I am pretty sure it was a sloth or similar looking animal. The children (also animals) wouldn’t eat the dinner (greens) but then ate a bunch of something else, so got sick and she had to call the doctor- who treated them but then needed to be paid – so she gave him the dinner they didn’t eat – and he commented on the dirty paws that had been in it- but took it.
Stump the Bookseller
New format, same book stumper solving.
Had to pull out my copy to verify, but it’s MARIE LOUISE’S HEYDAY by Natalie Savage Carlson, illustrated by Jose Aruego and Ariana Dewey. Marie Louise is a mongoose, she babysits the possum children. The possums refuse to eat the boiled greens and instead eat poison berries. The Witch Toad gives them the antidote. Marie Louise does not have any money, so she pays him with the pot of boiled greens. “‘Looks like somebody’s been playing in them with dirty paws,’ he grumbled. ‘But I’ll take them. They’re full of vitamins,’ he said, and left.”