Makwa learned a very important lesson last Tuesday night. Daniel had taken him outside before bed and in Makwa's curiousity, he got a little too close to the neighborhood skunk. Unfortunately, Makwa had cornered the skunk and before Daniel could call him back, Makwa got sprayed in the face, neck, and chest. As soon as Daniel brought Makwa inside, we washed him in the tub. We were completely unprepared for this kind of situation and all we could do was give him a bath. Neither Daniel nor I slept much that night as the smell of skunk permeated the house. Daniel did some research and found that boiling water with vinegar would get the skunk smell out of the air. It worked, but then the house smelled of vinegar. Still better than skunk, though! Makwa received two more baths on Wednesday, using hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and dish soap. The second bath included a presoak with listerine. It seemed to work well. Unfortunately, we still had to deal with the mild skunk smell throughout the house. After many loads of laundry, scrubbing the kitchen and bathroom floors, cleaning the carpets with a rug doctor, several days with the windows open (in 30 degree weather), and perfumey candles burning, we've finally gotten rid of it, for the most part. Every so often we get a whif of skunk. I guess it will just take time for the smell to fully disappear. I sure hope Makwa has learned his lesson and we won't have to go through this again. However, if he does get sprayed by a skunk again, we WILL be prepared!
