Ewww...That Smell!

Edition #98 — September 26, 2007

September began by tearing me from my comfy daily routine with a hellatious stench. My cat got skunked.

It seemed that she and a local skunk liked to share the same hiding place. On this particular night my cat was playing hard to get, forcing me to look for her in the dark with a flashlight. Both cat and skunk must have arrived at the hideout at the same time. Surprise! The resultant meeting was an event to remember. Nothing smelled like "Team Spirit" that night, that's for sure.

I found my dear friend, Lucky, crouched on the ground, panicked and blinded by the skunk spray. Mucus was running out of her mouth and nose and she was in severe distress. I didn't know if she'd also been injured. It was dark already and I was afraid she would run of into the night in this frightful condition — so I picked her up and brought her where? Into the house.

Yup. I did. I put her on the ground and luckily she walked into an unfinished room with a bare wooden floor. Then she did what she always does when she's scared: she went into hiding. The room is a storage space for construction and gardening material. In seconds she was gone and I could no longer see her.

My main concern was to get the spray out of her eyes, so I had to get her out somehow. She was growling all the time as I began to move the boxes, wood and drywall out of the way so I could get to her. Boy, did she look like shit. And she smelled even worse.

Well, Lucky trusts me entirely, and once we got past the "how do you do?" stage and I had her nestled between my legs I began mopping her face with a water soaked cloth. Her left eye got it most and took a while to open up. I later read that skunks are very conservative about spraying because it's a special oil they use that takes effort to produce. This makes them not waste their spray needlessly. Lucky got a little squirt on the face and neck. The rest of her was fine. But a little bit of skunk goes a long way.

Pure Skunk™ (Tell Him Where You've Been...)

I've only ever smelled skunk from a passing car on the highway. It's not something you'd put in a bottle and sell in the Bahamas to tourists, but it's tolerable at a distance. PURE SKUNK however is an entirely different aromatic experience. I've never smelled anything so repulsive. Skunks sure know how to offend their offenders. It smelled like burning tires, along with some kind of bio-friendly nerve gas that doesn't kill but maims your sense of well being. And it lasts, and lasts, and it lasts.

Once Lucky was recovering from her skunk initiation, I locked her freshly washed and trembling body into another room for later processing. The skunked room was washed and windows were left open daily. But that skunk juice had seeped into the wood and wasn't letting go without a fight. (Today, only 26 days later, the room smells only of lavender and lemon essential aromatherapy oils. Ah, the smell of nature. But the skunk smell is gone. Except on not-so-lucky Lucky.)

The next day after the skunking I called the wildlife crisis center for advice and they suggested "Skunk Off" but upon further discussion the woman said everything used to eliminate skunk smell will still leave a lingering odour. Another alternative was combining bakings soda, hydrogen peroxide and dish washing liquid. The problem was that cats aren't exactly bath friendly and this mixture is an eye irritant. I decided I'd rather not go that route. I used Palmolive dish washing liquid instead and gave her two washings the first day. It was hot outside and she dried quickly. After she got over the bathing experience she knew to avoid me whenever I came at her with rubber gloves and her carrying cage. Something's up!

Palmolive liquid actually smells terrible too, I discovered. Maybe I'll try something in the future. It also didn't do a great job of removing that skunk smell. The next day I used "Skunk Off" and found that its "bubble gum" smell was a pleasant alternative to what had been there before.

In The Afterbath...

Well, here it is 26 days later and whenever I snuggle close to Lucky, or she cleans her front quarters, the lingering ghost of that skunk encounter emanates from her fur. I've been meaning to give her one more quick rinse with Skunk Off, but I'm feeling too compassionate and really, I can tolerate that minor unpleasantry until it fully dissipates.

The moral of the story? In the heat of the moment as I was trying to save my cat from harm by carrying her away in my arms, I didn't smell a damn thing. And if I did, I didn't care. Only later did I realize that it was the most horrific smelling substance I had encountered. I sure do love my cat, and love conquers all. Even fresh skunk.

I guess that's how all protectors feel (or should) when protecting the things that they love. It's hard to imagine feeling otherwise.

Yet too often, we put ourselves first, and those we love or need to protect second. Look at the combat between rival spouses and how the fallout affects the children they are entrusted to protect. If you look around the world today, you can see the effect that this kind of thinking has on our world. Each of us can heal ourselves but protecting something precious; putting it above ourselves, if only for a moment when it is needed most.

Do it, now. It's going to heal you too.

Oh, and keep your nose clean,
Roland Kriewaldt


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