daily dose of dogs (aka cats with your coffee)

Wildlife Wednesday – Christmas Raccoon

This past weekend, on Saturday morning, Younger Daughter headed off to work.  My daughters are the co-managers at the no-kill shelter in a town about half an hour from where we live.  She had just pulled onto the blacktop road and was beginning to pick up speed when she glanced to her left and thought she saw fur in a ditch full of water.  We’d had three straight days and nights of rain.  At the end of that stretch, the temps fell dramatically. It was still raining Saturday morning and it was very very cold.  Younger Daughter wasn’t entirely sure that she had actually seen fur, but she knew she had to find a place to turn around and go back.  She headed back in the opposite direction and pulled off the road beside the ditch.  And there, sitting in at least two inches of water, was a cold, wet, bedraggled raccoon.  Of course there was absolutely no reason for any animal to be sitting in water – freezing water at that.  Something was obviously wrong.  Her immediate thought was that the raccoon had been hit by a car and was maybe stunned or injured.

Now you can’t just walk up to an adult raccoon and reach down to pick it up.  It doesn’t work that way.  But Younger was pulled off on the shoulder of the road, she had jumped out into the cold rain and there was simply nothing to do but to go for it.  I do not recommend that people grab adult raccoons.  But my daughters have lived this way nearly their whole lives.  They’ve watched me do it, and since they’ve been adults, they’ve done it themselves.  We’ve grabbed animals (raccoons, opossums, feral cats) that we had no business grabbing.  Younger had on her steel-toed boots so she tromped down into the ditch and carefully nudged the raccoon with the toe of her boot.  It did not move.  That’s all she needed to know.  She reached down and scruffed it – holding it by the back of the neck, she raced back up and out of the ditch to her car.  She wasn’t far from home, and she knew she only had to get it to Older Daughter’s house.  Holding the raccoon with her right hand, she started back home, driving with her left hand.  She still couldn’t imagine what exactly could be wrong with this raccoon.  It should have been tearing her to pieces.  Then just as she turned off the blacktop and onto our gravel road, the raccoon must have had a spurt of energy.  It reached up with both of its little hands and grabbed the hand that was holding it.  It then reached both of its back feet (which are like another pair of hands) and grabbed Younger’s shirt.  She started wondering if maybe this wasn’t an injured raccoon at all.  She was carefully driving our gravel road, wondering if she should just stop, open the car door, and release this guy.  But it made no sense that it had been sitting in a ditch full of water.   She kept driving, hoping she could keep holding on until she pulled up at her sister’s house. 

She made it, came to a stop, and used her left hand to pull out her cell phone.  She dialed her sister’s number.  Older Daughter came charging out of her house, and there stood her sister – standing outside  in the rain, with a grown raccoon dangling from her grip – all four feet attached to various places on Younger Daughter.  She raced over and threw a towel over the raccoon and then burst into a fit of laughter.  Through the hysteria she told Younger Daughter what a sight that was, and that made Younger Daughter start laughing, too.  They took off to one of Older Daughter’s outdoor enclosures with the raccoon - dripping wet and laughing all the way.   

They got the raccoon into the enclosure, and Younger Daughter raced off so as not to be late for work.  Older Daughter got the enclosure fixed up with fresh straw in a little house, food, and fresh water.   The raccoon, a male, was letting Older Daughter touch him and maneuver him around to investigate what could be wrong.  This was definitely not normal raccoon behavior.  One of the first things Older noticed was that all four paw pads were badly pruned from being in the water for what must have been quite a while.  She looked for obvious signs that maybe he had been hit by a car.  She couldn’t find any blood or noticeable injuries.  But then as she was feeling along his limbs, she found that one of the front arms was swollen and puffy.  As she squeezed on the arm, infection started dripping from an opening.  Oh dear.  Not good.  That was a massive amount of infection.  She estimated his weight and went in to get an antibiotic injection prepared.  She got that in him and hoped he would crawl into the house and rest until he felt like eating.  He didn’t seem interested in the food but she later found him in the house.  So she set the food in with him and he nibbled a bit.

 

 

The next day she found this guy up on one of the logs in the enclosure.  He still isn’t eating much which is concerning.  But he is nice and dry.  He has a warm house of straw to sleep in and access to food and fresh water.  He is one lucky raccoon.  A Christmas raccoon.  (Definitely the kind of Christmas we would expect in this family – smile.)

 

 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.  See you next year.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Here is the BIG news I was hoping I would get to share with you for Christmas.  Andrea’s Holiday Auction was a super duper success!  As I mentioned before, I was watching the auction throughout the running time.  It seriously looked like it was one of the most successful ever!  Andrea’s own creations were HOT items – crocheted beds, puffy beds, crocheted toys of great designs like fish, octopuses, and tacos.  Amazing work!  You wonderful people out there bid on those items like crazy and the auction was unbelievably successful.  I heard from Andrea yesterday, and she gave me the total that Winnie’s Wish will receive. (This includes Andrea and husband Greg "rounding up.")   Ready?

. . . . .    drumroll    . . . .

    

                                $2500.00 !!!!

 

Wow oh wow!!!  This is money that will go towards vet care, vaccinations, Neo’s neuter surgery, canned food and dry food, TONS of kitty litter, cleaning supplies, etc.  This money helps keep Winnie’s Wish afloat!  And now there are 33 Wishers  . . .  since the arrival of Neo (smile). 

To everybody who participated in the Auction – THANK YOU.

To Andrea (and to Greg) – THANK YOU.  (Words cannot express . . .)

What a wonderful holiday you all have provided for me because of your support for Winnie’s Wish.  Between this beautiful auction to benefit the Wishers, and FINALLY catching my New Elusive One (Neo) this is one very special Christmas for me.

To each and every one of you – I hope your holidays are filled with everything that brings you joy.

 

 

A quick update on Neo.  He is still not willing to come out of his covered litter box turned into a hidey-hole bed.  At least not when I'm around.  He has stopped emptying his water bowl every night, but he still eats everything I put in front of him.  The poor thing has been starving for at least the last eight months.  But no more.  He will forever be cared for now that I've finally been able to make him a Wisher!  Since I can't get any good pictures of him for you, I stood outside his room and snapped a few through the door window.  Not great pictures, but it's just nice to see him stepping out of his litter box hidey-hole to dive into that delicious meal.

 

 

 

 

 

mr  and her husband adopted Hershey and Felicity from Winnie’s Wish.  They’ve sent their Christmas gift.

 

Hershey

 

 

Felicity

 

 

mr and husband – THANK YOU.

 

Cynthia – THANK YOU for your gift in Neo’s name.

 

And before I close, let me invite you back for one last Wildlife Wednesday this year.  A story that will warm your heart.

See you tomorrow.

 

Christmas Spirit

Hello Friends!  I am still feeling such joy at having (finally) caught Neo.   He is definitely feral.  There was a time when I would have said that was disappointing.   Before transitioning to a sanctuary, I was always hoping that each new rescued cat would be adoptable.  But the cats who live here at Winnie’s Wish now are all going to spend their lives here.  And Neo will be no different.  I do wish he wasn’t quite so afraid.  He continues to stay in the covered  litter box in his cage.  He comes out at night and gets up on one of the perches because I see little bits of kitty litter up there.  And he is STILL consuming everything I leave for him – canned food, dry food, and water.  Poor thing.  I guess he thinks he better take advantage of the food and water while he can.    During the terrible storms of last Friday night, and now the very cold nights that have followed, I think about how Neo is safe and warm.  Where did he go on cold nights when he was on his own?   It’s just so satisfying to know he will forever have a home now and that he will never  go hungry again.

 

This is the only view I have of Neo for the time being.

 

 I titled this post “Christmas Spirit” because I surely do have some.  With Neo finally here and safe and loved, how could I not be on top of the world?  But that’s not all that is feeding my Christmas Spirit.  Andrea has just finished up her Holiday Auction to benefit Winnie’s Wish.    I’m sure it won’t be long before I’ll be announcing (in dollar amount) just what a success this auction has been.  And at that time I’ll be sure to properly thank Andrea and everybody who participated.  I watched the Auction throughout, and it sure appears to be a giant success!

 

Ginny - THANK YOU for your gift in Neo's name.

Annie - THANK YOU for your gift in memory of Baby Boy.

 

Hope all of you are feeling a little Christmas Spirit yourselves.  See you soon.

 

The New Elusive One

As you know, in December of 2017 I finally trapped Theo (The Elusive One) after six months of trying.  It was truly the best Christmas present I could have gotten.  You can read about my Christmas Cat here but I believe most of you know the story.   You also know that I have a new elusive one now.  This tabby cat was first spotted last February.  So whereas Theo roamed these parts for six months before I finally got him, this new elusive one has been eluding me for eight months!  As I said in a previous post, I would have given up entirely except that having been through this before (with the original elusive one, Theo) I was able to continue to stay hopeful.  I kept telling myself that if I could finally trap a cat (Theo) after six months, then maybe I could still trap THIS one, even though it’s been even longer.

 

Theo

 

 In my Thanksgiving post I wrote about having spotted the tabby cat early on the Monday morning before Thanksgiving.    Later, as I was reading the comments on that post, I had to smile when reader John Bellen wrote this - I'm pleased that you at least spotted the New Elusive One ("Neo"?); it means he's staying close by, and you'll have more chances to trap him.  I quickly looked up the name “Neo” to see if it could be a name for either male or female.  And yes it can be!  I researched a little further and discovered that the ancient Greek “Neo” means “new.”  And in Africa, “Neo” means “gift.”  So that was that.  I decided in that moment that if I ever caught this New Elusive One, his or her name would be Neo.  He is the NEW elusive one, and WHAT a gift it would be to ever finally get him.

I’ve explained that, like Theo, this tabby cat has been spotted in various places around the property.  It had been spotted at Older Daughter’s place (about a half a mile from me) and at Younger Daughter’s place (about a quarter mile from me).  The tabby was spotted in our dumpster.  It showed up at the edge of my yard.  But more than anywhere else, it has been seen in the various fields here.  I worried that it was hunting to survive.  But my daughters and I also discussed the fact that all three of us put out food at night for the opossums.  And Older Daughter has two different feeding spots on her property – one for opossums and one for raccoons.  The time that Younger Daughter saw the tabby in her backyard, it was eating (as fast as it could) what she’d just put out for the opossums.  So we told ourselves that maybe this was helping him/her to survive.  I set up a box across the road from my house and kept dry cat food in it, but I never knew for sure what animal was eating that food.

That last sighting I had (during Thanksgiving week) made me very sad because it was dark and SO cold that night, and there went the tabby trotting out across a field.  I thought about it every night.  Then I made a decision.  I decided to try leaving my trap set all night long.  I’ve NEVER done this.  I feel it would be terrible for an animal to end up in a trap and have to be there for too long in the cold.  But here’s the thing - between Husband and I getting up in the night at various times to use the bathroom, there would only be a couple of hours at most when the trap would not be checked.  (Sorry.  That was probably too much information – smile.)  So I decided to try it.  From the first night on, I put a folded towel in the trap so that if I caught something that animal wouldn’t sit against the cold ground until it was discovered.  About the third night, in the wee hours of the morning, Husband found a raccoon in the trap.  He released this very unhappy, very large raccoon.  I almost abandoned the plan at that point.  But I felt like this particular raccoon probably wouldn’t come back to another experience like that.  Night after night, Husband and I would grab the flashlight any time we woke up and shine it out the window just above the set trap.                 Nothing.

Then last Wednesday night, at 1am (so technically Thursday morning), I begin to hear my husband’s voice somewhere in my head.  He is tapping my arm, and I finally open my eyes and try to focus and figure out where I am.  When he sees that I am becoming conscious, he says to me – You have a cat.

Friends, I cannot begin to describe the adrenaline rush that overtook me.  I threw the comforter off and leaped out of bed.  I was down the stairs in record time, grabbed my jacket and slipped on houseshoes.  I raced outside and there was my tabby.  He immediately started beating himself around trying to escape.  I tore off my jacket and threw it over the trap and all went still.  Husband had followed me outside.  I told him to go on back to bed, and then I picked up that trap and headed out into the pitch black night.  I made my way down to the kennel, opened the front door, and flipped on the light.  Frank and Apples and several kitties raised their heads and stared at me with sleepy eyes.  I stepped into the room that is occupied at night by Goldie and Cole.  There is a two-shelf cage in that room.  But it wasn’t cleaned and ready.  For all of the nights I’d been trapping, I hadn’t prepared a cage because I didn’t really expect to need one.  Now I had to clean and set up a cage for Neo!

As soon as I set the trap down in that room, I grabbed a towel to throw over the trap to cover it better than my jacket was doing.  I lifted the towel long enough to snap a picture.

 

 

I got the cage ready and deposited Neo into it.  He jumped to a top shelf and cowered.  His eyes were huge.  No hissing.  No growling.  Just pure fear.  As bad as I felt for how afraid he was, I was OVERJOYED that this guy was FINALLY caught.  I sat in the floor and petted Goldie and Cole and talked to Neo for a while.  I told Neo that he would never have to spend another night out in the cold.  And he would never have to hunt for something to eat again.  I told him this would all be scary for a while, but that before long, this would be home.

Welcome our new Wisher, my Friends. 

 

 

He quickly discovered this covered litter box with a towel in the bottom. 

 

 

He cleans out all of his dishes overnight every night – dry food, canned food, even water.  Completely empties them all.   I know this guy is a male because unneutered adult males have big Tomcat cheeks.  Also the urine of an unneutered male smells different.  Neo is definitely a male.  His fur is not in bad shape, but he is skinny (those full cheeks give the wrong impression about his weight).  He is staying in that covered litter box.  I've only tried to touch him one time and he literally tore the top off of the litter box and climbed the inside of the cage.  This one is going to need time (a lot of it) and patience.

Neo’s name is perfect.  He has been my New Elusive One for eight long months.   Neo means “new” and “gift.”  He is a “new” Winnie’s Wisher.  And he is the BEST “gift” I will get this Christmas. 

 

Cynthia – THANK YOU.

Heather – THANK YOU.

 

There is one more week of Andrea’s Holiday Auction.  You can visit by clicking the top of the sidebar.  Her creations are literally selling out!  (Because they are SO great!!)

 

 

See you next week (when I will STILL be smiling).