Last night I was sitting on the couch knitting and computing by the open windows and enjoying a nice breeze when I began to smell skunk. Suddenly, it was so powerful that it was beyond skunk. It was thick and burning and chemical and, Quick, Shut all the windows! When I went to the front door to let the cat in, I couldn't stand the air and had to close the door right away. I put a fan in the window, blowing out, gathered my computer and phone, shut myself up in the bedroom and called it a night at 8:30.
You've probably guessed by now that Teddy got skunked. I thought the usage of the word "skunked" only applied to cribbage, but no, it's like Pepe le Peu in reverse. The skunk is the offended party, rather than the cat, at least at first. I did let Teddy in this morning to eat, but then he had to be shooed out again. Geez, what an acrid, horrible stench. The air outside was fairly fresh and sweet. The odor was emanating from an elongated orange puff down at floor level.
After due diligence in internet research I determined to bathe him in peroxide and baking soda with a little dish soap. Teddy is 16 years old and I've had him since he was 6 weeks. I never once gave him a bath. Until today. I gave him 2 baths today in the back yard.
He's still not dry from the second, but I have faith that he'll be passing tolerable now. I didn't capture the worst bath moments because, well, I was busy (giving the cat a bath). Here he is calming down after bath number one. He looked much angrier after the second bath!
Poor Teddy.
8 comments:
Teddy almost looks like one of you knitted monsters. Poor Kitty, I dread the idea of bathing cats. Once Susan R and I bathed your black and white cat while you were in Paris. I should say tried to bath, his legs becam so long and his nails so sharp we couldn't get him into the tub and were both bloody soapy and wet though the cat stayed dry. Looked like Teddy was a better sport. Are those monsters for sale??
You tried to bathe Mew? He was way tougher than either one of you! The monsters are for a shelter that takes in and protects women and their children. You canmake your own monsters. You can sew them out of all kinds of stuff.
P.S. I tied him to something heavy with a long shoelace.
I have never heard of a peroxide bath, especially for a cat because he will have the residue on his fur. I have always heard that tomato juice is the de-skunking cure.
Poor, poor Teddy
Poor Teddy and poor Kathy Kathy Kathy! I hope it's all getting better over there. I probably would have done tomato juice myself, so it's good you googled first.
Funnily enough, my verification word is cleniser. Sounds appropriate for a day on which you bathed your cat twice.
Uuuurrrrghhhh. I don't know who to feel sorrier for. I've heard that chestnut about tomato juice. Has anyone actually tried this? I've never heard of anyone who lived to tell the tale, but perhaps the action was written up in an obituary?
Oh no, poor Teddy! The horror, the humiliation! At least it's not cold out. Cats have a huge surface area compared to total body mass -- admittedly, this is a much bigger deal with kittens, but it's a good idea to dry off adult cats too when they get wet and it's not hot out.
I hope you got the smell out, at least.
Tomato juice doesn't work. It runs off too fast (too expensive to fill the whole bath with it). Tomato paste is the thing -- rub it deep into fur, let is sit for a few minutes, and rinse (and rinse and rinse -- involves lots of rubbing to get the stuff out). This works really well, but I have only done it on dogs. Three dogs at a time. More than one episode. Yes.
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