Look at our new kitty! (warning, will launch or download a 5.04 MB Quicktime file)

This morning I was working in my office when Benito made his “oh crap” meow, quickly followed by the low, throaty grumble that means he’s hurt. At the same time, I saw a brownish blur head into the back bedroom.

About one half-second later, as I was springing out of my chair to check on him, I already knew the reason for his distress as it hit my olifactory apparatus: he’d been skunkified. Apparently, contrary to what Christopher said just the other evening (“You know, I bet they’ve already made friends”), Benito and Sir Stinkalot #3 (#1 and 2 having been trapped already) had an unpleasant encounter and Benito got the worst of it.

Crapity-crap-crap. As I got to him in the back room (luckily not our bedroom), he had his eyes fully shut and was doing the “my GOD that tastes awful get it out NOW” tongue-thing cats do. I, as usual when an animal is in distress, panicked. I yelled for Christopher and we took the poor (and offending, might I add) beastie into the garage where the stink would do less collateral damage.

Actually, I didn’t really register just how bad it smelled as I panicked, but when we saw that Benito was not hurt any more than having taken a good hit in the face and eyes and as I called the vet and the emergency vet for instructions, the odor really hit. Imagine licking burning tires covered in first-morning urine from a homeless drunk who had found a twenty the night before. Now kiss the drunk and take a deep breath. You’re getting close.

And this was from a really minor attack. It’s not like Benito was fully engulfed or that the skunk had entered the house. This was from a relatively few drops which, I suspect, were shot from a distance.

I think I saw Jesus from the smell.

Anyway, the vets all said he should be fine, to keep an eye on him, use eyedrops if needed (on the cat…and us) and we bathed his head in some hydrogen peroxide/baking soda mixture (carefully, with cotton balls) to reduce his stinkiness. But mostly, it’s just going to have to wear off.

However, the house needed immediate attention. The throw rugs are all outside getting air and I was on my hands and knees using Oxyclean on the carpets. I got my workout for the day, scrubbing and mopping. But that seems to have made a huge difference.

Incense is burning in the garage (Benito is no longer isolated out there) and scented candles (vanilla is best) are working in the back bedroom. Every window is open and, I’m happy to report, the smell is definitely much better than it was.

So is Benito. Yes, he’s still stinky in spots and his eyes aren’t back to normal (a bit squinty yet), but he’s much, much better than he was.

…okay…not really.

As mentioned earlier, out back yard seems to be a happy place for skunks lately. We’ve trapped two and seen one more. Here’s one of the cute little guys (click for larger pic):

As they have been known to eat rats and black widows, I’d be happy to keep them around…except for the fact that they are a rabies “vector animal.” Darn. They’re awfully cute to boot.

I hate going to the dentist. Hate hate hate. I try not to hate anything, but dental visits still get that gut reaction from me. I feel rather guilty about it as I see a lovely young(er) dentist who does my cleanings (he’s a DDS–from Michigan) with no pain and a minimal use of the metal pick/scraping tool. He uses a high-pressure water device to get rid of most of the tarter and when he double-checks his work with the floss he never pushes too hard (he also has never accidentally snagged a gum or anything). The older main dentist has never done anything to me more than look in and say “they look fine–see you in a year.” It’s been many years since I’ve had anything more than a cleaning done and even before that my dental traumas have been pretty much non-existent since childhood (then I did have a dentist who always made my gums bleed).

Still, I get almost panicked every time I have to go for my cleaning, and when it’s the clean/check, I’ll consider breaking an arm to have an excuse to miss it.

A good part of it is that I am so sensitive to high-pitched sound. The painless water device I mentioned earlier? Worse than fingernails on a chalkboard. I squirm in my seat just because of the sound–aural torture. I can hear fluorescent bulbs when they are dying and some old CRT tvs and I cannot be in the same room, so I’m odd. Thus most dental implements are just sound-hell for me.

Anyway, today I had to go in for my annual check and 6-months cleaning. The double, and Christopher refused to let me injure myself to avoid it. This, however, was the first cleaning/check since I started using a Sonicare toothbrush–boy! that purchase was worth every dime!

This was the first time I was complemented for “obviously” flossing much more regularly. Ha! In reality, my flossing habits have not improved (good for about the first month post-cleaning, then almost never). There was almost no scraping at all and what there was was more like a quick tiny movement rather than the slow, hard pull/drag behind and between my front lower teeth that in the past had been known to lift me out of my chair! The water aural-torture device was wielded for the briefest time and my gums were pronounced in most excellent health. Huzzah! And that was after not using the Sonicare during my month-long trip–maybe the next cleaning will be even better!

So, not to sound like a commercial for them or anything, I highly recommend the Sonicare (we use an Elite model, but we’ve never used the “special” head) and we bought ours through Costco which saved us a bundle on a set good for the two of us (one charger, two bases, etc.).

Anything to keep that tune out of my head (Son, be a dentist…you have a talent for causing things pain!) and my teeth in it.