What to do with animals your doodle has injured or half-killed

[Melissa & Porter]

I've been meaning to post this for a while and the "Proud of me, Mom?" thread reminded me to do so.  Porter has asked me that question many times now, and a lot of our dogs have a strong prey drive, so  here goes. So far, Porter has killed a fairly large bunny and a baby squirrel.  I found him with the bunny already dead, but the squirrel was still alive when I caught him and his buddy playing "fetch."  After making him drop it and inspecting it, I decided to let Porter finish it.  It was in bad shape and I didn't want it to suffer, half-dead for hours.  I think I probably did the most humane thing. Well, killing it fast myself would have been more humane, but I couldn't make myself do it.

 

But with our second bunny experience a couple weekends ago, I learned some alternatives to letting your doodle kill the animal or letting it suffer for hours...also what you can do if the animal is not gravely injured.

Here's our second bunny story: I went outside to call Porter in and had something squeaking in his mouth and fluff all over his muzzle.  I made him drop the animal and I brought him inside.  I went back out and it was curled up, but breathing.  I thought it was a mouse at first, but then noticed the long, flat ears and tiny tail.  It was a bunny, so young it's eyes were still closed, about the size of two fingers, one puncture wound on its leg and quite alive.  I hunted down the nest in my yard--not hard to do given the trail of fluff.  It was totally ransacked.  I found a bunny foot :-(.

I put the bunny in a shoebox, warm and dark, where it scrambled around blindly until I put a dishtowel in for cuddling.  It was too alive to give up on and my kids were now aware of it and asking me what do we do???

Of course this was a Saturday, not a weekday, so the animal control office was closed.  I know the woman takes in animals because she helped us with a bat issue a year ago.  The local shelter would not give me her cell number--lol--I don't blame them, but they left a message for me on her vm.  I talked to two pets stores and the local zoo.  The second pet store and the zoo gave me the number of a bird reserve, the Raptor Trust, who then gave me the name of my county's bunny person--a sweet young woman with a BA in ecology and working toward wildlife rehab certification.  By this time, I'd had the bunny for 8 hrs, fed it kitten milk from the local pet store and put neosporin on it's boo boo.  Thankfully it was a very hot day, because bunnies need hear.  When she got it, she said it was warm, belly full, and 3-4 days old and she put it in an incubator with two others who'd been brought to her that day. 

 

So, here's a list if you find yourself in a similar situation:

1) Call your local animal control and ask if they rehab animals.  In my town, the animal control person rehabilitates animals.  However, she is not available on weekends.

2) Call your local vet, pet stores and zoos.  Though they will usually not take animals for fear of introducing a disease into their populations, they
often know the wildlife rescue and preserve organizations in your region
and can give you their phone numbers.

3) Google "wildlife preserve, your county, your state."

4) Leave messages everywhere and try to get the animal out of your hands as soon as possible.  People like you and me usually have no idea how to
best handle these animals, so getting them to experts asap increases
their chance of survival.

[Traci -Bexter & Maggie]

I'm hoping I never have to deal with this!  It creeps me out because I kiss Bexter all the time (and he kisses me)...I would hate to think what he may have had in his mouth!  He did see a dead bird in my mom's backyard & started to munch on it.  GROSS!

[Melissa & Porter]

True that.  Kibble is just mashed up animal product, but at least it is disease free and in pellet form ;-)

[Ginny Nightingale]

My dogs have a strong prey drive too--my Mattie has eaten 1 and 1/2 squirrels--hubby got the other half away from her-and a rabbit. Last year they found a bunny nest with a bunny in it that was already dead--the smell gave the nest away. When I looked over to see what they were up to, there were baby bunnies running all over the place. I managed to get them all rounded up with the help of my DH, who put the doodles back in the house. One was too far gone and may not have been cared for by the mom for quite some time.(She may have deserted these babies or was killed) But the others were strong and ready to live on their own. We took them to our wildlife rehab lady who gave them a 24 hour rest then set them free! So far this year, the rodents have not come near the yard--they are learning to avoid this place!

[Melissa & Porter]

Oh my gosh.  I can just imagine herding together the baby bunnies!  I am glad they were old enough to make it on their own.  Yay for less backyard rodents.  I'm pretty sure the nest in the middle of my small backyard was made during a period of torrential downpours--when the dogs weren't out much--otherwise I cannot imagine why a bunny would give birth in a yard shared by two doodles!