He's a handful... Baby Raccoon

Here is a picture of a baby raccoon we found this week. I have raised a raccoon before and I knew that this one was in a bit of trouble, its mom must have been killed because she would not have left him to fend for himself. It appeared that he was on his own for a few days. He was badly dehydrated and already covered in ticks. I figured he was about four weeks old. I gave him some kitten's replacement milk, cleaned him up and took him in to a raccoon rehabilitation expert. She'll feed him with a bottle till he's old enough to eat dog food, then she'll take him and all the others that she has within the same age group and train them to live in the wild. Thats a whole story in itself.... At about 16 weeks they will be ready to go on their own,. She has 900 acres, where she sets them free. The last time I raised a racoon it was so much work, I knew I couldn't do it this time. I was pretty exhusted when the raccoon expert took over at about 12 weeks. Since this little guy was having some problems I also knew she would have to give it some shots. I hope he makes it!
I've painted many paintings of raccons which I find interesting animals. They have very stiff fur unlike a cats or a dog. Also they all look different. I always thought they were identical but when you see all of the babies together you realize they are not all the same. Some have brown fur some have more of a sable color and some like this one are almost gray. They all have the bandit face but some have a very pointed nose and others have a rounded nose.

They are all very cute but your very glad to see them on their own.