My raccoonie visitors last spring

[quincymycat]

I was browsing these threads and thought I would post a couple of photos from last spring when I ended up being the unwilling hostess to a couple of abandoned raccoon kits. They were stumbing around on my front walk, hardly able to move mostly from dehydration and hunger. The best I could figure is mom was moving them from one place to another and left them temporarily under a bush in my yard and possibly was injured and unable to return.
I watched but did not touch for about 3 days until I realized they were not going to make it without help. Every single wildlife rescue was "full" and I was told it was best to just let them die, but I could not do that.
I bottle fed them KMR formula, used hot water bottles on the ground where they slept, and gradually added kibble to the diet until they started leaving their makeshift nest at night and return by the morning. Gradually they stopped returning more and more until I never saw them again. Even if they did not make it, I will always hope that they did somehow survive on their own out in the wild. As wild as a suburb of Toronto can be.
It was a real experience, but not one I want to do again. This spring I cleaned out the front yard and removed all the over grown trees and put flowering bushes in instead. It looks better and I don't think any "momma" would consider leaving her young so out in the open now.

[chico2]

Awww they are adorable,I hope they made it
Raccoon-moms are usually very good moms,if those babies were left,more than likely the mom was unable to get to them:sad:

[quincymycat]

Thanks Chico. I know they were not pets, but it is amazing how you can form a bond with them, especially the smaller one. It got to a point that when he saw me he would perk up knowing that the bottle was coming and watching them go from almost dead to the point they could get out of the homemade pen and wander was a great feeling.
I am pretty sure that the mom was not coming back because she had likely been killed by a car since there are busy roadways close by. I am sure she was spooked where she had her nest and was in the process of moving the babies when she was hurt therefore was not able to make it back. I was very careful to be sure they were abandoned before making any attempt at intervention so as not to give the mom any reason not to care for them.
I still think about them, and hope they are out there somewhere getting into someone else's garbage bins!
I am sure there is a sign over my house that only animals see letting them know that a big sucker lives here - she feeds everything!!! I am also sure every kitty in the neighborhood knows to drop by for a treat when wandering outside. I never let them down

[chico2]

I have that big sign too and one on my forehead
However,I always believed every little life is precious and if we can help them survive,we are privileged

[kittiesgirl]

There so cute. We had 2 older baby's show up in our yard one day, we think they got uprooted because the woods above us they where strip cutting some of the trees. We fed them cat food, and then they went on there mary way. They where older than these ones.