How could I forget!?!

[ksmith]

Gaby almost got skunked last night.

Actually, she did get skunked, but it was a minor skunking. I let her out at oh-hell-thirty, then went back to bed because I was too tired to stand. Heard a single woof a few minutes later, which was my command to open the door. I noticed a bit of an odor as Gaby walked in, but it was more a burnt/overcooked coffee odor then nose-numbing skunk. Then I saw her rub her nose on all the rugs as she trotted from the living room to the kitchen/dining room and back again. She kept that up for a minute or so, then returned to my room to settle into her bed. The smell grew a little stronger in the confines of the smaller space, but I had the windows open and it dissipated quickly. This was definitely either a distance shot or a near miss.

I’m glad we avoided something worse. That just would have been the frosting on the cake of the day.

Mirrored from Kristine Smith.

Comments

[sandramcdonald.livejournal.com]

That would have been the frosting, indeed! I read your misadventures about Gaby and King running around the neighborhood and I'm glad it all ended well :-)

[harnessphoto.livejournal.com]

I worry about skunking every time I let Herbie out after dark. I smelled one at the neighbor's the other night and pretty much picked her up and brought her in. Haha.

de-skunking formula

[sueo2.livejournal.com]

I learned about this from a PBS skunk special:

Formula for deodorizing a skunk-sprayed pet:
1 cup of 3% hydrogen peroxide
1 tbsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. liquid soap.

Bathe the affected areas with the mixture. The bath should be followed by a tap water rinse. This mixture will not affect the hair coat.

Re: de-skunking formula

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this. I'm going to print it and stick it in the pups' first aid kit.

Gaby was skunked! and! how! last year. Nothing like Googling for de-skunking recipes at 2am. I think I found the one above, but I didn't have enough peroxide on hand to make a dent. I took her to the groomers first thing in the morning.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Me, too. All the bad things that could happen race through my mind.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Tis the season. It will only get worse when the crabapples start to fall and the possum and raccoons show up. Gaby trapped a young possum in the crook of my oldest crabapple last year. 4am, and she's barking those piercing terrier I-trapped-something barks. Possum is hissing, and I'm running around the tree in shorts and a t-shirt trying to grab one and chase off the other. And all the while, thinking of how I've probably awakened every neighbor in a three-block radius.

The next day, I raked up all the windfall and trimmed enough branches to eliminate the hiding place.

[trillium-flower.livejournal.com]

I *highly* recommend this http://www.lushusa.com/shop/products/hair/bottled-shampoos/i-love-juicy for deskunkifying. It's not cheap but priceless if she gets hit, and it does smell really spiffy. If it was a direct hit (and they have the orange stripe) I squeeze a full lemon into it and then use the lemon as a scrubby. We live pretty close to the fairgrounds and the skunks move out just before fair, and back the week after.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

What's the orange stripe?

[trillium-flower.livejournal.com]

Skunk spray (at least here) leaves an orange stripe on their fur if they get a direct hit. Think squid ink but orange and stinky.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Ah--Gaby's fawn-colored, so that might be hard to see. I know when she got hit the first time, she rubbed her face in the grass for 5-10 minutes, and when I could catch her to look at her face, her eyes were mostly shut/very small. And I tried to clean her outside, in the dark, before letting her in the house, so if there were signs of a direct hit, I missed them or wiped them away.