All of this has been such a worrisome headache for me. Besides, feeling so bad for them being sick and not eating, the worry about getting them to eat and getting the medicines in them has been totally overwhelming for me. This kind of responsibility is why I got out of the kid business after 30 years. Worrying about the raccoons threw me into an obsessive state of mind. All I could think about was them and about how to get the older two to take the meds. Then I worry about them getting sick again after they are released and I won't know it and they'll die from it. Ewww, that thought really bugs me.

When the vet told me that the medicine had to go into their food, I knew that wasn't going to work. How could it? They were not eating anything. Then it was decided that I would try to do it orally with a syringe. Not knowing what else to do, I said I would give it a valiant try but I had my doubts. Marge, especially, was really grumpy, grumpier than usual. She had been snapping at me when I tried to get near her. She was even growling at Midge and Sheila if they wanted to go in the carrier to sleep with her. It was a challenge just getting her into the cat carrier to get her to the vet.

I went home and totally dreaded having to dose them. I knew that Sheila and I would get along okay. She's a month younger and doesn't even care about biting anything or anyone. Even though they had just gotten shots, I was supposed to give them the first dosage as soon as I got home. I put them in the small cage, then went inside to catch up on some e-mail. Fixed myself some lunch, and tried to find something else I could do to stall having to dose the coons. But, I knew that wasn't right, that it had to be done so that they would get better, so reluctantly, I got the syringes, towels and gloves ready.

I did Sheila first and although she really struggled against being swaddled, I did get the whole batch in her. Let me say, it didn't go well at all with the other two. I couldn't even get the towel around Marge. I'll tell ya, that girl will do quite well for herself in keeping unwanted people and critters away from her. Midge, well, I got the towel on her and got her lifted out of the cage (all the while trying to keep Marge in the cage) and then Midge bared all her teeth and bit, HARD, on my finger. Luckily, I had two pairs of thick gloves on, one of them hard rubber, or I probably would have lost a finger. That was it for me. They were both hastily stuffed back in the small cage and I went in and tearfully called the vet again. The vet and her staff set about brainstorming trying to think of some way to get this impossible feat accomplished. She called me back a bit later and said they couldn't come up with anything. I had figured that would be the answer.

Meanwhile, waiting for the vet to call me back, I hit upon the idea of getting more Esbilac and vanilla yogurt--the formula mixture that they are given as babies. That was the one thing that they still loved having. I had just weaned Sheila off the bottle and when I sat in the cage to feed her I had to fight off the three older ones. So, I asked the vet if this would be okay and she said that I might as well try it even though it was milk based and probably not as good for their stomachs but I had nothing to lose but them if I didn't get the medicine in them somehow.