Neonatal Raccoon Care Management in Wildlife Rehabilitation: A Retrospective Analysis

Northern Racoons (Procyon Lotor) are the most commonly admitted procyonids in North American rehabilitation centers, with orphaned (neonates) making up the majority of cases. Given the large caseload and vulnerability at neonatal stages, understanding how to improve chances of survival in attempt to release individuals back to the wild is crucial. In an attempt to study neonatal raccoon care management in wildlife rehabilitation, this retrospective clinical analysis explores Northern Raccoon kits admitted to a rescue center on Vancouver Island, Canada. The study population includes ninety kits of various ages admitted to the rescue center in the years 2024 and 2025. Individual patient data was collected retrospectively from an online medical-log system of the facility. Recorded variables included: developmental stage, admission reason, diagnosed diseases, diet, outcome, and growth. The aim was to investigate the impact of diseases on outcome and growth in rescued raccoons. Suspected orphanhood was the main cause for admission of raccoons in this study. Most animals studied in the present data set had at least one diagnosed disease, most commonly dehydration, parasites, ocular disease or other diseases. Developmental stage was a primary driver for both disease prevalence and outcome; disease alone did not greatly affect survival, but infants were less likely to survive than juveniles admitted to the facility, regardless of disease status. Growth and outcome differences observed in two case studies of healthy and compromised triplets in this study highlight the importance of continuous monitoring in the context of early diagnosis and treatment prior to potential life-threatening health complications and assessment of rearing success in neonatal orphan management. Implementation of monitoring, together with early intervention in cases of younger kits, and use of preventative care, may facilitate an improved chance of survival in rehabilitation settings. However, given the small and uneven sample size, the findings of this study should be interpreted with caution.