A Day in the life of a Wildlife Rehabilitator

Got up and fed the cats (2) and the dog (1). Then fed the blind grey squirrel who lives on the porch and his porch-mate (in separate quarters) the flying squirrel. That takes care of the residents.- Made fresh formula for the one and a half week old baby raccoons and put it on to warm.- Prepared fresh formula for the smallest (56 gms) baby cottontail rabbit and put it on to warm.- Cut up vegetables and fruit (corn, sweet potato, grapes, apple, etc.) for the juvenile squirrels who were orphaned and hand raised and are now in outdoor cages awaiting release. Gave the fresh food to everyone along with "Squirrel mix", which contains puppy chow, monkey chow, white striped sunflower seeds, whole corn kernels, whole peanuts, and cheerios. Gave everyone fresh water.- Back inside, fed baby raccoons using a baby bottle for humans. They each took about 1/2 oz. and then I burped them and nestled them back into their bed. I'll do this again four more times before going to bed tonight.- Fed baby cottontail rabbit using a 3.5 french catheter to tube feed directly into the stomach. He won't need more food until this evening (the mother cottontail usually just feeds at dawn and again at dusk).-Later, I'll feed the juvenile cottontail rabbit who's getting very close to release. He now gets fed only around dusk, with big piles of fresh dandelion greens, clover, wild strawberry, plantain, and whatever else looks good in my yard. (Some look at my yard and see weeds; I see bunny food). He'll also get a bowl of formula to which I've added beneficial gut bacteria (to prevent bloat) and baby blueberry applesauce (because no bunny can resist blueberry applesauce). And, of course, a fresh bowl of water.- Check on the Eastern screech owl in the flight pen to see if he finished his dinner and clean the pen and give him fresh water. Tomorrow, I'll begin withholding food for a few days in preparation for offering him live mice. He was hit by a car and had an eye injury and must be able to successfully hunt and catch live prey before he can be released.
The rest of the day will be spent taking care of my own life (sometimes I do that), taking whatever calls come my way from the public and/or local veterinarians regarding injured or orphaned wild animals in need, and playing escape games whenever there's time.
June is a pretty easy month for most rehabbers, especially those of us who take in mostly mammals or adult birds, since the really busy baby season starts here in Feb-Mar for mammals and continues through May (although the raccoons just keep on coming). Baby birds, which must be fed as often as every 15 minutes from sunup to sundown, really start pouring in during April and May. I've settled into a routine where I take mammals from another rehabber who specializes in birds and give any baby birds who come my way to her. I think I'm getting the best of this deal, but she seems happy!
Tomorrow may be completely different or more of the same. The days that really stand out are the ones when I get to release a healthy animal back into the wild where they belong. Those days are as good as they get!