Critical Care is a large part of any good rehab facility and Critter Care is no exception.  Each year we deal with hundreds of animals that have been severly debiltated very often as a result of human animal conflicts including animals hit by cars, animals accidentally poisoned (and intentionally). We also have animals that come in diseased, starved or simply suffering from parasites or pneumonia. Critter Care has the facility, the medicine, the staff and the voluntary veterinary support provided by several prominent clinics throughout the lower mainland to provide superior care.

When animals are received they undergo a thorough examination by our trained supervisors and receive immediate therapy and medication. If the injuries sustained are beyond the expertise of our technical staff then we immediately refer the case to one of the veterinarians that supports our organization. Above all alleviating the suffering of the animal is our number one priority. Some animals have had to remain in care for up to six months but never under conditions where the animal would be considered non-releasable.  Preservation of life to imprison or handicap is not part of our mission we work toward the freedom of the animal and its return to successful participation in Nature.

Critter Care prides itself on having one of the most specialized and creative "four step programs" for our infant raccoons designed by our Executive Director to ensure the healthiest and safest upbringing of our precious little bandits.  It begins with an incubator moves to our "Juvenile Delinquent" room  then outside to our grass pens and finally to our concrete pens. Each step is a graduation based on growth age and maturity of movement and our raccoons are evaluated and grouped along the way into "family groups" that benefit them both socially and behaviorally. Raccoons can stay in care up to a year if necessary to ensure optimum survival in the wild. Such specialized care is afforded to each mammal in our facility and significant care has gone into the design of all of our animal enclosures to ensure mamximum enrichment and exposure. In each case the Natural History and biology of the animal has been considered to ensure a stimulating and safe environment. But it all begins in the nursery which is cleaned and sanitized as many as five to six times a day in rotating shifts. During the spring and summer months the nursery can produce several hundred pounds of dirty laundry a day and more tissues than you could sneeze at in several years such is the intensive care provided to bear, otter, cougar, oppossum, raccoon, squirrel, skunk, and bob cat that pass through the bi-fold door. 

The vast majority of the babies that enter our care are hand fed by caring interns who devote and donate anywhere from two to twelve months of their time to the care and maintenance of our wonderful mammal babies. 

Each baby has its own bottle and is individually monitored for consumption and weight gain. Each intern has their own basket where they keep there bottles clean and sanitized and labelled so that no confusion occurrs. Each baby is examined daily by our supervisor staff for any signs of illness from as simple as an upset stomach to as dangerous as diarrhea and dehydration. When the nursery is full with as many as three hundred babies at a time you can imagine the amount of baby formulas blankets tissues and incubators we go through. It literally is wall to wall babies with some babies being fed every two hours throughout the night our intern mums and dads thrive on little sleep and loads of work!