Something is going on here.

I live in a semi rural area with tons of racoons, opossums, deer, foxes, etc. We live on a road that ends in a cul-de-sac and has dirt road leading from it to a warren of mobile homes and houses. This is a lower income area, so some of the people who live here are not "pleasant" to live near.

In the past week, two raccoons have died on our property. The first was found by my mom near a tree. According to her he had no signs of predation or disease, but all the bones in his back half were shattered (she (wearing gloves) said he felt like a sack of jelly with sharp sticks).:yikes: The last one was today. This one appeared to have been poisoned (it was still alive, AC had to come out and shoot it). He was uncoordinated, confused and appeared to be in pain.

Neither had blood, wounds or abrasions. Both were on the plump side, with no signs of vomiting, discharge or diarrhea.

In the nearly six years we have lived here, not a single raccoon besides these two has been found dead on our property. Also, one of the cats in a nearby feral colony has a scab on her head from a rather large wound (too big to be from a cat fight or dog attack).

Uhhhh, that sounds an awful lot like rabies.


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AC ruled that out. I've seen rabid animals, this was not rabies.

How in the world did they rule rabies out in the same day?

Not all animals manifest the same symptoms when affected by rabies, though. If it were my property, I'd request the carcasses be sent off to be tested just so I knew for 100% certain.

The AC who came out has seen rabies a billion times and this had the hall marks of anti freeze (he had just seen a case of that the day before). He has been in the field 30+ years (yes this is a small town) and this was definetly NOT rabies.

Nobody can definitively rule out rabies without testing for it. ANY neurologic symptom can be due to rabies.

Rabies, anti-freeze, or whatever. There's something going on, definitely keep a close eye on the pups!

This.


Sometimes, when something is fresh on your mind, EVERYTHING looks like that thing. I wouldn't take someone's word for it, I'd demand it gets tested for rabies.

All the pets are kept indoors, except going to the bathroom or exercise in the pasture.

Another cat showed up fearful and wounded (did not see the cat, my mom went out to feed and he was one of her regulars, according to her she has never seen wounds like this). We are trying to figure out who to call for this, AC is literally 2 people out here, it took three hours for them to show up.

Sounds like someone is taking out some free time on the local wildlife.

I'd still ask for that one 'coon to be tested for rabies, just to rule it out. Given the physical injuries to the others, it may well be antifreeze, but better safe than sorry!

Sounds like some pretty crappy people live around there.

AC took the carcass, don't know if he tested it or not. We do have suspicions about one neighbor.

not everyone likes feral cats around their house, raccoons either if they have chickens or rabbits.

Also, in regards to the cat wound, I've seen cats with giant patches of skin missing after being attacked by dogs or hit by a car, so I'd not rule out "natural" hazards of outdoor cat life