Life With a Coon...

Life is now falling into a normal pace again. It took some slight adjustment to get used to, but everything is as good as gold now. My little "Pippin", his formal name, or "Pip" for short, is thriving quite beautifully. I am thankful for my prior experience though, as I may have been in a pickle without it.
Pippin, was mainly being fed by syringe, because he just wasn't taking to the bottle for mike, but since I had more time on my hands, I focused more on bottle training him. He's doing very well with it, but it does take patients. As most young, baby animals, kits tend to need a bit of coaxing when it comes to feeding. They want to push the bottle away, chew on it, paw at it, suckle rapidly, and then finally after what seems and eternity, they latch and nurse.

If you have a new baby coon, don't get frustrated that your kit clamps up, or seems uninterested in feeding. Think about how they are with their mothers. Their mothers come into the dens, and it takes them a little time for them to lay down, get adjusted, and then for the babies to find the nipple. Then the babies have to stimulate the nipples to get the milk flow started, not to mention they have to usually fight other sibblings over nipples. So as you can see, it's a lot of work to eat, so these are natural instincts, born into them. If you're baby seems to almost fight you at feeding time, that's because that's what nature is telling him/ her to do. Just take it as it comes.

Some tips that have worked for me are...

-Be sure to wake up your little one, a little while before feeding time. This way they have time to get moving around, and getting their appetite going, and aren't waking up to a bottle shoved in their face.

-Stimulate them to go to the bathroom before their feeding. Sometimes they still have some fecal matter or urin left over from a prior feeding, and this will make room.

-Rub their back and neck. This stimulates them to nurse as the mother would, by nuzzling them.

-Warm the milk a little, and be sure there are no clumps stuck in the nipple hole. Sometimes it gets clogged and they aren't getting anything from the bottle. Also try rubbing milk around the outside of the nipple so they can get the taste in their mouth.

-Just don't give up. If you know it's definatly feeding time, continue trying.

Other tips for successful feedings...

-No matter how many people claim it has worked for them, NEVER FEED A RACCOON KIT ON IT'S BACK!!!! This can cause aspiration! Baby coons don't feed lying on their backs when with the mother, and even if they do occasionally get flipped when on their mother, the milk isn't flowing out of her the way it does from a bottle.

-Stop feeding your kit imediatly if milk ever comes from it's nose. Be sure to clear all milk as soon as you see it. This is a sign that your baby is aspirating. This can cause strangulation or pnemonia and death.

-If your little coon is very lathargic, weak, you're having trouble getting it to eat, and it seems to be going down hill, try giving him/her about three drops of karo syrup in the corner of it's mouth. Sometimes when kit's are so little, and finicky about eating, their blood sugar can drop.

-Never feed a cold baby coon. If you come across an orphan, or your pet coon's body temp has droped, be sure to warm him/her first. Also try some pediatlite at first. This will give him/her some boost but not fill them up too much, and cause their body to have to overwork.

Hope you find these tips usefull, or at least interesting. Like I said, don't give up, or assume that your little one isn't hungry. These things just happen some times. Keep at it! Also stay tuned for more Pippin pictures. I hope to have some up very shortly!