sickly coon

[saylean]

This morning I am fixing breakfast, looking out to my porch (a fenced in little porch, by the lake). I occasionally see a squirrel, birds, etc...this morning I saw a cat (which is not uncommon) but he was acting strange, walking away to the back side of the porch...looking back...which caught my eye.

He kept looking back so I was wondering what the hell he's looking at...then I catch this coon laying down (bout 3 ft from my door) just laying there. At first I thought he was asleep and the cat just stumbled upon it.

It's eyes were half open, but it was breathing. About 2 minutes later (and it can clearly see me watching it) it gets up and walks about 4 ft slowly and lays back down...it looked sick. I thought maybe a cat fight?!..but it didnt act like it was physically hurt, more sickly.

It lays for a bit longer, then gets back up, lays under the table for a bit. Finally, it gets back up, slowly and walks over to the edge of the porch where it can scurry under the deck (it could have went under the deck from where it started at as well) and it totally misjudged its footing, missed the piece of wood it was going for and fell right on its face, rolling on its back...it layed there.

About 4 minutes later, it finally made it the 2 ft it took to get under the deck. I would have put it out of its misery, but I live in Redmond and didnt have a proper way to dispatch the miserable creature. I warned my neighbor bout it, since he has an old lab who I would hate to see get something nasty from it. Just thought I would share.

[dbllunger]

I would kill and get rid of that thing immediatly.  If you don't have a pellet gun then get a club.  Hit your local sporting good store and buy a pellet rifle.  Shoot him right in the side of the head and lights out.  Frontal shots will deflect off.

[saylean]

I was going to take care of it...but again, I have close neighbors who might not like me clubbing a coon as they look at my porch from their window...(the joys of city life)

but if it was me, alone and I lived in the back 40 somewhere, that thing would be worm food.

[runamuk]

I'd call the animal control tell them you have a possible raccoon with rabies  sounds more like distemper which is bad enough, but animal control is supposed to investigate possible cases of rabies so I'd go with that.

[dbllunger]

If you have lame neighbors then chase that POS into their yard and let them deal with it.  If they wank then give them your other option.  Bad news as those things have every disease known from Rabbies to Herpes, and if he is sick then something is really at work.

[saylean]

I might call him in tomorrow morning and take care of business...that is..if he can get outta bed.

[atomicjoe23]

Kill it IMMEDIATELY!!! In this case you shouldn't care what your neighbors think. . .especially if they have a dog. . .even if they don't you have a cat and you should be VERY concerned about this. . .if you don't want to "traumatize" your neighbors then you NEED to call animal control and get rid of that thing ASAP!!!

. . .my Dad is a veterinarian and I have seen a LOT of very bad stuff happen to animals. . .you don't want any sort of wild animal that might be sick hanging out anywhere around you, your pets, or your kids (if you have any). . .distemper, parvo, and rabies are not diseases you want hanging around your house!!! Get rid of that coon ASAP. . .plus think how bad that thing is gonna smell if it dies under your porch!!! and then think about having to go under their and drag a dead or extremely sick coon out from under your porch!!!

[ICEMAN]

Worried about the neighbors? Live trap him in the dark, dunk him in the lake for a few minutes, then bag him and get rid of him. Clean up with mild bleach and water. 

[jeepasaurusrex]

Have you tried duct tape?                                       






Got some golf clubs?  A 2 Iron would have done the job. 

[saylean]

My fire poker would work great...

quick blow to the head, problem solved. I am keeping an eye out for him.

[FrankDown]

Remember that contact with brain tissue and rabies dont go well together. 

[saylean]

If he comes back...be sure I wont be touching him except through a large plastic sack.

[saylean]

Here's some video of that nasty critter...

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[atomicjoe23]

Did you notice how hard it was panting for how little it was doing. . .not a good sign. . .was it stumbling around like it was drunk. . .if so it is probably rabies. . .if not something else but anyway you look at it it's not good. . .

[Clumber]

Please take him out asap or call animal control to do it.  Even if "just" distemper, I really think that on decency grounds and to protect the area dogs etc., it is past time for that ringtail to be "pining for the fjords".  I think ringtails are damn cool animals, but my own dogs are cooler.

The video made me very sad.

[saylean]

I would agree with you Clumber.

[ICEMAN]

Could be ethylene glycol poisoning. Any antifreeze laying around? Maybe some neigbor is trying to take out pets and vermin...

From the web:

Antifreeze poisoning occurs in two phases. In the first phase, the animal typically appears lethargic, disorientated, uncoordinated and groggy. Symptoms usually appear 30 minutes to one hour after ingestion and can last for several hours.

The second phase, which can last up to three days, is characterized by symptoms such as vomiting, oral and gastric ulcers, kidney failure, coma and death.

[saylean]

I havent seen any antifreeze laying out...lots of neighbor kittes around so I doubt it...I think it was just sick with something. Could be antifreeze though

[ICEMAN]

You gonna boink him, or trap, or .....?  


Or no comment....? 

[Clumber]

i am pretty sure anti-freeze poisoning is faster and even more horrific... I haven't witnessed the last stage myself, but was at a dog show many years ago where some PETA\HSUS\ALF scumturds had been spraying anti-freeze into the water buckets of crated and x-penned dogs.  I did witness the beginning phase of anti-freeze poisoning, and I was later told that a couple of the dogs didn't even make it to the vet.  probably depends on amounts, body weight, concentration... etc.   (Temptation here to go off into an angry diatribe... but I shall resist.  That day was the last time I held any degree of respect for any of those groups or their contributors, knowing or unknowing. [shut up tracy, you'll only implode in outrage... again] )

Once during the 2 years that I was horribly stuck in Michigan, a guy at work came knocking frantically on my office door and in tearing eyes and a heartsick voice tried to get across to me that something very wrong was happening somewhere... his English was better than my Spanish, but it was still tricky.  Finally, I got the idea he needed me to follow him outside, where he showed me a trio of baby raccoons who had apparently fell or been washed out of their den and into a culvert.  1 was already dead, the other 2 did not look good.  Apparently I was the only 'animal-person' in the company that this gentleman and his coworkers trusted...  I called animal control, and they wanted me to leave them where they were.  Ummm... no, can't do that.  1. I can't let them die in pain & suffering , 2. there is no way that the workers would accept my doing that.  While I was trying to decide what to do, a couple other workers came to my office with a wooden box\den they had just made out of scraps on the waste pile.  Not just a hasty job, it had a built-in feeding\water tray, finished corners, and was clearly made with a love for animals.  They had also put their own flannel shirts in the box.

Ok, so I put on some gloves and picked the critters up, wrapped them together in the flannel shirts, and left for home a tad early.  At home the issue was a little more worrisome, as we had recently bred our Clumber bitch and were not yet certain if she was pregs or not...  Bleach was involved as was a pair of coveralls, and several more pairs of gloves.  I set them up in the garage with a heat lamp shining in a far corner of their custom box, and after some quick research got some kitten milk replacement and eyedroppers, and gave them both some, as well as a little bit of honey on their gums.  The weakest of the 2 was dead by morning, but he died in his sleep - curled up and warm and hydrated.  The last one seemed to be recovering - would squeak for his eye dropper and seem to relax while drinking... but he too died in his sleep a couple days later.  Still a hell of a lot better, in my own possibly anthropomorphic opinion, than dying soaked, dehydrated, and cold in the mud.  Only once they were dead was animal control even mildly interested, and they swung by to pick up the bodies.  They never did let me know what the testing determined... I guess I'd have found out if it had been rabies.

When i gave the washed and disinfected shirts back to the guys at work, they cried and would not take back the custom box.  They wanted me to keep it "for next needy babies". So I did.

I like raccoons an awful lot, and to see one suffering like that guy is just breaks my heart.  I hope it wasn't a jerkwad poisoning in an urban area where any ole' critter could get to it.  I also have the strongest of hopes and thoughts that whatever he has is not contagious, and that his pain will soon end.  If animal control is still not interested, I'd probably use my pellet rifle if it wasn't 'kosher' to use a .22LR where I lived. Whatever you do, be sure to have a safe barrier between your skin\clothing and the dead critter. Some of the nasty stuff transmits through touch too. Caution is a good idea.

Good luck and though it breaks my heart, thanks for sharing ... I hadn't thought about the ringtail babies back when I was in Hell... errr... I mean in Grand Rapids, and being reminded made me smile b/c that was the 1st time i had an opportunity to connect with the floor guys at that job, and hopefully we made the kits' (pups'? cubs'?) last hours a little less painful.  I've been worrying about your guy all day, but I am sort of weak that way. (re: DORK)

~ tracy

[MeatGETTER24]

Worried about the neighbors? Live trap him in the dark, dunk him in the lake for a few minutes, then bag him and get rid of him. Clean up with mild bleach and water. 

WOW! sounds like an unsolved mysteries murder cover-up recipe 

[Lincoln4]

So, whatcha do? 

[saylean]

The verdict is still out...I will fill you all in as things progress....if they do.

[Antlershed]

You gonna boink him

If he does, I hope he doesn't post pics... 

[270Shooter]

You gonna boink him

If he does, I hope he doesn't post pics... 

[sisu]

Kill it IMMEDIATELY!!! In this case you shouldn't care what your neighbors think. . .especially if they have a dog. . .even if they don't you have a cat and you should be VERY concerned about this. . .if you don't want to "traumatize" your neighbors then you NEED to call animal control and get rid of that thing ASAP!!!

. . .my Dad is a veterinarian and I have seen a LOT of very bad stuff happen to animals. . .you don't want any sort of wild animal that might be sick hanging out anywhere around you, your pets, or your kids (if you have any). . .distemper, parvo, and rabies are not diseases you want hanging around your house!!! Get rid of that coon ASAP. . .plus think how bad that thing is gonna smell if it dies under your porch!!! and then think about having to go under their and drag a dead or extremely sick coon out from under your porch!!!

AND WASH THE AREA WITH A 15% BLEACH SOLUTION!

[atomicjoe23]

You gonna boink him

If he does, I hope he doesn't post pics... 

I agree. . .I am not sentimental towards what I'm hunting but at the same time growing up on a farm I have had to dispose if nuisance animals in "less than pleasant ways" on a regular basis. . .

. . .trust me. . .no one wants to put a possum or coon down with a sledgehammer and if the they do they are disturbed. . .I like to shoot stuff, but the sledge and pitchfork are where I draw the line at sporting and necessity. . .it was not pleasant when I had to to do it. . .it was not fun. . .and it did NOT smell good at all!!!

. . .I'm no wheenie, but I think our prey deserves respect and I would only dispose of animals in the above way if ABSOLUTELY necessary!!!

I hope that you are able to get rid of the "probelm" with a minimum of stress and discomfort!!!!

[saylean]

I wouldnt post a pic of something like that, nothing to be proud of there and it would put out a bad image. I, like most hunters, want a clean kill, with as little pain as needed.

After all, it would be pity that would cause me to dispatch the little fella, not the want to take it for hunting.

[Clumber]

just a small worthless observation... i believe the worry about posting a photo was not of the dead coon, so to speak, but because of the implication of "boink"-ing the coon....  in my less polite conversations with friends "boink" is not used as a term for dispatching.  In fact, that was my very first thought, too, when I read that... "Oh hell, whatever else you do, we do NOT want to know you boinked it!!"

That said, I am now convinced not to post the photo of the 'possum I 'removed' with my pellet gun a few years ago.  I was actually out killing rats.  The friends who suggested we start keeping pigeons for dog training neglected to mention that if you keep pigeons, you will also be keeping rats.  So I had a bit of a sniper post in our driveway and became pretty good at baiting and removing rats.  One night I was at post and to my surprise here comes a 'possum.  I was just going to watch him and enjoy the urban wildlife until I saw the damn thing reach into the flight pen and grab one of the birds.  Who knew?  Well, ok... but I didn't.  Figured that behavior counted as predation, so I dispatched it.  I was proud enough of the shot that we took a photo, mostly to prove to naysayers that yes, the pellet rifle could indeed take larger critters.

The next thought should be "How stupid does a healthy pigeon have to be to be caught by a 'possum?!"  We did not continue to keep pigeons when we moved, but with our planning a litter this Spring... we may decide to keep at least a small flock of them to be given away once all pups are gone.  But I so don't want to have to take up rat shooting again...  We didn't mind the Cooper's Hawk that came buy once a month or so to take a pigeon.  We figured it was just CDB, and besides, she was gorgeous.  We called her Toni.  Get it?  Toni Hawk?  But the rats (and the 'possum) were taking multiple birds each day and the damn things had cost us ~$5 each.

Am hoping the sickly ringtail has been resolved to your satisfaction, saylean.  Take care.