Dog proof traps are the best friends to your best friend for several reasons. Firstly, they take care of any raccoons and other types of animals that could pose a threat to your pets, and secondly, they do so without actually being a threat themselves.

Coil spring traps, although effective, tend to be highly dangerous for other animals not intended to step into them, and the first unintended victims are usually your own pets.

Because of this, dog safe traps were designed with the very purpose of keeping your puppy safe, no matter its size, age, and breed. But, are they cat-proof?

While a dog-proof trap can have a significant number of advantages, it’s important to consider if they’re safe for your cats as well; whether you own them as pets or as a rodent control method, you don’t want your cats stepping into any trap designed for raccoons.

Why get a dog proof trap

Some of the best aspects to consider for getting trap that is safe for both dogs and cats are:

• Keeps your pets safe:

  These traps are specifically designed for the anatomy of raccoons, thus making it improbable for your pets to stick their paws inside to get the bait.

• Ideal for domestic settings:

  When dealing with raccoons in your backyard, you usually have to keep your neighbors –and their pets – in mind as much as your own. The safety of these traps will avoid any troubles with setting any other animal aside from the raccoons its meant to trap.

• Safe for children:

  Coil spring traps can not only be dangerous for your pets, but for your kids as well. An important benefit of getting a dog-proof trap is that it is also a lot safer if you have kids around, given that their design makes them near impossible for a human hand of any size to fit in, and their small size makes them easy to hide.

How they work

The main difference from other types of coil spring traps resides in its design. This sort of strap comes with an enclosed tube-like setting inside of which a trigger is placed and set with a special tool.

The bait – usually a sweet-scented cotton ball or piece of wool -, gets placed at the very bottom of the tube, beyond the trigger, and the trap is activated only when the bait gets pulled back.

This tube-like contraption is specifically designed for raccoons’ small hands, which will find their way to the end of the tube when the animal gets lured by the scent of the bait, to then get trapped inside when the trigger is activated.

These types of traps also allow you to position them at different angles, depending on the terrain your dealing with and where you have
located your raccoons.

You can stab them in the ground, making them stand out at an angle, or you can anchor them to the terrain with the help of a stake that is usually included with the trap.

How are they safe for cats?

The special design of these coil spring traps makes it near impossible for paws of any size to reach behind the trigger and pull the bait, which is exactly what must be achieved in other for the trigger to be activated.

A common concern is that cat paws are much smaller than those of a dog, and thus might be able to get inside the trap, but any trapping expert will let you know that

these traps are safe for cats and small dogs alike, given that the mechanism is specially designed to be activated through the
grabbing motion of raccoon hands.

A good tip to remember if you want to keep your cats extra safe is to use the right type of bait. While raccoons will eat pretty much anything you put in their paths, cats are known to be pickier than that, and

A good way to keep you cats away from the trap is to use sweet smelling raccoon bait

which you can get in the store or even sweet foods like candy or even marshmallows to put inside your cat and dog-proof bait.

Our Top Pick:

Havahart Dog Proof  Coon Trap