Holy Moley!
 

We just returned from the drive-in (had hamburgers after working in the yard till dark) and brought the dog and cat around back of the house to the fenced-in area.

The dog (true to form) hopped up on the back patio and investigated where we feed the cat, which is placed under a chair to keep him out. And then I noticed another cat helping itself to our cat's food. But wait! It wasn't a cat!!!

It was Pepi LePew!!! :eek::eek::eek:

A SKUNK!!!

The dog was nose-to-nose with the thing and (luckily) didn't get sprayed! We've only lived here for 6 months and this is our first encounter of the potentially Stinky kind. Ugh!


DH keeps going out there to check on it. He thinks he has to "get rid of it". I keep tellin' him the thing will leave on its own. Sheesh!!! Why take the risk?

"But," he counters, "it will come back for the catfood."

"Not if we put it up on the table," I suggest.

"It will jump up there to get it," he insists.

"Skunks can't jump like cats can," I say.

Or can they? :eek:


The dog and cat are staying in the garage for the night. And I'm stayin in the house! I told DH he's sleeping with the dog if he gets sprayed.

Wow Twink, that is a sticky situation. I think you have a new pet. Feed them and they will come, and bring the family. :eek:
No suggestions here, just hope you can find some answers. :)

Feed the cat inside.

When I still had my dog TinyMonsters, I always had to take a little breath upon opening the door before taking him outside. We dont have a fenced yard, so I always had to take Tiny out on a leash.

If I smelled skunk, I told Tiny to hold it for a bit and we'd go out a little later. We never had a problem with skunks giving us any squirts.

We kept Tiny's dog food in the garage (in an animal safe container, even Tiny couldnt get it open, and he was the canine version of Harry Houdini for getting past locks)

One day we got a possum inside our garage. It was a juvenile possum, otherwise we'd have had bigger problems with it. As it was, it was a good thing that my dad had Tiny with him when he tried to sweep the animal out of the garage. It attacked my dad. Was flying for his face when TinyMonsters leaped forward and caught it in his mouth and killed it.

But, it's the food that was attracting animals to our house. I miss TinyMonsters now, but since he died, we havent had any problems with critters wandering up to the house.

YIKES!!! Did you get that adrenaline rush when you first realized what it was? Last week I was going to open my kitchen window when my eye caught something moving RIGHT UNDER IT. Yep, ole' stinky was cleaning up under the bird feeder. Guess they can smell any kind of food. What a nuisance!! No, I didn't open the window for awhile either. Good luck in getting rid of your new friend!

Had my windows open in Suburban Jersey, down the street a skunk sprayed, smell came in,really strong, thick, biting - PU!!

Erin!!! DS had friend attacked and bitten by an opossum. They must be mean. Kid did not smell that good.

Skunks have POOR climbing ability, but can be tenacious when they smell food.


http://www.hsus.org/wildlife/urban_w...th_skunks.html

That is from the human society.

I say hide the cat food INSIDE till pepe leaves. If not him, it would be a possum, or a bear, or other wild cats.

That's what I was gonna say, Dej. Skunks tend to spray rather than fight, and while that stink is horrible, it's not match for what some other animals would do to your pets.

Racoons for one example do not need much provoking.

We have tons of skunks by us and they love to walk through the back yard at 2 am in the morning and spray. Of course we wake up and start screaming - close the windows, close the windows!! :eek:

I did research and the only deterent for a skunk is fox pee. We haven't had a skunk spray in two years because the population of foxes are up. Unfortunately we already had one rabid fox bite the 7 year old boy down the street.

So you can either invest in a fox, take away the cat food from outside or acknowledge you have a new pet (that will bring his family). ;)

I only know skunks by their smell.

That is one creature you do not want to add to your menagerie of animals!:D

Has the skunk come back looking for another meal? What are you going to do about feeding the cat and dog now?

What kind of animal sanctuary are you running up there?:eek::D

Glad to hear the dog didn't get sprayed. That would have been a task.

Possums ARE mean. I dont know why people think they're cute, they're creepy little nasty things. That one that tried to get my dad was just a little guy, probably about the size of a good sized rat, the possum's back was to the open garage door (and me and my car. Car had the headlights on, it was night) and my dad was trying to push it out with a broom. He had Tiny on a leash next to him.

When the possum leaped for my dad, I was so surprised that Tiny did his job and caught the little nasty in his mouth. Stopped the possum from eating my dad's face. Never even connected with my dad. Tiny shook it, snapped it's little neck and spit it out across the garage.

So proud of Tiny for that! I'd been sitting in the car the entire time, and was wishing that I had a video camera when I saw him catch the possum.

Tiny was a great mouser (he caught and killed at least 5 when we lived at our old house) Loved that I got to see him take care of a vicious animal. He did it so quickly. I really miss that dog (especially now, there are burglars making their way thru our neighborhood this summer...no one's caught them yet)

I had an encouter with pepe le pew a few months ago. It got into the fenced back yard with all 5 dogs!! :eek: One of them appharently caught the poor thing and they all took turns "Playing"with it and flinging it up in the air. Needless to say I spent the next 1 1/2 washing the dogs with a skunk concoction i found online (baking soda, ivory dish soap, peroxide) and douche for their heads. Never a dull moment.

I tried to pat one of them kitties once when I was a kid. :D

Like my DD used to say, when she was 2....Pooh-Tinky!!!

Thanks, everyone, for your comments.

We've removed the "welcome mat": the pet food is up on the table, so if Pepe ambles by tonight, he won't leave with a full belly. We don't want any "Pooh-Tinky" (cute, Sal!) :grin:

Sheesh! Glad he's not a possum. I thought they were supposed to play dead -- who knew they were so mean? :confused:

Oh, and River, you can pat this one if you want. Someone posted on my Facebook that they are supposed to be pretty tame, even in the wild. I already have a black and white kitten and don't need another! Eeek!

Possums only play dead if the "vicious animal" part doesnt work.

When Tiny killed the one that was in our garage, I thought it was playing dead too, but it's neck was broken. It was still alive, but I think Tiny left it with injuries that were incompatible with life.

My dad carried it in a shovel across the street, there were no houses over there yet at the time, so he just put it in the field next to the dumpster that the builders used. We saw the feral neighborhood cat (Socks, all black, with two white front feet and one white back foot) had him for dinner that night. She had little kittens at the time, so it probably helped increase the feral cat population. (which is another problem, but one of the neighbors now has a cat that seems to be taking care of the feral cat problem)