Lisa's Birthday party.

Thanks to a night off for everyone and a very yummy cake made by Mary....

....we were able to get together to officially celebrate Lisa's (29th!) birthday!

Once again another wonderful night of food, friends and fun!! And a bunch of dogs crawling into every ones laps...LOL. But the girls are used to that by now when we get together at my house. And this time we have pictures of Lisa AWAKE on the couch by the end of the night! (although I do look forward to getting those wonderful pics and surprising her with them!)

All else is well in the animal kingdom. Boston is doing great, all the overwinters are fine and the little porcupine brought to Tuft's is improving! Enough so that it is ready to go to a rehabber for long term convalescence. So Dee and Tom will be arranging to get the little fella where it will be in good hands! Another happy ending....love it!

A prickly situation!

This past Monday, Laurie got a call for something we don't see to often around here....a porcupine! Lucky for me she was busy and I was off....so I got take the cutie pie in! Poor little thing...it's a young one and it is pretty ataxic. (Ataxia: Wobbliness. Uncoordination and unsteadiness due to the brain's failure to regulate the body's posture and regulate the strength and direction of limb movements. Ataxia is usually a consequence of disease in the brain, specifically in the cerebellum which lies beneath the back part of the cerebrum.)

 Poor thing has a few tics and you can also see some trichodectes louse mixed in there, a normal load of which is normal for these guys. It is beleived they play a role in maintaining thier skin health.

 I only had the little guy for the night though. Laurie and Lisa brought it to Tuft's the next morning to get checked out.

It got a full workup. X-Rays showed no problems and there are no signs of trauma. We initially thought it was possibly hit by a car. They are still awaiting some tests results, but one possibility they are leaning towards is roundworm. Unfortunately if that is the case there is no chance of recovery and it will only get worse. So for now, it's getting supportive care and all we can do is wait and see. If it's roundworms it will continue to get worse, if not it should improve with time....so that's what we're giving it! Luckily if the little fella has a chance, he's also got a great place to go and recover...Dee and Tom at Urban Wildlife in Springfield have experience with these prickly critters and will give it the best possible care! Lets all hope for the best for this little quill pig!

A raccoon's prickly encounter.

This is what happens when not so careful raccoon meets porcupine! This poor guy was lucky enough to be living in an area where the homeowner enjoyed his presence and loved wildlife. Upon seeing he condition he managed to trap him (after a skunk and another raccoon) and get him in for some help!

Waiting for the anesthesia to take effect.....

Finally asleep......the work begins.

He was VERY lucky...one was dangerously close to his eye, and there were 2 inside his mouth! It's a wonder he was actually still eating out there!

Finally the quills are out....along with a few bloodsucking freeloaders....

And this big beautiful boy is looking more like a raccoon again!

He went home that evening and spent the night waking up in the trap and the next morning off he went. His benefactor says he is doing well and hopefully he learned his lesson!!!

A successful porcupine release!

I've been so busy with the new babies and all I totally forgot to update you on the porcupines! Mom and baby were taken to a lovely wooded area and released. Both are doing well!

A little snack left for them....

Set up in the protective hollow of a tree and log, the baby gets cozy....

While mom takes the opportunity to scope out the area and take a break from the baby.

Gotta love happy endings!!!

Porky and baby update.

Porky is taking great care of her new little one. Here she is feeding.....

And here is the baby....already a great climber!! Also already chomping on solid foods.

Awwww.....isn't that just the cutest thing!

A Porky surprise!

Ok....a wonderful and adorable story to enjoy from some fellow rehabber friends of mine! You can check them out here!

http://www.urbanwildliferehab.org/

Lots of great pics of all kinds of animals they have helped!

In the meantime, here is a good dose of cute!

Hello everyone, first a little back ground. Back around the middle of December of 2008 a severe ice storm came through our area. During the storm a large number of trees came down on the property of a Horseback riding/training company in Lincoln MA. During the clean up a porcupine was found in the fallen trees with frost bite on its paws and a respiratory infection. This animal was brought to us just after Christmas. He was named, "Porky". Well, after some meds, some R and R and a lot of veggies and a comfortable winter indoor stay he is ready for release now that spring is here. Well, over the last couple weeks his mood has changed, has not had a hearty an appetite and has been spending a lot more time lying quietly. He also seemed to have developed an affinity for fluff filled quilts.

SO, imagine our surprise when we discovered that about 8:30 PM EST, Porky (the supposed male porcupine) had a baby. We heard Porky making some odd sounds and when we looked in on him , (HER) we found her little one. Baby's eyes are open and the little tyke is walking around. We are blown away. Blown away! It is just so friggen cool! Attached are the pictures of the latest addition to our wildlife rehab. I hope you all find them interesting. According to some rehabilitators who have had more experience caring for porcupines are saying that we will likely have to hold onto Porky and her baby for a fair amount of time since Porky does not have a nest (in the wild) although she certainly will get anything she wants from us to fill her needs for a nest!Enjoy!

Hello everyone, Here it is 24 hours later. We have been giving "Porky" plenty of piece and quiet (some "space" if you will) throughout the day. We have only been intruding on her privacy just long enough to change out the soiled bedding, refresh her water and resupply her food bowl. Around 10:30PM we check our animals one last time for the night (water, litter boxes and so on). While we were down there we heard some curious sounds...like claws on the artificial tree we have in the cage for Porky to climb to the upper platform (which we cover with Hemlock branches). We looked in and what do you know? Porky's baby, a little over 24 hours old, is already learning to climb a tree! Of course I had to grab the digital camera. Below are some photo's of baby climbing the artificial tree.
Isn't nature a curious and wonderful thing! A very rare opportunity to see life renewed. Robbin, Joan, Dee and I are just amazed by these events over the last day.
Enjoy!

Awwwwwwwwww!!!!!!

Priscilla the Porcupine's Story

This is Priscilla. Obviously not a raccoon, but a very sweet porcupine whose story needs to be told! She was found curled up in the road, hit by a car after searching out the salt she craved there.

The people who found her were kind enough to pick her up off the street and bring her home, setting her up in a crate. They offered her food that she wouldn't eat, and a bowl of water. She kept tipping over the bowl of water so they just stopped putting it in the crate. They were going to get her to someone to help her, but they just "never got around to it." Finally after 10 DAYS! they contacted a fellow rehabber and brought her in.

She was immediately brought to a vet for an exam and treatment. It was discovered she had a broken pelvis. She was started on fluids and the usual process of re-hydrating then slowly introducing food again. She wouldn't eat at first so she was patiently hand fed baby food & veggies to get her started. Applesauce was her favorite! She started doing well and hopes were high for her recovery.

Porcupines eat sitting up like squirrels but with her broken pelvis she was having a difficult time of it. She kept trying to push herself up to eat. So a special "desk" was made just for her so she could sit up and eat in comfort. She loved this! She was a sweetheart and did great for almost 2 weeks until she started to go downhill.

Unfortunately the damage had been done after 10 days without fluids, food and care. The damage to her kidneys was irreversible and despite every one's best efforts she did not pull through. It was a terrible blow.... and a death that most likely could have been prevented.

If nothing else is learned from this....anyone who finds an animal and wants to help...PLEASE take the half hour or so to call around and get it some help. If you care enough to start to help it, follow through until you get it care instead of adding to it's suffering. They are living things just like us. Can you imagine if you were hurt, locked in a room and have no food or water or anything for any length of time??? Imagine 10 days without anything! In pain to boot! Putting it in a box and forgetting about it isn't going to make the problem go away, and the animal suffering through that would probably be better off having died on the road instead of that type of prolonged suffering.

Thank you to all those who care enough about our wild friends to give them aid when they need it! I know most of the kind hearted people who want to help have no idea what to do. It's a foreign situation to most! In this age of the computer finding a number is an Internet search away and I have made it even easier by having the links to various wildlife rehabilitator organizations listed. Help is just a click away......for all the Priscilla's out there!!