This is a very long post. I divided it into different parts so that it isnt neccessary to read the whole thing. You can skip right to the part describing Motley's (The Raccoon)symptoms.First I will tell you a little about them then I will describe what is wrong with the female. You could skip this first part as it has nothing to do with the ailment.
We have two Raccoons a male (Bones) and his sister (Motley)that we rescued. When we found them, they were being escorted across a fairly busy country road by someone. This was in the middle of the day. My wife and I are animal lovers (she is a Vet technician). We stopped to see if we could help. The Raccoons were approx. 4-5 weeks old. They were very skinny (skin and bones) and dehydrated, they had obviously lost their mother, and hadn't eaten or had anything to drink in days. Also they both had open puncture wounds on their necks. The wounds were infected with a lot of thick yellow puss. We brought them home and gave them water with electrolytes, to start re-hydrating them. We also began feeding them kitten and puppy milk replacement KMR and Esbilac. When we started cleaning their wounds, that is where things got really gross. After removing the thick yellow puss on the outside of the wound, inside the wound we saw what we thought at first was maybe their esophagus, it was yellowish with ridges or bands along it. It moved up and down as the Raccoons swallowed. After looking closer it turned out to be some kind of a grub, from a Bot Fly. Basically a giant maggot, about the size of the end of a pinky finger, their were also a few small maggots in the wounds. They each had two of these wound with the grubs and maggots in their throats. We used peroxide and tweezers, and removed the parasites. Then cleaned them daily and the Raccoons healed. We brought them to the Vet Clinic that my wife works at. The doctor looked them over and gave them a clean bill of health.
They are now four months old and have been doing very good. We totally love them. I built a large cage for them 6ft tall 4 ft wide and 3 ft deep. It has different levels and ladders and a couple large limbs that they can climb, plus they have a large hammock, some towels for beds, a lot of toys and an enclosed area for their litter box. We let them out a lot of the time, but we put them in their "room" when we leave and when we sleep. Basically they are out whenever we can keep an eye on them. They are very friendly. They love taking baths we will fill the tub up a few inches and throw a bunch of toys in, they love that. We wash them with baby shampoo, which they like, because they get a massage. They are very smart. I have recently been teaching them to sit, which they do pretty good (most of the time) but there still has to be a treat involved. They know "No" when they start to do something (like climb the bookcase) they aren't supposed to. I can tell the "No" and they will, usually stop whatever they are doing. They also do good about going in their room when told. Bones (the male) is more of a trouble maker than Motley. He doesn't listen as good, (although he isnt bad) and gets into things more often. He is so funny though when he does something, he isnt supposed to. Like climbing the bookcase for instance. Usually they stop when I say "No" but sometime Bones doesn't, he will start climbing the bookcase, I tell him "No" he will look at me and then start climbing up as fast as he can, just because I told him not to. Or if he picks up something, we dont want him to have a battery for example. I will take if from him, it will then become his number one mission to get it back, even if he would have normally ignored it. It is like he thinks "If they dont want me to have it, it must be good." Maybe I will set the battery on the coffee table after taking it from him. He will sneak over to it and then very slowly reach to get it. As soon as I say something or he notices me watching he will grab it as fast as he can and run away with it. It is very funny and cute. Motley is more mellow and sweeter. While Bones, if you are trying to hold him will a lot of times try to squirm away, because he has stuff he needs to do. Motley will usually sit there and let you hold and pet her, and enjoys it. She also minds and listen much better and doesn't get into stuff as much. Anyway they are great pets. They do take a lot of work and need a lot of attention. They are wild animals after all. If you were to just put them in a cage and not let them out and only make contact with them when you feed them. They WILL get wild and be vicious, I am sure. You have to play with them a lot, give them a lot of attention, build trust, and create a bond with them. They need A LOT more attention and take A lot more work than a cat for instance. If you take good care of them and put forth the effort I think they can make great pets.
Ailment
This is about what is wrong with Motley and her being sick.
Starting yesterday afternoon the female has been acting sick. She has been very inactive and just wants to lay around and sleep. We have looked her over, we think that maybe she has eaten something and has a blockage or possible constipation. When we press on her stomach she acts like she has some discomfort, she makes little grunting noise (where when we do the same to Bones he makes no noise or acts like he even notices). We have checked her gums they are pink and look ok. Her nose isnt runny, it is moist like Bones's. She is just very lethargic when we let them out she walks around a little bit, but will usually go lay down somewhere. We gave her a little bit of food, (moisten Cheerios and a half of a canned pear), not much incase she does have a blockage. She will eat, but she doesn't have the enthusiasm she usually does. She acts very depressed. She will just lay there sleeping and just kind of looks up at me with sad eyes when I go near her. Usually if they are in the cage and I go to them they are both up reaching through the cage, wanting to be petted or a treat. She also seems to be breathing heavy while she is sleeping or laying there. Also she has been either coughing or trying to vomit and having dry heaves because nothing comes up. It is hard to tell, which. She makes a coughing like noise, with her head down, like she is trying to get something up. I have seen my dogs do something like this and it sounds about the same when they are puking or coughing up grass. She has done this 3-4 times since yesterday. I think that describes her symptoms. I dont know if she is constipated, has some sort of blockage from swallowing something she shouldn't, or if there is something else wrong with her. They were healthy when we got them as far as having any diseases go. They dont go outside, they have been de-warmed. Actually they had their first dose almost 3 weeks ago and are ready for their next, once Motley gets better. About the stool, although I havent seen Motley go, I clean the litter box daily. Yesterday after I had cleaned it the night before. There was quit a bit of stool in the litter box, more than what one would have left. So I think she has had bowel movements. That may not mean anything, but I will watch to see what happens today. We will be taking her to the Vet tomorrow to have the Doctor look at her. The Doctors at the clinic my wife works at don't treat exotic animal anymore, they used to, even so the Doctors may not have a lot of experience with Raccoons. So if anyone has any answers or know what might be wrong with her please let me know, so that I can tell/suggest that to the doctor.
Diet
You can skip this to if you dont need the info.
As far as their diet goes, because I know this might need to be known. I used to give them kitten food for their main food, and then apples, pears, oranges, carrots, potatoes, sometimes a little bread or crackers, night crawlers one time, and goldfish once. They started to get fat eating the kitten food. I was probably feeding them too much.
What I feed them now (past 4 weeks) for their main meals is. I grind up dog food, add water to it to make like a watery mush I dont use a lot of dog food, less than a quarter cup each, then I will mix in either carrots or potatoes or both. These I will heat up and cut into half inch cubes. I mix that all together, it is like a warm stew. I then mix in around 3/4 cub of generic Cheerios this is a lot less calories than all dog or cat food. Plus it is vitamin fortified and is a good source of fiber. I feed them in plastic frozen dinner containers, so the container has a divider in it for different foods. The "stew" goes in the space for the main dish, and in the smaller space I give them a dessert that is usually small apple pieces with a little bit of peanut butter, they get a 1/4 of an apple each. That is their main meals. I feed them that in the evenings, in the morning I will sometimes give them the same food but a much smaller portion, or I will give them plain cereal or warm up a potato and carrot and give them a little of that. Sometimes I give them little treats during the day. Usually little apple pieces (they love apples), but sometimes they may get half of a marshmallow, or a piece of cookie, a bit of bread, and very rarely a piece of gummy candy. Since I have been giving them this diet they have been slowly getting thinner, but they still have a small fat pack on their belly.
Update: While writing this Motley started coughing again. I am pretty sure she is vomiting, although nothing came out it sounded very wet and thick, and I saw her swallow something down, not a lot but she did swallow some.
Again We will be taking her to the Vet tomorrow to have the Doctor look at her. The Doctors at the clinic my wife works at don't treat exotic animals anymore, they used to, even so the Doctors may not have a lot of experience with Raccoons. So if anyone has any answers or know what might be wrong with her please let me know, so that I can tell/suggest that to the doctor. I am very attached and love these little critters any help at all will be much appreciated. I know this is a very long post, Thank You for taking the time to read it.
Thank You
Steve
