Valentine is a very brave young female raccoon. Alameda Animal Control was called in to pickup a dead raccoon laying by the side of the road after being hit by a car on Valentine’s Day. Much to the surprise of the officer, she found the raccoon to be alive! She rushed the raccoon to the Montclair Vet Hospital, where Dr Richter and staff took xrays and discovered she was VERY pregnant! With only a couple of broken teeth and some bruising on her lungs showing, she was transferred into care with our wildlife center.
For the first couple days after getting into care at our wildlife center, this young mama raccoon just lay there in her cage, not responding, not eating or drinking. But she was warm, safe, she was breathing and her pain was managed as best we could. We were concerned and consulted regularly with our Rancho Raccoon Team expert, Megan. We thought of all kinds of ways we could coax her to eat or make her more comfortable and less stressed.
None of our attempts had any effect. Until the morning of February 17th. three days into her care, when, I checked on her in the morning and held out the water dish in front of her nose. This time, she lifted her head and, with her eyes glued to mine, eagerly drank. Encouraged, I then offered her a raw egg – a staple in her wild diet, which she lapped and lapped up. She lapped up a second egg and had more water before laying her head back down and going back to sleep.
During the course of the day, she actually repositioned herself in her enclosure, had more water and another egg.
As of February 21st, Valentine is eating only Raw Eggs and Ensure (liquid diet). She is eating 9 eggs each day! She is moving around a little better and once she is done with her course of antibiotics, she will go in an outside pen.
(photos, courtesy of Montclair Veterinary Hospital)
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UPDATE: February 24th 2011 — Valentine gave birth yesterday, over the course of 24 hours. Sadly, all four of her babies were stillborn, which was not that surprising after the injuries she sustained when she was hit by a car. Valentine is doing well, resting recovering, and eating tons of eggs, Ensure, and other goodies. She continues to improve daily.
Although we are saddened by the loss of her babies, sometimes this is Nature’s way of ensuring there are enough resources for her body to recover from it’s injuries. Now she can concentrate on getting better and getting back out into the wild. She will no doubt have a litter of babies in the late Summer after she is released.
Thank you to Nancy-Jean for donating 15 dozen eggs towards her recovery! We still need KMR, Ensure, and turkey baby food, so if anyone else wants to contribute towards her rehabilitation please contact us. You can also make a monetary donation by sending in a check to YUWR 7036 Balsam Way Oakland CA 94611 or using the links to the Right of the screen for online donations.
Thank you for your interest!
