Ronny's Progression

Ronny progressed nicely that first week. Solid food was next on the list. We started trying to wean him from his bottle by introducing baby cereal. He wasn't too keen on that alone. Then we had the brilliant idea to add baby apricots. Bingo! He liked it, he really liked it!

Raccoons are not kin to cats. We found that out the hard way. You'd think, or dummies like myself would think, they were more cat like. All Ronny did with the bowl of yummy cat food was spread it around and play with it. Raccoons are more akin to dogs. They will eat anything really, but for a house pet with no market available for raccoon food, we tried Kibbles and Bits next. That turned out to be his favorite meal. As he grew, he ate every morsel.

We added a rabbit-style water bottle to his cage, mostly because putting a bowl of water in the cage with him at night was inviting mischief. With our first try at that, we discovered just how many things a raccoon uses those delicate little hands for. It took a bit for him to understand that the water in his cage was for drinking and not doing the laundry. After he got the hang of drinking from the hanging water thingy, it was time to get a larger cage.

When we were home we left Ronny out of his cage most of the day. His cage was still indoors—in the kitchen, but eventually, putting him to bed at night became more of a chore. He still had his bottle before bed, but if he wasn't ready to sleep or didn't want to alone, he cried like a baby. If we had done our job and sufficiently worn him out through the day, taking him on outings to the lake or just lumbering around the back yard with him, he didn't put up a fuss. It was when he felt he'd been put to bed too early that he threw a tantrum. We started covering his cage and that helped some, but not always. Ronny was into everything, but he was still baby enough to want to curl up in your arms or under the blanket with Amy and sleep.

He didn't run like a puppy, he lumbered. A cat or kitten, will sidle when playing. Watching Ronny perform his play stance was hilarious. I wish I had video camera, but I didn't. Stills don't do it justice, but his attack stance was much like a kitten, but with a bigger, higher butt.

Teaching Ronny to know things of the world, and how to find food, was paramount in preparing him to return to the wild at the end of summer. The one plaything Ronny got the most out of was the bathtub. We'd let the water trickle from the faucet into a water dish and he'd splash about until everything in the room was dampened. After one of our fishing trips, we filled the bathtub with a few inches of water and added some of the minnows that didn't get used. Thank goodness we had a large country bathroom with a claw tub, so we had plenty of room to enjoy the show that Ronny put on chasing the minnows and small fish.

Raccoons grow fast. From a tiny helpless little kit, those first few days, to a week later of climbing and running and washing everything in sight.

On nice days we took him outside with us. He'd follow after as fast as his little feet could carry him, then if he caught up he climbed up the side of a leg. He figured we were his trees those first few weeks. He loved the outdoors, especially when we turned the hose on and let it run.

When it was time to come inside, he'd squawk like a spoiled child. Once inside, dry and fed, he was happy again. Remember, raccoons don't run, they lumber. Their little buts high in the air. Charging is a skill they have to learn for life in the wild. So is washing their food. We never put the water bowl near his solid food. Well, it only took once to show us how un-smart that was. Soggy Kibbles and Bits aren't very tasty, nor easy to clean up after.

Coming up—Ronny moves outside....