A Rabid Raccoon Aversion – Catholic Review

When I was just a few weeks away from graduating from high school, our family dog ​​got into a fight with a raccoon in our yard.

At first my dad thought Flurry was hurting a neighborhood cat, so he went outside and somehow managed to separate them. When he realized it was a raccoon, he locked it in a garbage can.

When this happens, call and have the raccoon brought in for testing. You give your dog a rabies booster, just in case. But you kind of think the story ends there.

Then the phone rings and the voice on the other end tells you that the raccoon had rabies. Everything changed.

My father, two brothers and I had all dealt with Flurry after the fight, so we had to get a rabies vaccination. Flurry had to be quarantined for 90 days, interacting with only a few people in the family and encountering no other pets. My father built a creative structure in the backyard that allowed Flurry to be outside but still enclosed. And we began a long quarantine for our dog in the house we had just moved into about a month earlier.

I’ve told that story many times over the years – and I assume my parents and siblings have, too. If you have an expected fact to share about yourself, getting an anti-rabies shot is a good choice.

Recently my brother contacted me to ask if I knew what day the fight took place. He remembered it was the 30’se anniversary this year, which makes sense since I just celebrated my 30the high school reunion. But I’m not sure when it happened since it’s been a few decades. It was probably in May.

But when I look back on that time, what strikes me most is that my parents were about the age I am now. They were amazing during what must have been an extremely frightening time, going through all kinds of unexpected challenges. I feel absolutely unequipped to tackle anything along these lines. For starters, I have no idea how to get a raccoon into a garbage can.

But at the time, it made sense that my parents could handle it all. As a child, your parents are so wise and knowledgeable.

They secured medical care and fought with insurance. They had the Ministry of Natural Resources on the phone. They were researching rabies at a time when research wasn’t a Google search in the palm of your hand. They checked to see if our dog showed any symptoms of rabies.

They were also busy preparing for my high school graduation celebration and my sister’s graduation celebration – and managing everything you do when you have six kids, just moved into a new house a few weeks ago and still trying to sell your old house.

It’s a mystery what parents can do. Somehow in my memories they were so much older and wiser than I am now. Today, I have a high school student of my own—and another headed that way next year—and I’m still waiting for the wisdom to kick in.

Fortunately, Flurry remained rabies-free, and so did the rest of the family. The rest of the spring went smoothly. My parents still live in that house thirty years later. My dad still has the garbage can he used to trap the raccoon. And we all have a story to share.

Raccoon image by Melanie via Pixabay