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This story is from Karen Inman.
This story is about Aristotle. He was found laying under a tree, no mother
around. The baby was about 3 weeks old and the people that found him decided
to keep him as a pet. They had taken care of the baby for about 3 weeks when
the husband called me and said that the baby was sick and would not nurse.
As a rehabilitator I told him that he was not supposed to have the raccoon
as a pet and that I could not give him any information on how to care for
the baby. He decided to turn the baby over to me for care, especially since
the baby was sick. After getting more information about the baby, it was
apparent that the baby was suffering from pneumonia caused by aspiration of
a foreign material such as the formula that they had been feeding the baby.
This was truer than even I could have thought. This poor little guy had been
aspirated with every feeding of the formula for the last 3 weeks. When the
baby got here, he still had milk coming out of his nose and the baby was
actually breathing through his mouth. I started suctioning his nose with an
infant nasal bulb and started him on antibiotics immediately. I had thought
if the baby did not die from the upper respiratory infection and the
pneumonia, that when he was old enough he would be released. Unfortunately
that was not the case.
Aristotle did survive however, he had been aspirated so badly, and he
developed upper respiratory problems from so much damage to his lungs, that
he was constantly sick with upper respiratory infections. The veterinarian
explained that there was so much damage to his lungs; he actually was like a
child with a bad case of asthma. For this reason he was never released.
Aristotle must have known that he would not make it in the wild because he
was the most docile raccoon I have ever seen. I had so many babies in care
at the time Aristotle came in; I only had time to feed, clean, and medicate
him. I never spent a lot of time with him at all. He just did not care; he
loved anyone that would pay attention to him. I never had to use gloves on
him, you could hand feed him, hold him, tie him in a knot, and he just did
not care. He had not been neutered either! Everyone that came in contact
with him just loved him.
In
November 2006, Aristotle got really sick with an upper respiratory
infection. We put him on some strong antibiotics and he appeared to do real
well. He was better in about 3 weeks and back to his sweet and lovable self.
In
May 2007, Aristotle got really sick again so I placed him on antibiotics
once again. He was so good, he would let me suction his nose, give him his
medicine; he just never put up a fight at all.
Unfortunately he just could not overcome his problems and he died on April
13, 2007. He had been a part of our lives for 4 years. He has been and will
be missed for a long time to come.
I wanted to
tell this story because people need to under- stand that you can not keep
wild animal as pets, especially if you do not know how to care for them
correctly.
Read about
Aristotle in Memories. |
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