Way. Too. Cute. DUW

[Xeikeness]

And it's not a monkey!

So, the story before the pics.

I'm getting ready to leap out of the house and charge into action to go get my storage unit cleaned out. I hear the neighbor kids mucking about outside, which is normal. I grabbed my bag and had my hand on the doorknob, then through our horribly insulated windows, I hear: "I don't know, is it a kitten?"

WeeOOweeOOweeOO!!! all the little alarms in my head start going off. Darnit, I'm going to be late, but I can't not investigate. I turn and go out the back door, three of the kids see me and turn and bolt, and only one little girl of the two left speaks English.

I ask her curiously, "Hi there. What'd you two find?" In my best curious-responsible-friendly-adult sort of way.

She looks like she thinks she's in trouble, and pointed near the neighbors fence. "It's a little thing, is it a kitten?"

"I don't know," I say, smiling, "step back so I can have a look, and I'll tell you."

I step over, and there, laying in a clump of grass, shivering and mewing softly(as that's the only descriptor I can come up with for the noise) was this: (And mind you, these pictures were after I'd given it a VERY thorough scrub-down with a veterinary grade kill-everything microbial soap)
























I looked at the kids and said, "No, that isn't a kitten, that's a baby raccoon. See the mask and the ringed tail? And it has fingers and toes, not paws." I gave them a brief lesson on never ever touching wildlife because they could carry diseases. Then the school bell range and they ran off. (We have an elementary school right next to our house) I hope they weren't late for class, but I gave them a big thank-you for finding the raccoon and probably saving it's life from our neighbor's horrible dog.

I couldn't bring myself to let my man take it to work with him and put it down... So I named it Noodles and sent off to get my permit to keep wildlife like raccoons reinstated.

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[Hairless]

Very cute!
Congrats on the new job.

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[Ophiophilia]

D'awwww, good luck

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[poonstang90lx]

Cute pictures racoons are a very fun animal to keep.

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[_Sam_]

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!
cuteness attack!!!

congrats and good luck with the little fella!

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[Ashes]

I want one!

Thanks to you, I think I'm going to go work at a zoo. I want too many animals.

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[Xeikeness]

This isn't my first raccoon, I've had all kinds of wildlife as "pets" that I use in my school presentations.

So far this guy is only giving me trouble in the feeding department. I realized that I don't have the right kind of nipples in my wildlife care bottle-feeding set for raccoons, so I had to improvise, and he hates it. So most of what I feed him ends up down my shirt, on my hands, dripping onto the dog's head... everywhere.

Jennyr isn't used to baby raccoons anymore, and since I had my last one he's killed a few in our yard, so it's interesting getting him used to the idea of a raccoon housemate... again.

He's past the "Are you gonna eat it or can I?" phaze, and has settled into the "It's loud and annoying but it drops food on my head" phaze of contentedness.

It's so nice having an amiable dog.

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[Ashes]

I'm so jealous. I love animals. I want more and more and more!

I only have a snake.

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[RevMojo]

Nice raccoon. :P

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[Arra]

Haha that is adorable! And after all the coon thief video posts on the stargazer thread.

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[Xeikeness]

there are coon vids on the stargazer thread...? Why did no one tell me! lol

What page? I'll have to go look.

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[Arra]

:P I'll never be able to find the pages in all those posts so here are the two vids. Had us laughing so much:

YouTube - Thief racoon

YouTube - funny racoon

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[Icicle]

We have about seven of them running around our house. two of them will come up and take bread out of my hand. They are so cute. Wish I could find a baby one to raise.

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[Xeikeness]

They're cute.. but you have to have a permit, you have to be available to feed babies every hour on the hour, and you HAVE TO HAVE TO HAVE TO get them spayed/neutered ASAP!!!

Otherwise, once they hit sexual maturity, you have a holy living demon on your hands, who shreds everything, including you. Terrible, awful, nasty animals unless they've been speutered. And well-trained.. .they have a high propensity for aggression if you don't do everything regarding their training perfectly.

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[TammyJamaica]

That is way too adorable for words so I won't say anything!


AAAAWWWWWW!!!!! It came out anyway.

Good luck with the feeding. What are you giving him? Baby formula?
A syringe/rubber dropper may work until he gets the sucking idea.

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[Allysen]

Lol weren't you like, JUST hoping for baby raccoons? Ask and you shall receive, I guess!

Holy moly he is cuteness. Precious little face and soon there will be grabby-hands!

Also LOL "speutered".

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[Smits]

That is pretty cute, I'll have to admit.

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[Icicle]

he is cute, looks so soft too.

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[spix14]

That's the cutest freaking thing I've ever seen!

And not only did you miss raccoon thief vids, you missed my orange raccoon post. I TOLD you you should come in the Stargazer thread. All the cool kids are doing it.

[gfx]

Great find! I was just going to ask if you had the neuter appointment set up yet! lol. Glad he found his way into an experienced home. They really dont make good "pets" they way most people think of pets, by they make great friends to those who are willing to let them be raccoons. There's nothing quite like the bond you get with a non-domestic animal who trusts you.

Congrats! Hopefully they wont give you a hard time on the permit.

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