Yay! I'm curing the local raccoons of mange!

[Lorien]

Earlier this year a large male raccoon who was badly infected with mange appeared in our neighborhood. Months later the parasites had spread through more than half the raccoon population (about 24 raccoons in the neighborhood, total). Several animals fell to the illness, and of course, the local dogs and cats were at risk. I finally found an online exotic animal vet who gave me directions on how to cure my wild neighbors. The worst cases were three tiny baby raccoons I dubbed "the naked mole rat brothers"; they had almost no hair at all! I have no "before" photos (I could barely stand to look at the little gray hairless wrinkled creatures), but as you can see in the "after" pictures of the two remaining brothers (one was lost), they've developed an oddly colored downy coat after a few weeks of treatment. They're playing, wrestling, and behaving like normal baby raccoons now. :-)

Since mange is everywhere this year i thought I would post the advice the vet gave me. He noted that this treatment should NOT be used on cats or turtles, but all other animals are OK;
Go to a feed store and buy a 30 or 60 ml bottle of Ivomec which is an injectable ivermectin solution for use in cattle to prevent bots. The dose of ivermectin to cure mange is one milliliter (1ml or 1cc) per 110 pounds of body weight given every week mixed with a little canned food. You need to mix it just before they eat it. A large raccoon weighs about thirty pounds so it would get about one third of a cc.
In three weeks the animals should start getting well. If they do not then the problem is not simple mange. You can also use Ivomec paste designed for horses. It comes in a plastic dosing syringe. There is a dial on the syringe handle which allows you to dial the weight of the animal and thereby the dose you give. I believe the smallest dose is 100 pounds. So you will need to divide that dose between three large raccoons.
Ron Hines DVM PhD

I gave a dab of the paste in a marshmallow every week for the baby raccoons. For the large adults, I mixed the Ivermectin paste in a blender with grape jelly, then divided it up on slices of bread. Everyone looks much better now!

The Naked Mole Rat brothers, newly re-fluffed:

The NMR bros. next to an uninfected raccoon:

[JackieO]

1. Wow, that's so cool!

I love raccoons! Thank you for helping them out and thanks for the pictures!

[Robeson]

2. Good for you Jen6!!

That is so good! :thumbsup:

[curse10]

3. Oh my god! They are soooo cute!

And their fur looks fabulous!

[CrispyQ]

4. Hugs to you Jen6!

The world needs more people with your comapssion & caring!

[Lorien]

5. The only drawback has been

that I need to "round them up" every night by tossing cat food out on the deck (that's what they're eating in the photos). A couple of clever adults have discovered that I'll come to the back door if they're noisy enough. One scratches frantically at the door, the other bangs on the door with rocks-and even bits of pipe that it's found! Not fun at 5am, lol! Now I have a basket full of raccoon "tools" that I've taken away from my little beggars. Ah, the cleverness of urban wildlife!

[SiouxJ]

6. Way to go Jen!

The coons are lucky to have you!

:yourock:

[Lorien]

7. Thanks SiouxJ!

I hope you're digging yourself out from under all those orders! ;-)

:hi:

[Piperay]

8. They're are so cute

just adorable and what a wonderful thing you are doing for them! :hug: :yourock:

I see raccoons where I live too (in Los Angeles County) they appear to be just fine but I am going to take down the treatment instructions just in case. THANKS! :thumbsup:

[Catchawave]

9. How sweet !

Jen:yourock: