"The tragic reality is that very few sustainable systems are designed or applied by those who hold power, and the reason for this is obvious and simple: to let people arrange their own food, energy and shelter is to lose economic and political control over them. We should cease to look to power structures, hierarchical systems, or governments to help us, and devise ways to help ourselves." - Bill Mollison

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Tom and the Skunk


One of our three adopted strays, Roger, whom we found wandering in the bushes as a barely weaned kitten a couple years back has now blossomed into a huge almost 17 pound monster, and it's not all fat. Very much the outdoors enthusiast he does manage to get in a fair amount of scrapes with other neighborhood cats that happen to encroach upon his territory. We recently finished doctoring a bad bite and laceration on his plump little rump, this is the second time this year that he has had a serious wound...it never ends. This morning our little prince blew through the pet door, eyes half shut drooling all over the floor stinking of skunk. There are always skunks wandering around here and normally the cats avoid them without issue, but knowing Roger he probably walked up and swatted the wrong one on the buttocks and we are now all paying the price for his actions....phew.

Anyway, I thought I would share what we did to help "partially" relieve him and us of this most odiferous stench. After wrapping Stinky in a towel to help contain him, we washed his eyes and face with warm water, he did not seem to appreciate it but is very much used to being handled after his last two altercations. It is important to get this out of their eyes as soon as possible as it is extremely irritating and will cause an animals eyes to swell shut. We then made a paste of baking soda and hydrogen peroxide and rubbed it all over him and after a couple minutes wiped it of with a damp towel. He still smells a bit but is able to open his eyes and even had a bite to eat. We are firm believers in allowing our animals access to the outdoors, but this freedom does come with a heavy toll at times. It stinks in here! Considering the amount of trouble he gets in I am considering changing his name to Tom, as in Tom Sawyer. Oh, and yes he is neutered, although I'm pretty sure he is not aware of this.

25 comments:

It's me ...Mavis said...

Funny! I like the name Tom as well... sounds like the perfect name...better than Mr. Stinky :)

A Farmstead Pilgrimage... said...

Thanks for sharing Roger's encounter with the skunk. We must have Roger's brother...lol. I wonder if Roger will 'run' the other way, when he encounters a skunk next time?

Have a great day!
~Kris

BTW, your end of year harvest is looking great! :o)

Chiot's Run said...

Oh, our dog got sprayed in the mouth a few years ago - what a stench. Whenever she panted we smelled skunk for about a year! We did bathe her in Vinegar and baking soda and gave her tomato juice and cider vinegar to drink for a while.

Diane@Peaceful Acres said...

I hope Mr Rogers is doing fine now (sorry couldn't help myself...that's what I thought when I read it..Mr Rogers)....I am so ADD...sorry. The other night when i was out in the dark treating Josie for bloat....after we got out of danger, I realized I was smelling a skunk. Good thing I didn't get sprayed!

Unknown said...

Poor Mr. Roger! One of my dogs likes to "play" with skunks too. This is the recipe we use to free him of the stench: http://www.aaanimalcontrol.com/skunksmellremovalrid.htm. It doesn't make him smell like roses immediately, but it surely helps a ton!

Silke Powers said...

Oh, boy, I could almost smell the skunk as I was reading this. Luckily none of our animals have ever encountered a skunk, but I hear that coffee grounds also help neutralize the odor.

The only problem we have from time to time is that Winslow rolls in some raccoon droppings - mostly he does that in the morning and then surprises us with the stench at breakfast. Those are not my favorite mornings...

I hope that Mr. Stinky is feeling much better! :) Silke

Mr. H. said...

Mavis,

I just asked Roger if he cared if we called him Tom, he didn't care one bit. So I will add that to his vast array of nicknames.

Mr. H. said...

Kris,

I surely do hope he runs the other way the next time he sees anything other then his bed or dinner plate...he is starting to wear on my patience.:)

Mr. H. said...

Susy,

I sure hope he does not stink for a year, that would be too much. I hope he learned a valuable lesson, although I rather doubt it.

Mr. H. said...

Diane,

I like that, Mister Rogers...I just hope he does not start singing "Won't you be my neighbor?":)

Mr. H. said...

VTducki,

Thanks for the recipe, I'll remember that for the next time, which I'm sure will come sooner rather than later.

Mr. H. said...

Silke,

Coffee? Roger gets wound up enough, the last thing he needs is a caffeine fix.:) Raccoon droppings...double phew! Stinky is feeling much better, but still stinks.

Stefaneener said...

Poor Roger. Maybe he'll learn? On the other hand, our orange cat, Fred Weasley, runs outside every chance he gets (we keep them in in the city) and he's terrified of Kimo, the cat from across the street. He's not learning at all.

granny said...

We dont have skunks,and have no idea what they smell like....Im guessing its not sweet,lol!

Heiko said...

I smelled skunk once many years ago, when I was a guest in your country. The smell got itself etched into my memory. I don't envy you.

Mr. H. said...

Stefaneener,

Fred Weasley...I love it, perhaps he can cast a spell on Kimo.:) Poor Roger is the biggest cat in the neighborhood and he knows it, but apparently not the brightest one.

Mr. H. said...

Granny,

Not sweet at all, let's just say the stench can be so bad it will actually make you sick.

Mr. H. said...

Heiko,

You need a new pet right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCBpVeoddwo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJymh3O1Ybc

They really are adorable minus those scent glands. The cat in the second video reminds me of Roger.:)

LynnS said...

All I can say is GROSS! There's really no match to that intense smell of skunk.

In elementary school, 2 boys came to school one morning after they'd been sprayed. They had to go home.... I wonder how the parents conquered the scent?!

Mr. H. said...

Lynn,

My wife made a trip to the hardware store yesterday afternoon to pick up some bolts for my truck fixing project. In this particular mom and pop store the owners allow their workers to bring pets in if they want.

So my wife walks through the door and shortly after the two dogs sleeping in the corner immediately wake up from napping and run over and start sniffing her at which point she has to explain her skunk incident to the cashier.

We really are stinking rednecks, whether we want to be or not. Heck I even supplement my garden with moose poo.:)

LynnS said...

You might wanna write a few quips for Jeff Foxworthy, Mike. I'm not sure he's got the redneck definitions down on skunk and moose. They're dead giveaways though, aren't they? ;-)

I'll be shipping out to you guys next week. If it ever stops raining, that is. Drop me a line if you'd like some purple gomphrena seeds I've saved. They make a cute dried flower. For Micki, not you, silly....

WeekendFarmer said...

Love the new spread : ) !!!

Mr. H. said...

Lynn,

Your afraid I will try to eat them aren't you? I promise to only look, not touch.:)

Mr. H. said...

WeekendFarmer,

Thanks!

Leigh said...

He looks like our professional vole hunter Kemosabe. We're in a really rough neighborhood for cats outdoors (coyotes, fishers, hawks, owls... and skunks), so we impose a strict routine of bringing them in before dusk, and keeping them in until full daylight. Every night they have a small wet food dinner around dusk, so they gravitate to the house at that time. It does go against their natural nocturnalness, but since we've been doing that they seldom get into scrapes with the larger wildlife, and their nine lives go a lot further...

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