|
PATIENT # 1 |
Hi. My name is Pat. I'm a wildlife rehabilitator with ARC ( Animal Rehabilitators of the Carolinas). We take care of a lot of wild animals where I live, and one of my favorite patients is the raccoon. |
| |
|
ADMISSION
FORM |
| Patient: |
raccoon
kit |
| Age: |
14
days |
| Rehabilitator: |
Pat
Isaacs, ARC, SC |
| Diagnosis: |
orphaned.
Dehydrated, pneumonia. |
| Prognosis: |
Uncertain. |
| Comment: |
Found
by young boy (Desi) and dad. |
| |
|
 |
Last summer, Desi and his dad found a little raccoon who seemed sick. It was all alone and there wasn't a sign of the mother or any other babies. Desi and his dad did all the right things. They called ARC, and we talked on the phone. I told Desi's dad how to handle the raccoon with gloves and a blanket so he wouldn't catch anything. He was very careful not to frighten the baby and handled it very carefully. He did a good job. As soon as they had the raccoon safely in the box, they brought him to me. Desi wanted to make sure I knew that the raccoon's name was
Doody. |
 |
I took Doody into the examination area and put on my gloves. I took him out of the box and checked him over. He was about 14 days old. His eyes and ears were still closed and he had very little fur. He
weighed 120 grams and was a little dehydrated. That means that he'd been without his mom for a while and hadn't had anything to drink. He also had pneumonia, and he was a very sick little raccoon. I gave him a bottle with special liquid in it and he also had to have some medicine. He had to be isolated or kept away from other animals until he was better. I put him in a nice warm incubator with a blanket and a toy to cuddle. Soon, the medicine and the other things began to work and every day he grew stronger. Doody was able to drink his formula and he was a comfortable little raccoon again. |
 |
Doody had to have medicine to make sure he didn't have worms in his tummy and then he had to have some needles to help him keep from catching things. When he was a little older, he even had to have booster shots just like you do!
|
 |
It didn't take very long for Doody's health to improve. Pretty soon, he was well enough to go in with other raccoons. He finally had some foster brothers and sisters to cuddle with. They began to get more curious and playful with each passing day.
|
 |
When Doody and his foster family were starting to eat on their own, they went outside into a special pen where they could learn to climb and become independent. Doody liked his nest box and he and the others would go inside to sleep during the day. Raccoons are nocturnal. That means they are more active between dusk and dawn. Sometimes those little raccoons would play all night!
They had a pool to bath and splash in, and they learned to fish. They could eat all by themselves now, with no bottles and no help from me. |
 |
When they were 14 weeks old,
they were getting pretty anxious to leave. Wild animals are not
comfortable living in captivity, and Doody and his friends were no
exception. I opened the door of their pen and they started to explore the big world outside. They'd stay away for longer and longer periods of time until one day they were gone. |
 |
I always leave a lot of food out for the wild animals on our property. To this day, Doody comes by every once in a while to see if there's anything good to eat. He's a completely normal and healthy raccoon. He's wild and shy of people, and you'd never guess that he'd been raised by anything other than a raccoon.
This animal wouldn't have had this chance at a happy, normal life it weren't for the help and caring of Desi and his dad.
For Doody the Raccoon,
this is Pat , saying: "Thank you, Desi." |
|
"Doody", prepared for IWRC by:
Pat Isaacs, South Carolina, USA, and
Astrid MacLeod, Manitoba Canada.
Photography: Jim Isaacs, South Carolina, U.S.A.
Page design and layout, Joe MacLeod, Manitoba, Canada |
You can visit Pat and Jim Isaacs' wonderful website at
http://hometown.aol.com/motleyone
and see lots of pictures of the beautiful wild animals they've rescued and released. |
|
|
