The second wave at the release site.

OK.....we moved a second group out to the release site this past Sunday. No one has been going back and the food had remained untouched the whole time until just before the weekend when Laurie checked the area and suddenly the feeders were emptied! Go figure! No one was around though and the cage was empty so moving day was a go!

It was much tougher parting with this crew though! I was a little more attached to these guys! Michelle, Drake, Quarry, the 4 beach boys and Pansy along with Laurie's gang are all settled in. Not without incident however!We've got everyone settled in and we're both standing in there watching them have fun. Most of these guys are on the small side so as I'm watching one one of Laurie's sitting on a shelf I think wow, he's pretty good sized, he's the biggest of the batch for sure, so I ask Laurie...."Who's that?" Laurie..."I don't think that's mine, that's one of yours." Me...."No that's not mine, it's definitely yours." Laurie..."No it's not mine!" Me...."It's not mine!"

Well suffice it to say light finally dawns on 2 marble heads! We both look at each other at the same time...."OMG someone was already in here....we never checked the den boxes!" DUH!

I go over to check him out.....and one of the attitudes was very happy to see us! He began licking my hand and chattering away....and what a good boy, he never made a fuss with any of the new kids. He obviously was not feeling very well either, but he was walking and climbing around fine and had an appetite! After spending some time checking him over, a large wound was discovered under his tail......we had to bring him in. Once we got him home we took a closer look under better light and it did not look good....Laurie figured surgery was going to be needed so we planned on bringing him in the following day to get checked. I had an open pen (short lived it turns out!) so we set him up in there.

We're actually not positive who it is! It's definitely not Gerry. I think it's LL or Vin. He's way to good to be Bruce or The Rock, even feeling as sick as he is.

*I AM GOING TO WARN ALL THE SQUEAMISH PEOPLE....SOME OF THE PICS ARE GRAPHIC*

JUST AN FYI BEFORE YOU LOOK AT THEM!

We knocked him out and got a good look at his injuries. Basically something chewed him up and spit him out! He had a lot of wounds over him, but the worst was under his tail....at one time a big abscess, now just a gaping hole! Luckily it was all tissue damage....the rectum and vital areas were intact so no surgery was necessary. All we can do is treat it like an open wound so we clipped and scrubbed all the areas we could find, gave him some metacam for pain, and started him on antibiotics.

After scrubbing the many minor puncture holes on his head, neck, side etc....we get to the doozy on his butt...it's a gross one!


All cleaned up and starting to wake up....poor fella!
By the time I got him home he was wide awake.....and in true raccoon form, nothing is more important than the FOOD! He did not hesitate to have a meal.

I am happy to report he is doing very well....eating, drinking and pooping like he should be. He's a very good patient and has no problem with his daily antibiotic shot, although he is none to thrilled with the granulex I have to spray on his butt! If we're lucky, it may heal well enough to send him back out with this group.

In the meantime he's playing the sympathy card pretty well....looking all sad and purring to get me to sit there and rub his head to make him feel better! It's working! LOL