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Posted 4/19/2015 11:04 PM (GMT 0)
We had a coon wander into our yard earlier today and he found a puddle on a tarp that he drank from for quite a while, then he came towards our house and went under the deck, where we think he still is. He's missing his tail and he was walking rather slow for a coon, with his head down, so I think he's sick, whether it's from his tail loss getting infected or if he is sick with something else. I have a call in to a place that will come and trap him and I want them to test for rabies and other things he could have, including Lyme. Have any of you had that done with a wild animal? Where would I suggest they go for getting that testing done?

We haven't gone out to see if he's still there, but I suspect he is. We're a little uneasy about going near him, but he did seem too weak to battle. I hope he's still there when someone comes to trap him. Poor guy. I had hoped they'd call today, but doesn't look likely. I'd think they'd have someone on duty every day since there is a lot of open land in this county with a variety of wildlife.

Thanks
Posted 4/19/2015 11:30 PM (GMT 0)
We had one, I called him grandpa coon cuz he walked with a limp - he was a super SLOW guy cuz of his injuries. Watched him in our yard for a couple years so we knew he wasn't sick, just hurt.

Hopefully yours isn't sick and just a slow motion grandpa!
Posted 4/19/2015 11:37 PM (GMT 0)
I hope so, but he just looked ill. It could be he lost a lot of blood when he lost his tail. Most likely a coyote did it. I've never seen one drink so long either.
Posted 4/20/2015 4:09 AM (GMT 0)
Ya poor guy... I feel bad for the wildlife to be honest... These days of climate change have these zoonotic infections spread to most of all the wildlife. I would probably feed the poor guy some canned cat food or something to be honest! Lol. I know it's bad to feed wild life, but if the poor guy lost his tail and not feeling well, it's really the least I could do for him. Maybe even some fresh water from the water cooler in a nice clean bowl for him. The water on the tarp sounds a little dirty for him to be honest. He probably has bartonella so be careful not to get scratched or bit if you decide to feed him.
Posted 4/20/2015 8:31 AM (GMT 0)
I've dealt with a lot of coons, just not at my house. He does sound hurt but he could have rabies. Here in Georgia, raccoons also have been found to have babesia. It's not common, but the more testing they do, the more they find. As sad as it may be, I'd just leave him alone. As sweet as raccoons look, they are actually ferocious and will kill and eat whatever they can. They are more similar to a bear than just about anything.
Posted 4/20/2015 3:02 PM (GMT 0)
We are concerned about rabies, so that's why we're staying away. We went out before dark to see if he was still under the deck, but he was gone, unfortunately, since he won't get tested now. I'll check again pretty soon to see if he came back, but I doubt he did.

We've had them around before, sometimes with babies following along. I just like animals in general. A neighbor traps them and moves them further out now, so we don't see them as often. A few years ago we started feeding a stray cat and found a coon getting into her food a few days later. He was a big one! We can't put food out since it would draw some unwanted critters, like rats.

I just went out and checked under the deck, but he's gone. I was really hoping to get him checked in case he needed to be put down due to his injury or infections. Hopefully someone else will report him.

The puddle he was drinking from was fresh rain water since it had been raining a lot just a couple of days before. Their systems area used to that since there is standing water in many places they travel through. I'm an organic gardener, so no herbicides or pesticides for them to ingest.
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