The Adventures of Raising a Raccoon

In my family, we are all animal lovers. From domesticated pets to wild animals. We had often discussed how fun it might be to raise a baby raccoon. Although we talked about it, we never purposely went out and caught one. We thought that if it were ever meant to be, we would know when that opportunity arrived. Well, it arrived alright. It has been one big mess after another, but well worth the enrichment!

It was early last June that we were pulling into our driveway to find a very small baby coon cornered by two cats. We very quickly chased off the cats and began looking for the mother coon. It didn't take long to spot her huddled up in the tree above. We left the kit (baby coon) alone. She sat watching her, but never made an attempt to rescue her baby. After three hours of keeping the cats away while waiting on Momma Coon to claim her baby, we gave up. Chaos has ruled our home ever since the moment that we picked up Harley and brought her into our home.

She was so tiny, we could hold her in one hand. She was very frightened, but once we bundled her up and made her feel safe, she settled down. She was so young that we had to bottle feed her. Now, you don't want to give regular milk to a wild baby, so we bought some kitten milk, bottles and a dropper. Our first scare was when she started sucking so hard on the bottle, the nipple came out! It got stuck in her throat and was the perfect size to plug it up. We quickly worked to get it out and never used a bottle with her again! It was safer to use the dropper. We couldn't feed her as much as quickly with it, but it was much safer. She couldn't get so forceful that she could pull it apart.

Kitten's milk is the best supplement for a raccoon. Their bodies are more closely built to that of a cat. Even at the vet's office, they treat her like a cat. She gets all of the same vaccinations as a cat. Raccoons have a lot of the same sensitivities, too. We do use the cat formula of Advantix flea treatment on her as well.

Not long after we rescued her, we left for a two week trip to Florida. Fearful of leaving Harley with someone, we chose to take her with us. We bought a very nice soft-sided pet carrier and took plenty of puppy pads and towels. By this time, she was eating soft foods, such as apple sauce and baby food. We worked our entire trip around taking care of Harley. She was fed in the morning before we left the room, we returned around lunchtime to check on her and feed her again, and then we would feed her a third time that evening. We would get her out of the carrier and let her run freely for a while to get some exercise and play in. Before the end of our trip, she had learned how to unzip the carrier and get out! So, we had to get creative and "lock" the carrier. Just like parents of an infant, our biggest fear was Harley getting hurt. Safety was a huge concern. Luckily, the trip went very well and we all enjoyed it very much!

Now that we've had her back home, she has graduated into a larger metal kennel. She has her food and water and her play toys in it. Puppy pads are lining the kennel and are placed strategically throughout the house. For the most part, she uses the pads, but there are times that she makes a mess in other places. She is still young and tends to walk all over her mess in the kennel, but with time, hopefully she'll learn not to do that. Keeping her and the kennel clean is the biggest challenge of raising a raccoon in the house.

Being a climber, my husband built her a "tree", much like what cats have available, to climb on. It also has a "cubby" that she can go into and hide. It is covered with carpet and is about 6 feet tall. This allows her to use her climbing skills, which she really lacks.

We have attempted to release her two times. Both times, she climbed a tree and wouldn't move. The second time we tried to release her, she stayed stuck in the tree for almost two full days. She never came down to get food or water. We knew we had to get her down because we couldn't stand by and watch her die. Getting her down proved to be very difficult. She had climbed up so high, I couldn't reach her with a ladder. I even tried to get her with the pool net and that didn't work. Our last resort was a very scarey one. The children had a tarp stretched out beneath her and I climbed the ladder as high as I could. With a water hose in hand, I sprayed her until she released the limb she had been clinging to. The kids were great and caught her perfectly with the tarp! The moments that followed were heartbreaking. Harley was very frightened, starved and dehydrated. We wrapped her up in a blanket and calmed her down. She was fine once she realized it was us. We gave her food and water just in time. She wouldn't have lasted the rest of the day. Since that time, we know that she can never be released back out into the wild. Not only could she not feed herself, her climbing skills are just not good enough. We also have the fear that with human scent on her, other raccoons might kill her. So, we are content with raising her as our own.

Like I said earlier, raccoons are very sensitive to things. We had done our research on caring for her and knew that regular baths are not an option. It hurts their skin and coat. So, we thought we could use bath wipes that are designed for cats. We were able to use them for a while until one day she got really sick. She was foaming at the mouth and wasn't able to walk correctly. Her pads on her feet were hot to the touch, swollen and bright red. After rushing her to the vet, we discovered this was a severe allergic reaction to the wipes. She had to have a round of medicine, but is now doing great. As we go along this road, we learn a lot of new things. We now know we can't use the wipes! If she is dirty (she gets mess all over her) we just have to use a wet paper towel to clean her up. No problems with that!

She is now 5 months old, approximately. She had to have only been a couple of weeks old when we found her. She weighs around 6 pounds and is growing every day! She's discovering that some of her old hiding places are too small for her now. She can eat just about anything now. We no longer give her kitten's milk or baby food. She loves apples, bananas, fish and chicken. Her regular feeding is mostly dry cat food, although she does nibble at the dog food. Every once in a while, she gets a sweet treat like a rice crispie treat. We do watch what she eats, though, because we do not want an obese raccoon. As funny as that sounds, it's true. A lot of raccoons are over weight because of the food available to them today. Harley's own mother weighs probably 20 to 30 pounds! The average, healthy weight would be closer to 10 or 15 pounds.

Harley gets along pretty well with our other pets. We have three dogs and a cat. The dogs will play some with her and will share food, but our cat really hates her. It's funny, because Harley knows the cat hates her. She likes to chase the cat and irritate her. It's like a little brother pestering an older sister! Sometimes, the dogs do get tired of Harley and snap at her, but have never actually bitten her. So, I think all is well with them all getting along.

We still have a lot to learn from Harley. She's still just a very playful and energetic baby. She has not found out how to open her kennel yet or how to climb up onto the counter to get at food. I dread that day because I'm sure it's coming. She is very smart, but very stubborn. She comes most of the time when you call her name and she knows what "no" means, but chooses to ignore it the majority of the time. One of the sweetest traits that she has is her "purring". When she is happy and content, she "purrs" almost like a cat does. One of the worst things about her, besides her messes, is her biting. It's done mostly to explore or play, but with her sharp teeth, it can be very painful. She has drawn blood on us more than once. One thing that we have to keep in mind with Harley, is that she is a wild animal. She will never be as domesticated as our dogs or cat. Although we'd like to think that we are the master or owner of her, it really works the other way. She has changed our lives more so, I think, than we've changed hers!