wild instincts and independent behaviors despite attempts at obedience training from birth.
Even a simple task like litter box training a raccoon can take months of painstaking effort with little success. Their natural inclination is to relieve themselves wherever they please in your home. Raccoons are too willful and curious to follow basic household rules.
They Need Tons of Space
In addition to being untrainable, raccoons require much more space than a typical house can provide. Here are some key space and habitat considerations for pet raccoons:
- They need ample room to roam, explore, dig, and climb as they would in the wild
- Raccoons are extremely destructive due to their natural curiosity and tendency to get into anything
- Their messy eating habits and bathroom behaviors make them ill-suited for small living spaces
A raccoon simply cannot be contained in a cage or small room. At minimum, they need access to a very large outdoor enclosure. Without sufficient space to express their natural behaviors, raccoons can become stressed and destructive.
So Many Health Risks
One of the biggest concerns with keeping raccoons as pets is the health risks they pose. Raccoons are known carriers of many zoonotic diseases that can be passed to humans, including:
- Rabies
- Salmonella
- Leptospirosis
- Roundworm
- And more bacterial infections
Raccoons can also carry parasites like fleas, ticks, and lice which can infest your home. Their fecal matter is also a risk factor for spreading illness.
What’s more, in some states where raccoon ownership is legal like Texas, it’s illegal to have them spayed or neutered. This means an unaltered female raccoon could potentially get pregnant and have a litter, creating even more health hazards in your home.
| Disease | Transmission Method | Symptoms |
| Rabies | Bite, scratch from infected raccoon | Headache, fever, paralysis leading to death |
| Salmonella | Contact with raccoon feces or contaminated food/water | Diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps |
| Leptospirosis | Contact with raccoon urine | Fever, chills, vomiting, rash |
As this table shows, the diseases raccoons can transmit pose serious risks to humans. Proper raccoon-proofing and decontamination of your home would be incredibly difficult.
Finding Care for Your Pet Raccoon
Another major hurdle of raccoon ownership is finding proper veterinary care for your pet. Because raccoons are exotic wild animals, most standard vets do not have the specialized experience and knowledge to treat them.
You would likely have to find an exotic pet vet, of which there are very few, to properly care for a pet raccoon’s health needs. And their services do not come cheap – specialised exotic animal care is extremely expensive.
What’s more, if your pet raccoon were to ever injure or bite someone, even accidental, it could potentially be taken from you and euthanized by authorities because of its status as a wild animal and potential rabies vector.
Even in states where keeping raccoons as pets is legal, you typically need a special wild animal ownership permit and licence that requires excessive fees, home inspections, and strict regulations. Finding temporary boarding or care for your pet raccoon when travelling would also be tremendously difficult.
Complex Regulations
Speaking of regulations, even in the minority of states where keeping a pet raccoon is legal, it is far from a simple process. Each of the 16 U.S. states that allows raccoon ownership has its own complex set of rules and requirements you must follow as an owner:
- Obtaining a special exotic pet license and permit
- Having your home inspected and approved for raccoon housing
- Purchasing your raccoon from a licensed, regulated breeder only (you cannot take them from the wild)
- Strict containment rules for the raccoon’s living space
- Protocols for ownership transfers or giving up your raccoon
- And much more
These kinds of hoops to jump through and costs involved make raccoon ownership an incredibly daunting task – and that’s just in the handful of states where it’s permitted at all. In the vast majority of places, keeping a raccoon as a pet remains completely illegal no matter what.
Conclusion
While raccoons may look adorable and seem like curious little companions to keep as pets, the reality is they belong in the wild, not in our homes. Due to their unpredictable nature, wild instincts, and propensity for aggressive behavior, raccoons simply cannot be domesticate like cats and dogs despite human attempts.
Not only are raccoons extremely difficult to obedience train, care for, and contain in a household environment, but they also pose serious health risks that most owners are not equippe to manage safely. Their potential to carry rabies, salmonella, parasites, and other zoonotic diseases makes them a constant hazard.
