Thursday, June 24, 2010

Cat and "Shhhhhhhkunk," Result in Funk!



("Put up your dukes," Honey Cat said, but it was to the wrong opponent!)



Early evening arrived and rain began to pelt the windows as I sat at the computer in the basement man cave.

The putrid odor of skunk began to seep into the room through the screened  high windows.

      "Where's Honey Cat?" flashed through my mind. She was still outside.

      Two minutes later, one of the resident teens came running down to the basement.
   
      "Honey Cat just came in and she smells bad," she cried.  I flew up the stairs and took a whiff that almost knocked me over. Skunk.  Our beautiful grandmother cat had apparently gone head-to-head with the wrong black and white creature.

My husband drove into the driveway the instant I went into hysterics so that was perfect timing. He whisked Honey Cat downstairs while I filled up the basement sink with warm water. We all kept gagging and wrinkling our foreheads over the horrendous smell emanating from that cat who got a thorough shampooing.



Bath Time After Skunk Encounter                                                                       Tomato Juice "Shampoo"













Unfortunately, we had no tomato juice, the usual cure to skunk smell.

Amazingly, the cat cooperated beautifully. She didn't budge while being cleaned-up. I think she was also glad over the attempts to get the stench off her fur.

  All bedroom doors remained closed as no one wanted to take any chances on being skunked out. Honey Cat had to find a place to sleep, other than our beds. I put a quilt for her on a chair in the living room. (Now, of course, that quilt will have to be triple washed.)

Next morning, as I came out of the bedroom, the skunk smell still dominated the hallway. What a stinky way to start the day. It seemed to permeate the paint on the walls.

 My husband picked up tomato juice at the super for round two of shampooing. Once again, Honey Cat got the wash treatment, first with tomato juice, and then with shampoo.





Meanwhile, a Village maple butter candle burns in the hallway, sending sweet pancake syrup smells into the skunk stench.





Honey Cat, the little rapscallionn, is now fresh and clean, relaxing on a porch rocking chair, no doubt about to drift off to sleep and dream of "whomping" that skunk.





HAVE YOU EVER HAD A PET THAT HAD A RUN-IN WITH A SKUNK?

13 comments:

Linda @ A La Carte said...

Oh Susan, the smell is awful. When I lived on Cape Cod (land of skunks) we had a dog who loved to chase them and we used gallons of tomato juice. I let the hubs do it (his dog) and a big dog at that so no keeping him in. Whew....poor kitty and poor you!

Joanne said...

Oh poor Honey Cat! You're so lucky she cooperated in the bath, I think my cat would've had a hard time with that. When I was growing up, we lived at the edge of Robinhood State forest in NH, and our pretty collie shepard Tanya had an encounter there with a porcupine! She came home with a nose full of quills, which we had the vet remove. Enjoyed browsing here!

Linda O'Connell said...

Poor kitty. Can't imagine the blended scent of maple butter candle and Pepe` Le Pew.

Tammy@T's Daily Treasures said...

Oh no! Poor Honey Cat. My cousin's dog had a run-in with a skunk, last year I think it was. It took days and days for the smell to go. At one point, she wasn't sure if the smell was really there, or if they just thought they kept smellingit. HA! Man, she must have wanted that smell off her fur -- I can't believe she cooperated for a bath. Our Jingles would have been fighting tooth and nail. Hope the maple butter candle is doing it's job. Best wishes, Tammy

Betty said...

Poor Honey Cat. When I lived in NJ we would often see skunks, but not here. I think they're around, but just not as many.

diane stetson said...

My cat was once surrounded by four huge raccoons in the backyard. I sprayed them with my garden hose and they ran off. Then I got the cat in the house immediately. Never had her encounter a skunk though. Great pictures..honey cat sure didn't smell like honey!

Chatty Crone said...

I have never been skunked, but what an adorable story for us readers anyway. I can't imagine. Glad you got the smell resolved. She probably didn't like that smell either! Beautiful cat and great hubby. sandie

Susan J. Reinhardt said...

Hi Susan -

Oh, your poor kitty. She looks fierce in the top photo and so forlorn in the bath ones.

My cats were the indoor variety as I lived in the city.

Blessings,
Susan :)

middle child said...

Our black dog daughter Belle (Lab.) was skunked twice! Both times aroung midnight and of course it was I who was up. I knew not to let her in cuz that skunk smell is actually an oil and gets everywhere. I tried the tomato juice stuff. No luck. Tryed the special cocktail the vet suggests (peroxide, etc.) Finally thought, oil,...DAWN DISHSOAP! Yup. That did it. 'Course I follow that up with Paul Mitchel dog shampoo cuz after all,..she is a butterfly chasing girlie-girl.

Claus said...

I had never heard of anything like this!! I had to go online to "google" all of this. Amazing! I have never heard of skunks around the city; ever! So this was new. Poor Honey Cat! I can't even begin to imagine the awful smell! It would definitely drive me nuts. I hope the poor kitty doesn't have such an encounter again!

Thanks for sharing!
have a lovely day.

Susan said...

Thanks to all for your comments. Honey Cat is the MOST resilient cat you'd ever see. She's as happy as a clam already. There is still a slight not good odor on her fur. Guess we'll just have to wait it out. Have a great day, girls! Susan

Anonymous said...

Hahaha, mom- this was funny.

Katie @ Team Skelley said...

I am glad that you had a candle- I was going to recommend Yankee Candle's Clean Linen (or Fresh Laundry, the name is something like that!).

Beautiful kitty cat! She looks all fluffy after her multiple baths!

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