So, I get a call from this woman today. She tells me that she has a kitten she has been bottle raising for the last two weeks, and she just cant do it anymore, she has to go out of town because her mother is sick, etc etc, and she needed a place to take him. I walked her through a couple of her options, and it really sounded like she either needed to place him RIGHT THAT SECOND or she was going to take him to animal control, where he would be immediatly euthenized. When I asked her his age, she said "Well, his eyes are open now and he has fur, so I guess 4 weeks or something". I remember thinking...HAS FUR? what?
Then she said "he is really, really cute, his stripes are really showing up and they are brown and black." So ok, I'm thinking she has a little brown tabby. No other real thought.
So anyway, she convinces me to take this kitten, and she comes to the house about 30 minutes later, with it wrapped up in a towel. I cant see him yet, but she is telling me how sweet he is, and how he likes to paw at you and is purring and drinking almost a whole bottle now. So she hands me a towel and I open it and can you imagine my suprise when I see....
a baby RACCOON!
yep, this was one strange looking "kitten".
So everyone please meet Rocky (I know, I know, sterotypical.)
He is completely dependent on people and will cry and hold his hands out to you when you put him down, so I dont know if he can get to the point where he can be released. I am one of those who firmly believes in NOT handling them almost at all. She was talking about how she slept with him at night to keep him warm and carried him everywhere, so in my opinion he's pretty much ruined. But who knows, maybe with some tough love we can teach him the skills he will need
he still has a long way to go, needs to be about 12 weeks before I can get him outside in a pen and start working with him, but I will most likely pass him along to a friend of mine who has a lot of coons arond that time, since I dont have a pen and I worry about the dogs. Luckily for me I have my wildlife rehab license!
Isn't he adorable?