Sunday Afternoon, January 11
But first, I had to take a few outside pictures.
I didn’t think to ask, but this looks like a chainsaw carving of raccoons.
It is located next to their outside animal feeders.
I was most interested in meeting Trixie – their newest rescue.
She is not yet healthy, but, oh, she is beautiful.
She was rejected by her mother, and buried in the straw.
The farmer knew there were two babies, and looked for Trixie – finding her under the straw.
He took her back to her mom.
When the farmer came back a short time later, the mother had again buried her under the straw and pooped on it.
He then knew that the mother had no intention of taking care of her, so they took her in the house to feed and care for her.
But she was not getting better, the farmer was busy with other animals, and the caregiver needed to go back to college after Christmas break.
So they frantically looked for a rehabber – and through contacts found Roy and Deb.
She cannot walk correctly and falls quickly, so Deb was taking her to the vet on Monday.
She loves being cuddled.
Because they keep her in the house, she wears pampers. 🙂
Look at those ears!
PS: The visit to the vet on Monday revealed that she has tetanus. Because she did not get her mother’s milk, she didn’t have the strength to fight it off, so Deb will have to give her shots every day for several weeks.
Then we went to see the four – two month old – squirrels they rehabbed. They were so busy that it was difficult to get a photo of all four.
Their names are Tom, Nancy, Steve, and Ted – the real names of the actors in the movie “3 Men and a Little Lady.”
Because they were born so late in the year, they cannot be released until spring.
When I asked where the skunks were, Deb said Flower will probably be the easiest to find, and proceeded to pull out a bottom drawer of a cabinet – and there she was on the floor under the drawer.
She is a beautiful skunk.
The skunks and raccoons spend most of their time sleeping right now, as winter is their usual time of hibernation – but sometimes Deb hears them at night…
…or sees signs of things having been pushed around when she gets up in the morning.
Deb tried to tempt Luna out of her “den” in the cage…
…and did it with grape Tic-Tacs.
I love seeing their animals and learning about their personalities.
#1 and #3 are beautiful shots, Doris — Trixie is beautiful, but is tetanus contagious to humans? And the skunks — how brave to keep them in the house!
Tetanus isn’t contagious. Trixie didn’t get the colostrum from her mom’s milk that she needed, plus she didn’t walk enough so it set into her body, something that is common in goats and sheep. Her back legs were stiff and didn’t bend when we got her. She could stand long, let alone walk. It will take one month of shots since she was already two weeks old when we got her and the tetanus turned into an infection in her bones, so she gets daily shots of penicillin. She has improved so much over the past few days. She’s just precious and is improving daily.
And the skunks are de-scented so they are great. They are litter box trained and love to snuggle. They are very intelligent and make wonderful pets but do require a lot of time for the first year of their lives.
Thanks, Deb, for this response! I’m glad to know that tetanus isn’t contagious — but how sad for Trixie — I do hope she’ll be able to heal under your care, and to live a normal life. How fun to have skunks — as long as they are de-scented, they look like beautiful pets.
The improvement in Trixie over the past few days has been so good! I think Trixie will be able to be a regular little goat again. She is walking and chasing the cat and skunk around in the evenings and is even holding up her head up again. You should see her chase me up and down the hallway after her bottle. It is amazing considering when she arrived she could hardly stand for 5-10 minutes. It’s amazing what the right medicine, love, a little leg therapy by us and determination will due for a baby goat. Thanks for your note of concern.
So happy to read this Deb.
Oh my, their “kids” are adorable!
Agree!