I really think keeping your precious pets inside is a very wise thing to do, under these circumstances. Best to keep them safe than be sorry.

We have coyotes in Orange County. A few years ago, very early in the morning, we heard some truly horrible sounds outside our bedroom window, which looks out our front lawn. We looked through the blinds to see what was going on. We saw 2 huge coyotes attacking a cat. Nothing we could do but watch in horror, as we tapped on the window to scare them off. The next morning, our neighbor was looking for her cat, who she allowed to roam each night. It was her cat that the coyotes got. To our complete amazement, a few weeks after the incident, our neighbor got another cat and allowed the cat out each evening, despite the tragedy that befell her cat a few weeks prior.

We've also had racoons trampling on our roof and pulling up the shingles. They were climbing up a tree, on the side of our house, to get to the roof. It became such a problem, that we had to call a trapper out to "relocate" them. We then had to remove the tree and replace our roof with ceramic tiles.

I wish you the best!