old raccoon feces

What Diseases Do Baby Raccoons Carry?

Newborn raccoons are free of disease until they feed on food or milk given to them by an infected female mother. This is why the rate is going higher as more adult raccoons have roundworms the chances of infecting the young with eggs during breastfeeding goes up. This gets worse when they start eating solid food. The main reason raccoons have roundworms is from consuming decaying meat. This is called carry-on feeding as they are carrying on eating a corps that has already been long dead and eaten by the predator that hunted it. This causes large numbers of up to 90% for young raccoons and 70% for older ones. This does not mean they can be cured of it without human medical aid from a vet but it does not go away. However, the worms cannot affect raccoons in any way, only other mammals can get it. That being said it makes raccoons very dangerous. Rabies is not a common illness for young raccoons but is very common for older raccoons that mate but a rabies-infected mother can pass it to young raccoons through saliva when giving them food. Rabies also causes severe dementia and a mother with rabies is more likely to abandon her babies than pass on the virus. Either way, the infection rate is so high you should avoid any contact with all raccoons, young or old, male or female. Even if they got it recently and are not showing symptoms they can still pass it on.

Raccoon babies
While newborns are free of disease they often get roundworm from being fed by their mother, this may be one reason why the number of young raccoons with roundworm is higher than for adults.

The problem with rabid raccoons is that they do not come to your property for food or water or to find shelter. They are crazed and likely wandered there not realizing it. The raccoon will wander around often in circles or zigzags and will babble and make screeching sounds. They are hydrophobic when they are showing symptoms so in this case, having a pool on your property may disway a rabid raccoon from approaching the property. The most important thing to know is if you see a rabid raccoon on your property stay away from it and call the humane society to remove it. Professional wildlife companies do not deal with rabid or live animals on your property, only dead ones. So if you have a dead raccoon on your property you can call a professional company that can remove and sterilize the area. Especially with raccoons as they vacate their bowls when they die and that means raccoon roundworm eggs.