Rabid coon?

[Ivyblaze]

I had a female coon show up on my porch today at 4:45pm and started eating my cats food....in the process I noticed that this coon is literally drooling everywhere...all over the concrete, the bowl etc...it looked like shoe strings hanging down out of her mouth so I go get the gun...open up the door and the dang thing charges the door at me...finally it runs off but I couldn't get the shot because of where she was and there was not a safe zone behind her in case of ricochet....Never have I seen a rabid animal but I am thinking that it is any ideas????

 

[bobbi-j]

I wouild definitely be concerned.

 

[KBChicks]

Sounds rabid to me.

If it comes back I hope you're able to get a clear shot at it.

Maybe you could also call the game Commission to alert them as well.

 

[oldchickenlady]

Definitely a possibility. Get some thick rubber gloves and wash everything that has drool on it with a strong solution of bleach and water! I mean everything! The porch, steps, cat bowl, even the grass if you see any drool on the grass. dont get any of the drool on you! If you have a trap I would set it and see if you could catch it before it gets to your cat or any thing or anyone else. Also call the state health department and tell them what you saw. They may have someone who could come out and try to kill it for you.

 

[Ivyblaze]

Already bleached everything down....I figured bleach will kill about anything so would not hurt....I used my yellow kitchen gloves

so now have to get a new pair but at least i got it clean....but I am concerned. Everything around here that meows or barks has had shots but you can never be to careful. Bad thing is that is the fourth sick looking coon we have seen the other three we shot. But none of them looked like this. The bad thing is my dogs chase and kill any coons they see so looks like they will be going out on leashes tonight til we can dispose of her. I wanted to shoot but the shot was a very very bad one and sooooo not clear of the house nor the concrete floor and this bullet probably would have went through her. If she had been on the dirt just 20 more feet out that would have been a different story.

 

[kichohana]

It was definitely sick because it was on your porch in daylight and they are primarily nocturnal. Of course there was a free meal waiting... but sounds like a sick raccoon to me. Abnormal behavior such as appearing sick or disoriented may be a sign of rabies or distemper infection. Symptoms of distemper may include discharge from the nose and eyes, a rough coat of hair, emaciated appearance, and unusual behavior such as disorientation or wandering aimlessly. The animals’ symptoms become progressively worse and the disease is usually fatal. Distemper is not the same disease as rabies, although some symptoms are similar. Distemper can not be passed to humans. If it is rabid, just remember that rabies is a deadly viral infection. All mammals including humans can get rabies. Animals most often infected include raccoons, skunks, foxes, bats, and woodchucks. You can be infected by an animal bite; or saliva, brain, or spinal cord tissue of a rabid animal entering a wound, eyes, nose, or mouth (you do not have to be bitten to become infected). Be very careful - that animal needs to be shot and buried deep.

 

[kaddidle]

I used to work at a veterinary clinic that had a contract with animal control to dispose of nuisance raccoons, and several times a year we'd get one that was rabid and would have to euthanize it. (We relocated ones that were healthy.) The raccoon that you describe sounds very similar to the rabid specimens that we saw. Hope you can exterminate it quickly, both for your and your animals' sake and for its sake. Besides being dangerous and aggressive, the rabid coons that I had to deal with were also pitiful and obviously suffering.

 

[TreeHugger]

A raccoon can contact the dog or feline form of distemper so please make sure your pets are vaccinated. If she has distemper and is showing signs she will be dead in a matter of days. Although I'm not 100% sure I think the feline form of distemper is much more contagious and the virus last longer outside of the animal then the canine version. I would dispose of any food she came in contact with.

 

[Ivyblaze]

I doubt it was distemper but regardless my pets are vaccinated. I threw the cat bowl away just in case. This is why I feed the cats during the day so the raccoons don't get it but this one was definately not right and highly aggressive.

 

[tallyho]

We have had relatively few problems with coons in the last few years because a distemper epidemic took most of them out. I'm just starting to hear about them again. Sounds like something is going through the population. I just hope it's not rabies. Be careful at night! Your animals are vaccinated...you aren't!