Wildlife Guides · Baby Animal Care
What Do Baby Raccoons Eat? Feeding Chart by Week
Milk only for the first seven weeks, then a gradual switch to whatever their mother can find. Here is the week-by-week chart — and, if you have a kit in a box right now, the honest answer about feeding it yourself.
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The Short Answer
Baby raccoons eat three things, in this order
- Birth to about 7 weeks — their mother's milk, and nothing else at all.
- About 7 to 12 weeks — milk plus whatever she brings back or finds on foraging trips: insects, crayfish, berries, eggs.
- About 12 to 16 weeks — fully weaned, eating an adult omnivore diet and still learning where to find it.
If you have found a kit and you are reading this to work out what to give it: the answer is nothing. Not milk, not formula, not water. Here is why, and it is not a technicality — it is the most common way well-meant rescues kill the animal.
Raccoon milk is nothing like the milk in your refrigerator. It is far richer in fat and protein, and a kit's digestive system is built for exactly that and very little else. Which is why the gap between "she is feeding it" and "I am feeding it" is so much wider than people expect.
Baby Raccoon Feeding Chart by Week
Weeks are approximate — kits develop at slightly different rates, and a kit that has gone hungry runs behind. If you need to work out how old the animal is, our baby raccoon age chart has photos, weights and sizes for every stage.
| Age | What it eats | How often | Getting food from |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–2 weeks | Mother's milk only | Every few hours, around the clock | Nursing in the den |
| 2–4 weeks | Mother's milk only | Every few hours | Nursing in the den |
| 4–7 weeks | Mother's milk only | Longer gaps as she forages | Nursing in the den |
| 7–9 weeks | Milk, plus first tastes of solid food | Nursing several times a day | Den, plus food she carries back |
| 9–12 weeks | Solid food regularly, still nursing | Foraging nightly | Following her out after dark |
| 12–16 weeks | Adult diet, nursing tapering off | Foraging nightly | Finding most of it themselves |
| 4+ months | Full adult omnivore diet | Nightly | Independent, still travelling with her |
The number people most often get wrong: weaning is not a moment, it is a two-month overlap. A twelve-week-old kit eating crayfish on a creek bank may still be nursing that same night. Seeing a young raccoon eat solid food tells you nothing about whether it still needs its mother — and under about four months, it does.
The Three Phases, in Detail
Kits are born blind, deaf and unable to regulate their own temperature. For the first two weeks the mother barely leaves the den, and the kits do nothing but nurse and sleep piled on top of one another.
- Diet: mother's milk exclusively — no water, no solids, nothing else
- Why it matters: their digestive system cannot process anything else yet, and they cannot even eliminate waste without her stimulating them to
- What you would see: nothing. This all happens inside a tree cavity, chimney or attic
The switch begins. The mother starts leading kits out of the den after dark, and they learn by copying her — turning over stones, feeling in shallow water, following her to the same fruiting shrub two nights running.
- Diet: still nursing several times a day, plus small amounts of whatever she is eating
- First solid foods: soft, easy things — insects, grubs, berries, crayfish
- What you would see: this is when most people first spot baby raccoons, moving in a line behind their mother at dusk
Nursing tapers off and stops. The kit is now eating an adult diet, but it is still a beginner at finding it — which is exactly why raccoons stay with their mother so much longer than most backyard mammals.
- Diet: full omnivore range, same as an adult
- Still learning: which foods are safe, where they are by season, how to open what is closed
- Still dependent: most kits travel with their mother into their first winter
What Raccoons Actually Eat in the Wild
Raccoons are true omnivores, and their reputation for eating anything is earned. That flexibility is the whole reason they have thrived alongside us while fussier animals have declined.
Notice what is missing from that list: bread, milk, cat kibble by the bowlful, and anything else people leave out on purpose. A raccoon will eat all of it. None of it is good for them, and feeding wild raccoons deliberately is how a family of them becomes your family of them — and in many places, it is against local ordinance.
If You Have Found a Kit, Do Not Feed It
This is the part that matters more than the chart
- No cow's milk, goat's milk, kitten formula or puppy formula. Raccoon milk is far richer in fat and protein than any of them. Substitutes cause severe diarrhoea, dehydration and death — often within a day or two.
- No water or formula by syringe. Liquid enters the lungs very easily in a weak or struggling animal. Aspiration pneumonia is usually fatal and often shows no sign until it is too late.
- Not even food it seems to want. A dehydrated kit cannot process food safely at all. Feeding a dehydrated animal makes it worse, not better.
- Warmth first, always. A cold kit cannot digest anything. Warming is the only thing you should be doing while you make a phone call.
Put the kit in a ventilated cardboard box with a soft towel, somewhere dark, warm and silent. Offer nothing. Then call a licensed rehabilitator.
If the kit is warm and uninjured, there is a good chance it does not need rescuing at all — mother raccoons move their litters one at a time and drop one surprisingly often. Our baby raccoon age chart covers the overnight reunion window that decides it, and the complete guide to newborn raccoons covers the specific situations — a den tree felled, a kit in a bin, a mother killed on the road.
What Rehabilitators Actually Do
People are often surprised by how involved this is, which is exactly the point. Licensed rehabilitators feeding orphaned raccoon kits work with species-specific formulas — Fox Valley and Esbilac are the two most commonly used — and none of it resembles warming a bottle.
Round-the-clock feeding
A newborn kit needs feeding every three to four hours, through the night, for weeks. Not a figure of speech — an alarm at 2am, every night, until it is old enough to go longer.
Weighed at every feed
Formula volume is calculated against body weight and adjusted daily. Too much causes fatal bloat; too little causes a kit to fade quietly.
Stimulation for elimination
Young kits cannot urinate or defecate without being stimulated, which the mother does by licking. A rehabber replicates it at every single feed.
Positioning and pace
The kit is fed upright, never on its back, at a pace that prevents fluid entering the lungs. This is a trained skill and it is where most amateur attempts go wrong.
That is before the part that decides whether the animal can ever go home: a hand-raised kit that becomes comfortable with people usually cannot be released. Rehabilitators manage that deliberately, raising kits in litters, minimising human contact and handing them back to the wild wary. It is genuinely difficult, it is unpaid, and it is why calling early matters more than doing something yourself.
Milk Myths That Kill Kits
"It is only cow's milk, how bad can it be?" Bad enough that it is a leading cause of death in orphaned kits taken in by the public. Raccoon milk is far higher in fat and protein, and cow's milk causes severe diarrhoea in an animal that has almost no fluid reserve to lose. A kit can go from apparently fine to dead in under forty-eight hours.
"I bought kitten formula, so it should be fine." Kitten formula is built for kittens. It is a closer guess than cow's milk and still the wrong nutritional profile, and the delay while it fails is often what costs the animal its chance.
"It's thirsty, I'll give it water." Plain water given by syringe to a dehydrated kit can cause aspiration, and it does not rehydrate effectively on its own. Rehydration is a clinical step, done before any food, and it is the first thing a rehabilitator will do.
Photo credit
Photographs on this page were provided by CritterAid Wildlife Rescue, a 501(c)(3) wildlife rescue in Tarpon Springs, Florida, and are used with permission. CritterAid takes in orphaned and injured wildlife year-round and runs entirely on donations. If this page helped you, please consider supporting their work.
Common Questions
What do baby raccoons eat?
Only their mother's milk for roughly the first seven weeks. Between about seven and twelve weeks they add solid food while still nursing — insects, crayfish, berries and eggs to begin with. They are usually fully weaned between twelve and sixteen weeks and eating the same omnivore diet as an adult.
How long do baby raccoons nurse?
Around twelve to sixteen weeks in total. Nursing is exclusive for the first seven weeks or so, then overlaps with solid food for a month or two before tapering off. A kit eating solid food may still be nursing.
When do baby raccoons start eating solid food?
Around seven to nine weeks, when their mother begins leading them out of the den after dark. The first foods are soft and easy — grubs, insects, berries, crayfish — and they learn what to take by copying her.
What should I feed a baby raccoon I found?
Nothing. Not milk, not formula, not water. Cow's milk and kitten formula both cause serious harm, syringe feeding risks fatal aspiration pneumonia, and a dehydrated kit cannot process food safely at all. Keep it warm, dark and quiet in a ventilated box and call a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.
Can baby raccoons drink cow's milk?
No. Raccoon milk is far richer in fat and protein than cow's milk, and cow's milk causes severe diarrhoea and dehydration in kits. It is one of the leading causes of death in orphaned raccoons taken in by members of the public.
What formula do wildlife rehabilitators use for raccoons?
Species-appropriate formulas, most commonly Fox Valley or Esbilac, fed on a schedule calculated against the kit's body weight and adjusted daily. The formula is only part of it — feeding position, pace, warming and stimulation for elimination all matter as much, which is why this is licensed work rather than something to attempt at home.
How often do baby raccoons eat?
In the wild, newborns nurse every few hours around the clock, with the gaps lengthening as the mother starts foraging further. In rehabilitation, a newborn kit is fed every three to four hours day and night — one of the reasons hand-raising is so demanding.
Do baby raccoons drink water?
Not until they are eating solid food. Everything they need comes from milk for the first seven weeks or so. Never offer water by syringe to a young kit — it risks fluid entering the lungs and does not rehydrate effectively.
What do adult raccoons eat?
Almost anything. Crayfish, frogs, insects and grubs, worms, bird and turtle eggs, small mammals, berries, grapes, acorns, nuts, sweetcorn — plus whatever they can reach in a bin or a pet bowl. That dietary flexibility is the main reason raccoons have thrived alongside people.
Should I feed the raccoons in my yard?
No. Deliberately feeding wild raccoons habituates them to people, concentrates them in a way that spreads disease, and turns a passing visitor into a resident. In many areas it is also against local ordinance. Bring pet food in at night and secure your bins instead.
Keep Reading
Baby Raccoon Age Chart
Photos, weights and sizes at every stage, plus the overnight reunion window that decides whether a kit needs help.
Newborn Raccoons: The Complete Guide
Sounds, dens, rabies and roundworm, raccoons in the attic, and what to do in specific rescue situations.
What Do Baby Squirrels Eat?
The same week-by-week feeding chart for grey squirrel pups, whose timeline runs quite differently.
All Wildlife Guides
Identification and habitat guides written from a working 30-acre habitat in mid-Michigan.
The Whispering Woods
A children's book about a girl named Elara, a puppy named Scout, and the forest animals they meet — written on the same 30 acres of Michigan habitat where the wildlife in these guides actually lives.
See the bookPrivate Lands Wildlife is a 501(c)(3) wildlife habitat nonprofit in Gratiot County, Michigan. This guide is educational and is not a substitute for advice from a licensed wildlife rehabilitator or veterinarian. If you have found an orphaned or injured raccoon, contact a permitted rehabilitator in your state.