This is Millie, a skinny raccoon who we’d never seen visiting before. It was the end of January and very cold outside. The sun was already up and it had sprinkled overnight. Mom was surprised to see this skinny raccoon with an odd fur tuffed tail thing going on out in one of the feeding stations when Mom was expecting to see Tuxie Boy who visits at that time of day. But not that day. Millie doesn’t look old. We estimate her age at just over a year old.

An hour later, when Mom went out to put seed in the bird feeder at the back of of the garden, there was Millie, doing raccoon things like climbing a tree and trying to blend in. It wasn’t working. So, at the sound of Mom’s voice, and ever so slowly, Millie came down out of the tree. It took a long time to come down as if she didn’t quite trust the branches.

That’s when Mom noticed Millie was very skinny, moved very slowly, had missing fur on her tail and wasn’t afraid of Mom. Mom and Millie talked while Millie foraged for bird seed under the trees. The sunflower seed Mom had tossed there would be good fats for Millie and later, Mom tossed some pieces of a suet cake out there as well. Anything to help during the cold weather.

A while later, Millie waded through the fountain, maybe hoping she’d find something else to eat. Nothing but the occasional frog could be found there. It’s good to know Millie knows about the fountain and where to drink, and where to find food. If she stayed, she’d be safe in our yard.

The following day, Mom found Millie sitting out by the feral feeding stations. Millie didn’t seem to be interested in the cat food that Tuxie Boy and a few visiting neighbor cats know are available during the day. She didn’t back off or run but was interested in what Mom was doing which was tossing cans into the recycling bin. Millie would raise her nose, sniffing the air and listening to Mom’s voice.

Mom went back into the garage and brought out a handful of bird seed and sat nearby to watch. Millie didn’t seem to mind the audience, and made us wonder if she was a re-located raccoon (re-locating raccoons rarely end well and could explain her thin-ness) or if she had been displaced by the new construction going on in the greenspace down the hill, the very greenspace we were all promised would never be disturbed.

On her days off work, Mom enjoyed seeing Millie during the day. It seemed that Millie wasn’t adhering to your standard “raccoons sleep during the day and forage at night” behavior. And then watching her one day, it dawned on us – Millie may be partially blind. She might not know if it’s day or night. She uses her nose to sniff out food and obviously, has good hearing. And she can track her own movements in the garden, returning to the same spots over and over.

It’s been days since we’ve seen Millie. A week ago, the coyotes from the far side of the greenspace, perhaps displaced themselves, brought youngsters into our neighborhood to teach them hunting skills. Down the hill on the street behind us, we were woken around midnight by the sounds of close, loud and excited yipping. In coyote-speak, this usually signifies an adult is bringing home food. We know better than to think that might have been a late night pizza.

There’s a lot of wildlife down the hill in the greenspace other than raccoons. We hope Millie’s okay, wherever she is and Tuxie Boy too, who we also haven’t seen in a while. We’re thankful to have been able to provide some food for her during our cold spell and maybe, she’ll find her way back to visit again soon.

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A Colehaus Cats flashback:

2025 – No post
2024 – No post
2023 – The Monday Spot
2022 – No post
2021 – Wordless Wednesday
2020 – Monday Feels
2019 – No post
2018 – No post
2017 – Friday Flashback with Quint
2016 – Just Hanging Out
2015 – Ruby Tuesday
2014 – ManCat Monday. Sort of.
2013 – No post
2012 – Cat Snuggles. What? Again?