Racoon visit

Back on Christmas Eve it was made known to us that we had a little visitor that come to our house while we were sleeping.  I found him in the garage, masked and cute looking.  The racoon stood up on his hind feet and just looked at me, as I walked closer to get a picture on my phone he went back out the kitty door that is in our garage. 

Of course many mysteries where solved... who was getting into the garbage, who torn into the cat food sack, who broke the plastic off the kitty door... who ate the cake that was in the garage?  Of course it was the RACOON!

He (although I am not really sure if it is a girl or boy, I just call it a HE) was eating our cat food, so we moved the cat food in the house.  Problem is, he came through the cat door in the garage, why not the cat door through the house?  I guess I was just hoping he wasn't coming in the house. 

Some of the girls, Emily especially was afraid of this possibility of the raccon coming into the house.  Robert had said he saw something BIG one time in the kitchen that darted out the kitty door when he came down the stairs.  Was it the racoon? 

On Saturday morning Robert noticed a trail of blood that went to the cat food dish.  He asked me if our cat was okay.  I remembered he was sleeping on our bed earlier and seemed fine.  Robert found GATO on Em's bed and he seemed fine.  Next question... where did the blood come from, and whose blood is it? 

I used my best tracking I could and I found a trail of blood into the garage around the garage a bit and then out the kitty door.  The tracks then disappeared on the grass.  I decided to go check out the back patio when I have seen racoon tracks before to see if they continued there.  Sure enough, they went in front of the rabbit cage across the cement, behind the steps, and then across the yard to the rock wall.  On the rock wall there was lots of big spots of blood. 

Since I was thinking I was just looking in the garage, I didn't have shoes on, so I went back in and fetched my shoes.  I then followed the prints up the rock wall, and across the driveway of a neighbor, then across the street to the backyard of another neighbor were I was unable to follow them any further. 

Then we realized, we really have a problem.  At least he had just been to the cat food and left.  BUT.... later I noticed a bloody mark on the tile floor in front of our basement door, next to the carpet... it looked just like some of the prints outside.  Had he really made it in that far?  Emily had a sleep over and they were sleeping in the same room the racoon came to. 

I didn't tell Emily that, she is so freaked out already..."What if the racoon cames up and attacks us while we are asleep?"  I before told her, "He won't, he doesn't even come into the house." or "he came right in and right back out after eating... "  Now I am not sure really what he will do or does do. 

Until we find a better solution or any better ideas, we are blocking our cat door in the garage to keep the racoon out of our garage.  The bad thing, is that locks our cat in the house/garage for the night.  I think since it is cold he stays in most nights anyway, but once the weather is nicer, he will want to go out during the night.

Any ideas of how to keep those cute little critters out?