Occurred on July 5, 2022 / Farmerville, Louisiana, USA

: "I am a licensed wildlife rehabber and I run a nonprofit wildlife rehab. Sassy (orphan raccoon) was brought to us by a lady who found her under a big oak tree. Sassy’s mom was caught in a live trap two days before that and relocated somewhere else. The trapper was unaware the raccoon had babies. Sassy was a week old when we got her. The first few days she didn’t want to eat and cried out for her mom. We had to give her subq fluids (fluids under the skin) to keep her hydrated. She was full of parasitic worms, skinny and very dehydrated. We gave her meds to deworm her and kept her warm using a heating pad. Babies that young are not able to regulate their body temperature and must be provided additional warmth. I had to fed her using a syringe because she didn’t want to eat for the first few days. She finally started eating using a bottle but still cried every time I put her back in the kennel.

A few weeks later her eyes and ears opened up and she had gained weight. I called other rehabs to find a baby raccoon her size that I could raise with her. Unfortunately, none of the other rehabbers had a baby available. Sassy, even though healthy and well taken care of, still cried when she was not being held. A small kitten (socks) showed up at our house one morning. We search for the owners and posted on FB to try to find where she came from. We took her in and one day after feeding sassy and hearing her poor cries, I put socks in the kennel with her. Sassy immediately took up with the kitten, and now they are both inseparably."