liz stevens
Lovin' The Homestead
Keep a skunk spray removal kit from Cottage Craft Works on hand
Living in the country means having to deal with the potential of your pets, kids or you will end up on the wrong end of a skunk. Dogs particularly seem to like to chase these little kitties and can quickly dash back into the house skunked before it hits you that something is terribly wrong.
The timing is never good either; it will be in the middle of the night you are probably half asleep, and it will probably cold or raining outside. Not the ideal time to drag the dog back out of the house and start the gagging task of cleaning up the spray. If you havent dealt with this problem just imagine the smell driving by one that has been hit on the road and how many miles it still lingers in the car with you. Concentrate that at your back door or in the middle of the living room and you will have a great appreciation of the extremes people will go to or pay to get this gagging eye burning issue cleared out.
An entire hunting or outdoor camping trip can be ruined with one encounter with a skunk.
We have a booming skunk population in Texas; so much so we could live pretty well if there was still a market for the hides. Despite trapping close to 20 our dog still gets sprayed about twice a year.
Our first incident occurred about 9 years ago. The only thing we knew was the old tales of tomato juice and to bury everything that couldnt be washed down. Luckily the dog didnt make it into the house, or we would have ended up spending the night tearing out carpet and everything else she would have rolled into. We did end up most of the night and used all of our tomato juice trying to get the dog cleaned up. We still ended up staking her to a tree as we went and tried to get some sleep. It took about a week before we could even let her close to the house again.
After encountering something like this you learn to be better prepared in case it happens to you again to you. We found a recipe on the Internet and decided to stock the ingredients. Sure enough after about six months she runs back toward the house skunked again. You just know its not going to be a good night when a skunk takes off across the yard with your dog on its tail. Being better prepared this time helped, but we still spent several hours trying to get her cleaned up, and still had to leave her tied to the tree for several days after words.
Believe it or not we dont worry about skunk encounters as much these days. A couple years ago we found a product called Skunk Off that removes the skunk odor on pets, clothes carpets and other surfaces in just minutes so you can bring your dog back in or ride with you in the truck with you.
In fact it occurred again just a few weeks ago, this time it was a light spray on her nose. We were able to use product to wash around the nose and eyes, did another sniff test and the odor was completely gone. No more late nights repeatedly shampooing the dog out in the cold and rain. If she does take a direct hit we will use the soaker in the kit to remove the most concentrate, then do one shampoo using the shampoo in the kit, spray everything she came into contact with the spray bottle that also comes in the kit. We can be skunk odor free in less than a half hour and back to a normal routine as if it never happened. We even use it on her collar and expensive electric underground fence receiver, which we previously had to bury and purchase new ones after our first encounters.
We have been so impressed with this product that we carry it for our back-to-basics customers at Cottage Craft Works .Com The complete skunk removal kit for $44.95 This is priceless when you are on the other end of a skunk encounter with all the stores closed. The kit contains an 8 oz bottle of soaker for the most saturated areas, a 32 oz spray bottle to hit areas such as carpets and other items the dog has came into contact with, and an 8 oz bottle of shampoo that can even be used by humans with sensitive skins.
If you have the potential of finding your family in this situation, it is well worth keeping a kit on hand. You can order the skunk odor removal kit under the farm and garden tab or under the hunting dog tab at Cottage Craft Works.
