Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Skunk and Tick/Stinktier und Zecke

While I was working with Miriam on a new stitch (stem stitch) for handwork, all of a sudden a nasty smell filled the house.  Peter had just let Julius in and apparently he had gotten sprayed by a skunk.  In addition we noticed a huge tick on his back.  What was there to do?  First we removed the tick with a tickcard.  I had bought this card years ago in Germany and it has come in handy.  I don't think you can buy it directly in the U.S., but it is a marvelous little card.  Then we washed Julius in the bathtub with this mixture from Dr. Mercola's site.  Right now Julius is drying.  He was excellent through the whole procedure.  He didn't utter a single meow and didn't scratch or bite.  He truly is a wonderful cat.  Now we are just waiting to see if the bath did the trick.  Otherwise not only he, but the whole family and house will smell pretty bad for the next time.  So don't plan to visit :).

Während ich mit Miriam einen neuen Stickstich geübt habe (Stielstich), erfüllte auf einmal ein entsetzlicher Geruch das Haus: Peter hatte gerade Julius hereingelassen.  Anscheinend war er einem Stinktier ins Gehege gekommen.  Außerdem befand sich auf seinem Rücken eine riesige Zecke.  Die Zecke habe ich sofort mit einer Zeckenkarte enfernt.  Diese Karte habe ich vor vielen, vielen Jahren mal in Deutschland gekauft und sie ist immer wieder nützlich.  Um den Geruch des Stinktieres zu entfernen, haben wir Julius mit einer Mischung von Natron, Spülmittel und Wasserstoffperoxid eingerieben und anschließend abgewaschen.  Diese Mischung wird von Tierärzten hier empfohlen.  Das Ganze haben wir zweimal gemacht.  Julius ist jetzt ziemlich naß und trocknet gerade.  Er hat alles ohne Miauen, Beißen und Kratzen über sich ergehen lassen.  Mal sehen, ob es hilft, sonst riechen wir und das Haus für mehrere Wochen nach Stinktier.  Hoffentlich will uns keiner besuchen kommen :).  






        

12 comments:

  1. Oh no! Poor Julius-- and poor all of too! That recipe and tick card look interesting. We've tried the old tomato juice recipe, and I agree, it was not 100% effective :) blessings on all of you. Barbara

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    1. Do you have pets? I didn't have any tomato juice and to be honest, I would have not liked to use it on a pet. I think the recipe above worked quite well. I don't smell skunk very much anymore.

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  2. Thank goodness Julius and the house is smelling sweeter!!

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    1. Today it all was back to normal, just Charlotte, who had helped with giving Julius a bath, still had a lingering skunk smell. She just took a shower :).

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  3. O nein, Herr Hund hat uns aber auch schon mit markanter Duftnote erfreut.
    Ich drücke euch mal die Daumen, dass die Entfernung recht schnell gelingt.

    Liebe Grüße
    Nula

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    1. Hunde kann man aber bestimmt besser baden als Katzen, oder? Julius riecht wieder ganz gut und das Haus auch, bis auf Charlotte, die auch beim Baden geholfen hatte. Sie hat sich eben wieder geduscht :).

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  4. Eva,

    I've never seen a skunk. We don't have them here. We do bath our cats though. Actually Poppy is sulking in the corner somewhere all wet and miserable after being shampooed and rinsed. She hates the water. Her long hair gets so matted and smelly sometimes, we need to bath her. Julius sounds like such a placid cat. Our cats moan and struggle the whole time they are in the bath!

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    1. Interesting, you should be glad you don't have them. I never noticed them in Germany, but I know they exist. Here they are very common unfortunately. Cats are supposed to hate baths, but Julius never did. Even when he was little he would get into these fights or into mud and we had to bathe him, but he never complained. I don't think he really enjoyed it, but he let us just do what we had to do. He is very trusting in that respect. It must be hard to wash a cat with long hair. Do you have to brush Poppy a lot? What about fleas?

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  5. The dog who discovered a skunk nest on one if the trails near us was an Australian shepherd mix-- but that was about eleven years ago. Now we have a twelve year old shelter who is a retired service dog for my husband (brain injury service dogs are similar to seizure dogs in their service training). He is wonderful with our children and mellow around babies and toddlers:) My husband has received so many blessings of healings that our dog retired about two years ago and we do not need to find or train another dog! Praise God! So we care for him in his old age and he sleeps a lot now... Barbara

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    1. So nice you are keeping the dog in his old age. Dogs can be so wonderful and devoted. My daughter Charlotte desperately wants a dog, but Peter says one animal is enough right now :):

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  6. oh eva!! poor julius! i read about flora first, and was wondering when the skunk incident had happened with julius . . i thought it was further in the past! what a week you are having! i wonder what other messy episodes i will find as i click "older post!" i hope that was all :)

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    1. Yes, that was all :) Unless you want a description about Julius throwing up outside or some dead squirrels/chipmunks we keep finding because he seems to be in a hunting season right now :). I thought those topics were not blog friendly, at least not with pictures.

      I did feel so sorry for him, but he did so well in the bathtub. Truly a wonderful cat in that respect.

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