The Skunk

Although skunks are in eastern North America, I never had a run in with one.  I saw one from a distance in Kentucky a few times but I have never had a run in with a skunk.  I never saw one at all when I lived in North Carolina.  I know they were there.  I remember the smell when I was in Kentucky.  It is a smell you will never get out of your nose.  Recently I uprooted my family and moved to northern Maryland. That was the most nerve racking trip. We have three cats, and a very large German shepherd dog that weighs around 120 pounds.  I was the lucky one that got to drive the SUV with the dog in the very back and two screaming cats in crates in the back seat.  That was a 7 hour ride of Hell.  We finally got home and unloaded everyone. Well two of the cats are indoor/outdoor cats.  Things have been going well since we got here the end of June.  Until this morning.   I usually wake up on Fridays very happy and singing the "Thank Goodness it's Friday" song.  I was feeling pretty good, I got up to let the cats in to eat.   I was still pretty sleepy.  I did not notice at first until I was leaning down to put some food in the cat bowls.  When all of a sudden........WHEW!!!!!!  I thought I was going to puke.  The odor hit me square in the face. That smell is really indescribable. It is a putrid metallic heavy odor that will hit your senses and really activate your gag reflex. Then is just stays in your throat and nose for the longest time.  After I regained my wits, I again tried to determine which cat had the offensive smell.  After carefully sniffing, I had my victim.  Poor old Hailey, she already looks half dead. She is fifteen years old and is already missing an eye. I have had to shave her around the rear end because she has been having diarrhea. She has recently lost a lot of weight and looks like a skeleton with long hair (except where I have shaved her).  She was the one with the horrible, nose hair curling, make your eyes water, and your gag reflex activate, smell.  Poor thing, I had to pick her up by the scruff and carry her outside.  I did feed her; just had to be outside.  I carried on quickly with my morning routine and the whole time I was trying to get that smell out of my nose.  I was sick on my stomach the whole morning. I knew what I had to do.  I searched the Internet to find a solution to get rid of the foul smell.  I found what I was looking for and headed to my favorite store, Walmart.
I bought what I needed and headed home.  Here is where the fun begins.  I changed into some old clothes I did not care about and got on my rubber gloves and gathered all my ingredients together to mix up my (de)-skunking concoction.  The poor cat looked so pitiful. I think she thought I was trying to kill her. I thought I was going to drown her in the process. She is such a sweet cat and she is old and weak now with her fifteen years.  I finally was satisfied with my task.   She still had some odor. She was shivering, despite it is 88 plus degrees here and really looked like a skeleton. I wrapped her up in an old towel and sat her in her cat bed on the screened in porch to dry. I brought her food and treats.  I am going to have to leave her outside for a few days until the rest of the smell goes away.  I feel really terrible for the cat.  She dried up in a few hours and did not look as bad. She still has some funk about her. I can not take the smell of it. I stayed really sick on my stomach the whole day. That smell stayed in the back of my throat and nose all day. I hope tomorrow is a better day.  Please No More Skunks.