I routinely execute trapped coons in an almost silent fashion. I use a .22 rifle, but only use a particular type of ammo called CCI CB Shorts, found at Wal-Mart. You can also use CCI .22LR Quiets, also found at Wal-Mart. Both products are very quiet, especially when firing down into a trap. If you are discreet about it, your neighbors will never know what you are doing. Now, I'm a hardcore sportsman with top-flight firearms and equipment, but you could easily make do with the cheapest single-shot bolt-action .22 rifle your local pawnshop has to offer. It can be an ancient, beat-up piece of junk with which Annie Oakley would be unable to hit the broad side of a barn from the inside. All your junky old rifle needs to have is a functioning firing pin. Your target won't be more than ten or twelve inches from the muzzle. I'd suggest placing your trap in a place out of sight of the neighbors and going outside at first light, walking with your rifle held close against your leg. Approach the trap slowly so as not to agitate the coon, line up your shot, take it, and put the rifle back in the house. Dump your coon into a five-gallon bucket and drive to someplace you can dump it. A weedy ditch will do. This whole thing is pretty gruesome the first few times you do it, but eventually you'll get used to it. It has to be done. So, work up the nerve and do it!

Keep a baby observation journal. Divide up her days into time blocks and write out what you do and what you notice about her responses. Just take notes for a few days. Try to cover a time period where she has a couple of later nights and a couple of earlier nights. Go back and check to see when or if she took naps or had different activities those days. Look for patterns you can work with. Ideas for helping a baby re-settle themselves are to go to them if they are used to that, and give them some verbal attention and touch. But, keep everything quiet and supportive (no gymnastics; to help them keep clear about 'bedtime' and 'nighttime' versus 'gymnastics time'). A basic problem with always letting a baby's own inclinations lead is that in human relationships there are multiple sets of human needs which have to be balanced. The adults have _needs_ which may rightly include 2 hours of quiet time for you before your sleep time. That is important for you to experience in order to feel rested and on top of your game, and to be the best mother you can be for your baby. Your baby needs you to be on top of your game. Maybe work on a transition routine with her for those last 2 hours. Help her wind up her play time. Maybe have a quiet hour of infant massage and soft baby bedtime music. Even for adults, the need for and ability to just fall asleep isn't always the same every day. Usually adults can figure out personal strategies that help them fall asleep. Or, they will have learned how to have their own quiet time in bed (reading, or thinking, or writing, or something else). Babies can slowly learn this kind of thing by having adult support and contact where needed, but not too much added stimulation. If you're going by feel, and in a pinch when she does wake up if she does seem to be very energetic and in need of some exercise it might buy some time to have her do exercises or something stimulating. Be careful because this can be confusing and can become a problematic pattern. But, if your sanity is on the line and you're at the end of your adult coping resources, it's better to risk the negative pattern (which can still be undone later) than to risk your having a breakdown. After the exercise, infant massage can help her (and you) relax and unwind. you can experiment with cutting out a nap, or reducing nap time (interfere with sleep time by about 15 minutes at a time because that won't be too big a change usually and you will notice pretty quickly if it's a 15 minutes she 'needed' or if it's 15 minutes you can rearrange in her sleep schedules)

Hi All- I think I misunderstood what Cynthia was asking. There was blood work done when I took Pippa on Friday that determined that there were serious goings on with her liver. Her ALKP went from 28 U/L before surgery to 2973 U/L four days after surgery and six rimadyl tablets. Her ALT went from About bleeding into the lungs. The doctor who saw her on Saturday I believe said that her labored breathing was due to fluid in the lungs and that this was probably blood. How she determined that I do not know. In all of her gagging Pippa never coughed up any blood that I saw. This is what was determined through testing and observation: -X rays showed no GI obstruction -Ultrasound showed coarse liver- no other abnormalities -Diagnosis: acute liver failure, coagulopathy. Pippa was given a transfusion. Given poor prognosis. Pippa was given a lot of treatment in the form of IV fluid, Vitamin K, antibiotics, pain meds that would not affect her liver. She was able to stay home with me last night. She took a small amount of food through a syringe. She still had episodes of labored breathing but then there were also long stretches of relatively peaceful breathing while asleep. She even showed a little of her old personality when I put on her leash to take her out to pee. I took her back to the vet this morning where she will stay till 11:30 tonight. The vet called about an hour ago to let me know some good results. Her clotting times have returned to normal. Other levels are returning to normal. ALT now at 682 and ALKP now at 1400. Hopefully these will continue to go down. Also she has no fever today. She mentioned some other things but I don't have time to list all of it right now and some of it is a bit confusing for me honestly. She said she thinks Pippa suffered severe hepatotomy rather than acute liver failure. I hope I am relaying all of this correctly. I am so happy at the good news although the vet also did mention the possibility of chirossis developing further down the road. She kept mentioning Sega Palm poisoning over and over again. I don't know if that's what she thinks happened and when I told her I don't have any of the stuff in or around my house she said it was just an example. Then she just kept mentioning it some more. I'm thinking that they want to blame this on Sega Palm. I appreciate all the replies.

it's my understanding, and correct me if i'm wrong, but i think many/most of the deaths attributed to these things were the result of either obstructions or chemical poisonings due to the preservatives used in ALL treats containing or made from rawhide. rawhide is notorious for being undigestible and ending up as a glob of goo in a dog's digestive tract. googling dreambones, i see the that the packaging is now claiming "rawhide free". i wonder if that has made any impact on the number of deaths. i never gave these to any of my dogs and never will and since all of the controversy, i've often wondered why they haven't been taken off the market completely along with any other treat or chew toy containing rawhide. 🤷🏻‍♀️