Cat missing when coons showed up

Question
Kiki has been our family pet for about 7 years. In the last 4 months he has made the transition from being inside at night to spending all night outside. We have lived at this location for 8 months. He has never gone far from our large yard....we live on a little traveled road and are surrounded by corn and bean fields, just planted. The last week or two I have noticed a raccoon on the porch eating the cat's food. So now we take the food inside at night to help eliminate the problem. but the raccoon keeps checking every night where the food WAS. The main problem is heartbreakingly, that our cat, Kiki has been mising for 48 hours. I have checked all the ditches, asked and left flyers with all the neighbors for a mile or so radius (about 10 farm houses).  There was one night that Kiki jumped out of his outside cathouse because the raccoon spooked him. I saw this because the cat's house is on our porch right outside our living room window. Did Kiki leave because of the coon(s)? The coons are still here, will getting rid of the coon(s) bring Kiki back....what do I do?

Answer
Hi Jerry, Good that you have left flyers with your neighbors!  Report Kiki missing with your local Animal Humane and Pound with a photo if possible, then begin putting a LARGE bowl of water outside where you were feeding and keep putting the food down.  If you can get or buy a large cat trap, put this right outside too - use bungie cords to keep both trap doors open.  This must become part of your landscape on the porch.  Lay towels down inside and make sure it feels stable where you put it.  Something with your scent on it (I like used socks) under the towels may help bring Kiki around quicker.

Don't worry too much about the racoon - yes they like to eat dry cat food (so do skunks, feral and strays) but the important thing is - so does your Kiki!  You could also put two stations of food and water out - one on the back porch where your cat liked to eat and another out in the yard to try and lead the racoon to eat from that one.

If you can rent/buy one of the larger traps, after a few days of having it on the porch begin by putting the dry food just inside the trap.  Each day move it more towards the center.  Then shut the back door of the cage, still leaving the bungie cord on the front door and put the dry and a great Kiki cat treaty all the way to the back.  This you should do for several days, leaving all the fresh water around outside.

Just because YOU don't see Kiki does not mean he isn't nearby watching and trying to find something to eat.

There are also 35mm night camera's that are motion activated you hook up to a TV/VCR and then could watch who is coming up on the porch for the food during the wee hours.

After you see the "treaty" being tasted at the back of the trap, it's time to set the front.  I always check my traps a few times an hour.  If you can look out a window and check great, otherwise go look - no cats, feral, stray or home kitties like being in the trap for very long so check often and set it only when you can do this.

If you capture the racoon in the trap, cover it with a very thick towel and take it to the field to open the gate and release it.  Then Pet Enzyme is the best I've found to disinfect traps.  If you have none, then use Clorax mixed with alot of water. Rinse well and let sun dry, then put back fresh towels inside and back out on the porch it goes.

Please let me know how this is going and if you need any other answers.  I'd love to hear that your Kiki is back home with you.