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The Guardian - Life & Style • Feb. 9, 2026, 12:30 p.m.
The pet I’ll never forget: Mishka, the surly but beloved raccoon
She hated water, attacked our Christmas tree, destroyed our wallpaper – but everyone who met her was won over Mishka was about eight weeks old when we got her. It was 2004, we were living in Dibden, New Forest, and I was looking to buy some guinea pigs.
I saw an ad for a raccoon on the secondhand site Preloved. My husband, Graham, and I lived in Florida in the 90s and had a raccoon that would come into the yard.
It had a bad leg, and we nurtured it, so I was very interested in raccoons. I met someone who bred them after researching on Google, and we ended up with three, one after the other – we bought two, Nigel and Casey, and later, Mishka was given to us.
I saw an ad for a raccoon on the secondhand site Preloved. My husband, Graham, and I lived in Florida in the 90s and had a raccoon that would come into the yard.
It had a bad leg, and we nurtured it, so I was very interested in raccoons. I met someone who bred them after researching on Google, and we ended up with three, one after the other – we bought two, Nigel and Casey, and later, Mishka was given to us.
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