Baxter Gets Sprayed By a Skunk

Oy vey, this one was a doozy.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I think his skunk smell is finally all gone. It’s been over two months, and until recently you could still smell it on his face. And when he got wet? Forget about it.

Our neighbors used to tell us a story about when their dog got skunked. It was probably a decade ago, and they still remember every horrific moment. Hearing the story, I prayed we would never have to go through it ourselves.

Fate is a cruel mistress.

It was a full moon (I swear). We were up late visiting with friends, and I was taking the dogs out for their last potty around midnight. The moon was so bright that I left the porch lights off so I could enjoy the eerie glow.

As I opened our bedroom door, I saw a dark form scurrying across the deck. So did Baxter, and he was off instantly at a sprint.

Jenny and I both screamed bloody murder at him, but he was in hot pursuit. We both knew instantly what was happening and that it would end badly.

The actually spraying took place just out of sight, and I rushed around a corner to see Baxter standing still, completely stunned. I never saw the skunk again as it scooted under the gate.

Baxter turned towards me with neon yellow liquid dripping from his face.

I picked him up, cautiously, to survey the damage. He had been hit on the left side of the face, taking the brunt of it below the eye and around the ear. I turned on the hose and rinsed off the excess goo.

Neon yellow? Seriously? What kind of creature squirts noxious, neon yellow syrup from its nether regions? That’s straight from a comic book, and has no place in the natural world.

Jenny scooped up Bax in an old towel and held him until I returned from CVS with the makings for a skunk bath. Keep in mind, she was smelling this all with a hyper-sensitive pregnant nose.

An internet search had revealed this recipe, developed by Popular Science in 1995, for getting rid of skunk smell:

• 1/4 cup baking soda
• 1 quart hydrogen peroxide
• 1 tsp dish soap

Skunk is, conveniently, neither water- nor oil-soluble. Apparently, the above mixture blasts the stuff with oxygen molecules making it water soluble.

I haven’t yet mentioned the smell, but do I really have to? It makes your eyes water and your stomach turn. The only thing I have to add is that, up close, it smells somewhat like really strong garlic. And not in an appetizing, Mario Batali sort of way.

Baxter was calm, still stunned, as we (reluctantly) brought him into the house for a bath. We doused him in the magic mixture, hoping against hope that it would perform a miracle.

It does work, but by this time the smell is everywhere. Even keeping all the doors and windows closed won’t stop it from seeping in. On the other hand, one’s sense of smell has the uncanny ability to get accustomed to a certain level of stank.

After about two hours of madness, we were able to go to sleep in relative normalcy. We had become somewhat accustomed to the smell, and we were exhausted.

The next day, we did the special bath again. And, over the next couple of weeks, Baxter’s parfum faded naturally. It took many weeks to completely go away.

We have a new policy with nighttime walks now: never without a leash, even in the backyard. It’s just not worth getting sprayed again. Plus, we have raccoons and possums, too. They don’t spray ... they claw and bite, which is probably worse. So, we follow the leash rule.

Like so many Baxter episodes, we survived and we’re the wiser for it. But, I truly hope we don’t have to repeat it.