Day 637. June 12. Not something you see in LA...

We woke up this morning to find this little guy hiding away in our front yard...

After leaving him alone for most of the morning (hoping we'd see his Mom come and get him), our lawnmower spooked him and we watched as he hobbled across the street into our neighbors yard. With his Mom nowhere in sight, he ended up laying down on their front porch, looking malnourished and hungry.

After calling around to the different animal control and rehabilitation centers, they assured us that human imprinting wouldn't affect his chances at meeting with Mom again. We were advised to feed him so that he'd make it through the day : we determined that he was a newborn as he had trouble walking and keeping his head up.

So we caught newborn Bambi and took him home to feed him goat milk for the day.
Our plan was to rehydrate him and then put him/doghouse back where we originally found him in our bushes, hoping that he'd reunite with mom at dusk.

He was definitely hungry!

He was looking much livelier by the end of the day so we were hoping all would go as planned and he'd be strong enough to find Mom.

So we carried him & his "deer house" out to his bushes.
We were afraid he'd get spooked while we carried it, but he didn't move a muscle! He had no idea we were lifting the house.

So tomorrow morning we'll see what happens. He was so content in the "deer house" all day that I'm hoping he doesn't leave it unless he sees mom....

(when we moved into our house 4 years ago, the previous owners left this dog house under our porch and we've (for whatever reason) never thrown it away. We never expected it to become so useful for a family who has never (and probably will never) own a dog!)