Thursday, July 30, 2009
Found a baby racoon dont know what to feed it and cant find anyplace to take it. Need some suggestions?
Answers:
You should probably leave it for it's mother to raise.
Try milk and fish.
call any local shelter or ASPCA .. or wild life agency..
look on Animal Planet web site .. they are always doing rescues and returning to wild after old enough
If you cant find a shelter the best thing is to let it go in the wild. Raccoons are not endangered. It sounds cruel but you have no idea what diseases they carry and trust me they do.
take it to some nearby woods or just leave at a park its better to leave it on its own
you should of just left it alone, the mother would of came back for it.
You need to get him to a wildlife rehab in your area. Do an internet search or call a local vet or animal control for contact information. First check if you see it's mother around looking for it, and if so release it. It's best chance of survival is with it's mother.
If its mom is gone you might have to bottle feed it if it young. They eat fruits and things of that nature but most states they are illegal to have as pets and you should either call your nearest animal control place or all zoos usually take animals like that. It will better for the racoon with other wildlife Good luck!
First take it to the vet. Raccoons carry a high incidence of rabies. The vet can give it a clean bill of health and tell you what to feed it.
call the spca to get the raccon
Call your local veterinarian and see what they say. They may know where there is a wild animal rescue or how to take care of it. Definitely need to get it a rabies shot if your state allows you to keep them! You could also call the zoo in your town or neighboring town and ask them if they take them or know of a wild life rescue who would come get it for you.
Keep in mind that as cute as they are and even though you are handling baby racc he is a wild animal! He may bite or scratch at any time for no reason. I had a girlfriend who had one for three years and out of the blue (vet said it must have been breeding season for it) it attacked her face and she is now severely scared for life. Be very careful and really, try to find the wildlife rescue for it. Have you googled wild life rescue for your home town?
Good luck to you and your new friend!
DON'T touch it!
Racoons not only can carry transmittable viruses like rabies, 1 in 4 carry a worm that causes blindness in humans.
It is illegal to house a wild animal you need to get it to a liscensed animal rehabilitator tonight.
Very rarely will you find one baby- chances are you scared the mom off. It probably knows exactly where it needs to go to get home. If the baby is hissing or spitting or being aggressive in any way then his mom is just fine and probably in a nest some where. A truly orphaned baby racoon will become extremely needy, often climbing up peoples pant legs and following humans around- they do not show signs of aggression.
You should take the baby back to where you found it. Give it a little time to re-adjust and I bet it will take off. It knows where it needs to go to get home.
It is possible you have had it too long and it has bonded with you a little so it might be hesitant to leave. Remember this is a wild animal that does not need to be saved by you. You can not give this creature what it needs.
Call information and ask for the wild life number for stranded wild animals, or for the forest control of wild animals. They will tell you where to get hold of someone that can help you.
If they can't help try the fire department regular number, but not through the 911 number.
Do not feed it. Put it back where you found it. Baby Raccoons are very cute, but do not make good pets. Also raccoons are very often carriers of rabies. It may seem cruel, but they are better off in the wild. It may survive, it may not, that's nature. If you really don't feel you can turn it loose, call the County Animal Control, or the Humane Society. It's chances of survival with you, in the wild, or with animal control, are not very good. Sad but true.
Once a Friend's mother found a Momma Raccoon killed on the road. She took the babies and found people to take care of them. I took a male. I named him "Chester". I fed him cat food, canned tuna, milk, Cheetos, fish, things that a cat would eat. I also kept fresh water for him to wash his food. We were really good friends and as he grew we wrestle each other. Really funny how he bounce around and jump on my head and bite me (Did not bite to hurt). He grew and was an Adult one day and I turned him lose. I kept some dry cat food on the porch for about a year and he come and eat sometimes. Then one day he stop coming. I always hoped he found a girl and they had a family together.
Are the eyes open yet? If not, the FIRST thing you need to do is help it pee!!! To do this, take a cotton ball or some tissue and rub its lower belly to simulate a mother's licking. Keep doing this until it stops peeing. (Needs the same stimulus to poop.)
If it is very small and can drink from a bottle, you can give it Kitten or Puppy formula mixed with some Karo syrup, in a regular human baby bottle.
(If you just "Let it go" it will die!) It also needs to be kept warm. Find a large box. Place a heating pad on LOW in one end. Be sure there is enough room for it to go to the other end OFF the heating pad if it is too warm.
After you help it go to the bathroom, and feed it, and put it to bed. Start searching for a local wildlife rescue. (NOT animal control, they will kill it.)
You should figure out which is the closeset animal shelter in your're area and don't touch it , it can have rabies.
Alot of what you will feed it will depend on how old you think it is.
You may want to go to the store and buy some goats milk and warm it as you would for a baby. I would think it would take a bottle but perhaps a doll's baby bottle with a small supple nipple.
If the baby raccoon has teeth you could feed it some fresh shredded fish and or some milk soaked dog food.
You need to call your local Game and Wildlife Dept as there may be some regulations on keeping raccoons etc.
Please don't keep the raccoon. As they become bigger they can and do get as big as 35lbs or bigger and can be a pretty vicious animal when they get tempermental.
This business about raccoons having rabies is true ONLY if the animal has been bitten by an animal with rabies as is the case with any warm blooded animal.
If you know where the mother was before she died and where she was hiding her babies you might revisit that place and you will probably find more babies.
Should this be the case and you need to rescue other babies and can't reach them you can email me and I can tell you how to get the babies out.
you have to bring the baby coon inside!!!
put him in a box w/ blankets. if his eyes are still closed... he will need a heat pad under the box.
he may need one anyway... just keep checking him.. he should always be warm to the touch.. do not let him get cold.. he will die!
contact a rehabber near you.. here is a link to rehabbers in all states..
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/contact.
If you still cant find a rehabber from this site.. email me and I can help you thru email..
do not feed the baby anything tonight.. if he cries and cries.. u can give him warm sugar water only.. one part sugar.. to 3 part warm water.. with a syringe.
if his eyes are closed... he may have to pee.. they cannot pee/poo by themselves.. now.. dont go licking the butt.. lol
get a damp cloth and stimulate him to potty.
please email me..
they are very difficult to handraise.. if you dont know what u are doing.
i agree w/ whomever said.. to gocheck.. yes there probably are more babies.. u do need to check.
but.. the goats milk ... nope!! never ever ever feed the coon goats milk! or cows milk.. or human milk.. they take KMR.. its a kitten formula...
RABIES:
no. the baby would not have survived being attacked by a rabid animal..
just be careful... but do not let rabies scare u from helping this baby
My grandparents found a baby raccoon and bottle fed it with milk but if i were you i would buy organic milk but hey thats just my opinion.
Shoot it. Raccoons are vermin.
check out the purina feed site they do all kinds of feed for zoo animals wild animals and pets.
we have a fried that had trapped a coon and let it go in the wild only to find babies afterward. we took one their eyes are not even open yet. we bottle feed it kmr 4 times a day it sleeps through the night and alot in the day lol but our cousin had one before and had it till it was old and weighed 45 lbs. I have been told that if you intend to care for it to let it loose in the wild you need to handle it as little as possible and keep it in a cage and when it starts eating food to put the cage outside and leave the door open with food in the cage and it will leave and come back and come back less and less untill one day it doesnt come back. If you handle them much that instinct goes away and you will have to keep it for the rest of its life.
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