# AM I CRAZY?????



## REO (May 4, 2013)

I was sitting here at my desk at 2 AM sewing on an order of show bows. I'm a total crazy cat lady so when I heard a baby kitten start mewing outside on the porch, I got up and started outside. It was crying out desperately by the time I got to the door. In cat a shelter I'd made for winter shelter on our porch, a mom cat had had kittens and only 2 were left and they were old enough to start walking out and about, though still tiny. I got out there and found one of them being attacked (to be killed) by a skunk! The skunk had that baby! My brain registered it and without thought, I reached out and stuck my hand into the attack, grabbed that skunk by the tail, whirled and flung it! It flew through the air and hit the porch post and fell. You'd think it would have fizzed up it's tail in fright and waddle away. NOPE! That !%$$ came at me! I started yelling at it to *bleep* off and get away from me and that kitten! I picked up a big heavy cushion that was there and hit it with it, knocking it away! It came at me again! RIGHT AT ME. I was yelling at it. I wasn't afraid but I was MAD! How DARE it attack a kitten!!! I saw Karrel come to the door to see what was going on and I said get the gun! It was almost to me (18" away and coming fast) so I reared back and kicked it hard! It flew through the air and hit the porch post again. It was a little slower but here it came again! That was when Karrel came out having gotten the gun. I yelled shoot it and ducked. It was only 2 feet from me when K shot it!
What in the world was wrong with that thing???? It didn't look rabid. Took a while but I found the kitten, it had run away. It's shoulder was wet but I didn't see any blood. It has a slight limp. So I'll keep my eye in it. It was shaking of course. She would've been eaten right there if I hadn't gone out.
But where is the other one? We'd had huge storms and high nasty winds all the day and no idea what happened to him






Bottom line, do NOT mess with my animals, I don't care WHO you are!
I can't believe I grabbed a skunk by the tail and flung it and then kicked it like a football!
I'll have to keep watch on that kitten.


Went out after daylight to check the kitty. As soon as I got it with my hand the poor thing started to scream in fear! I petted her and she knew she was safe. There is no wound at all but she has a slight limp. I think she'll be just fine.
I don't know where the other kitten went


----------



## Helicopter (May 4, 2013)

Holy smoke!!!!!!!!!

Some people do have exciting lives.

Glad kitty is OK.


----------



## jacks'thunder (May 4, 2013)

Wow! Your an awesome kitty mama!! Can't say I would ever grab a skunk, but if it was killing/trying to kill a baby I'd be all over that fight just like you!

I remember one time my mom and I were out for an evening walk on this path buy our house when I was in my teens. We came across a skunk that was a few feet off the path. We turned right around and started speed waling out of there, skunk followed and started gaining on us! It was like something out of a creepy movie!! LOL!! Finally we got up to a jog and lost him, but gosh it had to be a good half mile he was following at a good clip!!

Good, fearless, job!!!!!


----------



## Shes My Style (May 4, 2013)

What a frightening situation and the lengths we go to save our beloved animals.

Since you shot the skunk is there any way you could have the authorities take it and get it tested? Even if it did not look rabid - that is not normal skunk behavior and I would think it much safer for you and the kitten to get it tested. It takes about 3 days for the results to get back and your kitten should be qurarantined during that time just in case.


----------



## REO (May 4, 2013)

The kitten is very small and still nursing on her mom and not eating food yet. I'll just have to keep checking her. I'm not sure what hubby did with the skunk. He took it away. Does it cost to have a skunk checked?


----------



## Riverrose28 (May 4, 2013)

Please tell hubby to go get the carcas, call the health dept. in your area they will advise you where to take it, rabies also has a passive form and you can't tell just by looking at the animal, but that is not normal behaviour.


----------



## Shes My Style (May 4, 2013)

It may depend on the state/county but I'm pretty sure around here you can have them checked for free since its a serious public health concern. They don't want the cost to deter testing of potentially rabid animals.


----------



## Boss Mare (May 4, 2013)

Oh no! Glad you're okay, but I would highly recommend getting the skunk checked.. And isolating the kitten and family until results.

I saw a raccoon in the day light, fairly sure it was rabid! - attack and carry a full size barn cat up a tree. He dropped her and tore her paw up very

bad. Without thinking I grabbed the saliva covered cat.. Vet visit; tetanus and rabies booster.. Antibiotic for the wound. Never was able to trap the raccoon.

I expressed my concern to my personal doctor and health department and they stated how I wasn't at risk because I would've had to have gotten bitten or scratched by the raccoon to be in danger.. Something about how rabies dies on surfaces so even cuts on my hands and the saliva on the cat wasn't a threat. I was worried and wanted the rabies shots anyways and they said no. :-/


----------



## anoki (May 4, 2013)

Yes, you are crazy.....but I'd probably do the same. Up here if we find an animal we think might be rabid, we can call the CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency), which are the federal vets, they will take it and have it checked. I think I'd be having that one checked out...that doesn't seem like 'normal' behaviour for a skunk.

I have my own skunk killers here



.... the herd of corgis....

~kathryn


----------



## bevann (May 4, 2013)

In my area State Dept of Ag will check animals for free.Call around to an extension office maybe they can tell you where to take carcass.they have to cut head off and check brain.that is not normal behavior for a skunk.they usually go away from humans.You were smart to pick it up by the tail.They have to have hind feet on the ground to spray so I'm told by farmer man here.When he was a kid on the farm he and brothers would sneak up and catch them by the tail and kill them for the pelts which were big bucks for a poor farm kid.Amazing what we can do when adrenaline kicks in if something is after our critters.


----------



## REO (May 4, 2013)

The other kitten is back! He must have run & hid! The lil girl is fine. Not limping and not a scratch on her! It was a teen sized skunk so wasn't very big.

I'll ask hubby what he did with the skunk. The kitten is dark colored and so are my shoes. Maybe it was coming for my shoes. I threw it pretty hard twice.

I didn't know what I'd done til it was all over. I just reacted to save the kitten. Afterward I thought about it and was all, holy crap! LOL


----------



## KanoasDestiny (May 4, 2013)

I'm glad this had a happy ending for both you and the babies. It's amazing what someone will do at the spur of the moment to save their 'loved ones'. When I was 12, a big black chow was trying to rip into my elevated rabbit cage and get my two bunnies. Without hesitating, I ran and grabbed a broom and tried to hit the dog. When he came at me, I beat him to my backyard which thankfully had a fence. He went right back to the rabbits, so I turned our house on full blast, left the safety of the yard and went within feet of him. He did NOT like getting his fluffy fur soaked and hightailed it out of my yard. A neighbor was able to trap him in her fenced yard. We called Animal Control, who were already on their way because apparently the dog had already killed another neighbor's rabbits.


----------



## Carolyn R (May 5, 2013)

Please have the skunk tested. This just happened to a friend of the family with a raccoon. The raccoon attacked the cat on the porch, then was trying to attack the screen door to go after the owner when she came running. Her and her husband had just filed divorce papers but were under the same roof. She told him to shoot it, he refused and tried to shoo it away, it bit him. She got the gun and shot it.. The ex wouldn't go to get the shot series until he knew what the results were. CDC (pa center of disease control)rushed the results and it was positive. The ex finially went to get shots, thankfully the results were rushed. The cat had to be euthanized, it was severely injured.


----------



## dutchhollow (May 6, 2013)

Skunks are the main carrier around my area, so yes, call the state and have them come out and get it and test it. Check the kitten over very carefully for puncture wounds, they are very hard to find, but they will abcess, and if skunk is positive you are going to have to know. Glad the other kitten showed up, and you did not get bitten!


----------



## Lil Eowyn (May 8, 2013)

Wow! Did the skunk spray? Glad you saved one kitten--I hope you can find the other one.


----------



## REO (May 8, 2013)

Did find the other kitten the next day





So far they are both fine.

That's what was weird, the skunk did not fuzz up, lift his tail or try to spray even after I threw him, hit his with a cusion and kicked him hard. Thank goodness!


----------



## rockin r (May 9, 2013)

Geeeeeeeeeeeez! Im glad it did not bite you! And your babies are okay. No your not crazy, just protecting your youngins..


----------



## REO (May 10, 2013)

It woulda had to catch me first! Yeah I don't think, I just react if "mine" is in danger. The kittens are still fine!


----------



## LittleRibbie (May 10, 2013)

Good Lordy you crazy girl..."put a boot in your Ars' its the American protective mothers way" is more like it!! Good for you!!


----------



## SampleMM (May 10, 2013)

OMG---Robin!! I would never EVER grab a skunk tail. I am scared to death of skunks and I would have ran 90 miles an hour the other way. I guess I'm a bad mom but I know that I would have high tailed it out of there. Glad you are okay but do think you better have it tested for rabies. Is that normal for a skunk to keep coming after you? It just doesn't sound right.


----------



## Watcheye (May 10, 2013)

Riverrose28 said:


> Please tell hubby to go get the carcas, call the health dept. in your area they will advise you where to take it, rabies also has a passive form and you can't tell just by looking at the animal, but that is not normal behaviour.


EXACTLY


----------



## Margo_C-T (May 11, 2013)

ABSOLUTELY, find the carcass and call the Public Health Dep't. to find out where to take it for testing...delay no longer, for heaven's sake!! That is NOT normal behavior for a skunk; they are widely known to be one of the worst 'reservoirs' for rabies, and are frequently one of the species infected when rabies rears its ugly head.

Margo in NM, where there have been serious outbreaks of rabies in a couple of areas of my state in recent years, and who is getting rabies vaccine for her horses and mule this year, for the first time EVER.


----------



## sfmini (May 11, 2013)

If the brain is intact, get that thing tested ASAP! Most states test for free. In Ohio, rabies is spreading and turning into a dangerous situation. Pete shot a Raccoon a few weeks ago, but shot in the head so we couldn't get it tested. It was in broad daylight and 10+ shots to kill it.

Need to check our dogs' records and see if any are due for rabies vaccine.


----------



## AngC (May 13, 2013)

The thought of skunks brought back a memory for me.

My osteo-impaired old mother used to set up traps for the skunks. Then she'd go out with a 22 and shoot them through the trap. To this day I don't know how she didn't get 'scented.'

The one time (when she was near the end) my husband helped her, he got liberally sprayed. I didn't get to observe this because I was deployed (in the military) but apparently my husband had to strip naked in front of my old mom, get hosed off, soaped down, etc. Other than the sad part about my mother, it still brings a giggle to my thoughts to think of him going through that.

Since then somebody told me skunks are endangered (protected species) somewhere; I wonder if that's true?


----------



## REO (May 13, 2013)

I don't know what happened to the skunk's body. He was a smallish young one. Like an early teenager. The kitten is just fine though. I keep watching her, but so far, 10 days later she's normal as can be.


----------



## Minimor (May 13, 2013)

The incubation period for rabies is typically

one to three months so you will need to keep watching the kitten for awhile yet. It can apparently show up in mere days but that is not the usual. I gave also heard of some instances where it took six months before the animal became clinically ill...some sources say the incubation can be YEARS (and that is scary IMO) --there is at least one documented case of an Australian girl who became ill and died five years after her last possible exposure. I'm not sure there is ever such a long incubation period in animals.

The virus is present in saliva only the last days of the animal's life, which is why animals that bite a human are typically quarantined for 10 days--the animal would not be contagious for any more than its last ten days of life .


----------



## REO (May 14, 2013)

Sorry I'm behind in emails Holly!






I'm watching the kitten and the others.



(trust me)


----------



## Shari (May 17, 2013)

Shouldn't cost anything to get the Skunk tested,,, that's not normal behavior for them. I have a number of skunks around here and they are laid back and mellow.

REO... you are a brave bold woman to go up against a skunk! Hope the kitten will be ok!!


----------



## REO (May 19, 2013)

I know that when one of my mares goes into labor.........MOVE!!!!!!! Do NOT get in my way! House cats, hubby flying as I run past LOL.

One year I ran out the front door to go to my mare and RIGHT THERE was a big skunk! Split second thinking, I was going to kick it and keep going but I leaped over it instead.

I guess if one of my kids needs me, I'm a mad bull momma and nothing will stop me from helping.

Kitty is fine



They're having a ball playing.


----------



## paintponylvr (May 19, 2013)

Saw this one late...

Did you at least contact your health department/State Ag center to let them know that you might have some rabid skunks in the area? That way others, especially hunters or private owners out in the boonies, will have a "heads up" of a possible problem.

Glad your kitties are OK. I've done the same.

Did not realize that it could take that long for Rabies to "show up" or become active! Definitely learned a lot today!


----------



## Jean_B (May 19, 2013)

Since you physically handled the skunk you MUST get it tested!!!! That is totally unusual behavior for a skunk and very high likelihood of rabies! Do NOT delay!!!!! A local farm once had a baby dairy calf that came down with rabies (probably bitten by a skunk). It was a bottle/bucket baby so a number of different people handled the calf. All had to have a rabies shot, including my brother (they have changed the protocol so it is not so gruesome as in the past).

Just read the remaining posts - since you don't know where the skunk carcass is - you really MUST go see your doctor. PLEASE!


----------



## Tab (May 20, 2013)

Since a skunk is kind of a weasel I guess it makes sense that they're brazen. Besides, who would cross one? Not many lol. I will always remember my encounter with an ermine that lived near a bridge at my parent's house. He was a fearless creature. I nicknamed him the bridge troll. Tiny and wild but unafraid of people. It could have been that the skunk was fine but determined to make the kitten a meal. Just keep a close watch.


----------



## Tab (May 20, 2013)

Also encountered a skunk at my parent's barn. They aren't fearful animals. I was lucky I didn't get skunked because I threw a can at it and it didn't back down, nor did it spray me. Luckily.


----------



## REO (May 24, 2013)

It didn't run at me. Just kind of walked. I had thrown it HARD against a wood post. Thrown a 15 lb cushion at it and knocked it flat then kicked it in the face and sent it smashing against a wooden post again. I don't think it knew where it was walking.


----------

