AWWWWWW....... OMG! I almost accidentally pet a skunk!! :ph43r: Our neighbor has a grey cat with a fluffy tail and it was starting to get dark outside. The cat was on the sidewalk and I called him over because he loves to get attention. Well, it started to slowly waddle right towards me. [Uh... the first sign it may *not* have really been the cat.] Then I kind of thought hmmm... he also seemed a bit shorter than usual [probably just the shadows, right??]. :huh: It got within a few feet and as I reached out to pet it on the head, I NOTICED the white stripes and freaked out! It was NOT the neighbors cat, it was a SKUNK!! :blink: Running from a skunk was probably not a smart thing to do but I just reacted and was probably gone faster than it had time to turn around. LOL!!!! Hope you guys enjoyed that because it could have had a totally different ending LOL!

So basically you are saying that you got away without getting stinky :lol: :lol:
Maybe you need to get some glasses ;) :lol: What did the skunk do??

But I already wear glasses LOL!! You don't know how thankful I am that I didn't get "pepe le pewed". Yeah, you know what the skunk did after that? It hung around the front steps so I couldn't get back to the house! LOL! Wasn't sure if I should chance a second encounter if I tried to run past it to get down the driveway to the backdoor. My luck at not getting juiced the first time was probably used up by then! Guess running away from it in the wrong direction was the second dumb thing of the night LOL

littlenessie, that is hilarious!! I am still laughing!! We had a neighbor once that discovered a baby skunk in his trash can eating!! So every evening when he came home from work, he would go out there and the little skunk would be there. So he started feeding the little guy bologna and he loved it. Well, one day, it bit him instead of the bolonga. And when he pushed his head down, up came the tail!! HA Our neighbor smelled so bad, our eyes watered. He continued to feed the skunk and took the series of rabies shots!! He said he could not turn his new little friend in. Evidentally the skunk was fine because he fed him a long time. Just wanted to share that story. There was a lady on here before that use to tame wild skunks. Doesn't sound like that is what you want to do!! :lol:

I almost choked I was laughing so hard!

I've yet to see a live skunk except in the zoo. We've lived here 30 years, and I've smelled the after smell of skunks and seen dead ones including one last month close to our land. I suspect that one had dug up the yellow jacket hive the night before and messed around in my pond.

From what I've read, skunks only spray if they feel threatened so you probably were not at risk if the skunk was walking towards you and calm. Now, if that tail goes up, and the feet stomp, RUN!!!

Many people actually keep skunks as pets. They have the scent glands removed. They are only legal in a few states, not in my state of MD. Having a pet skunk is like having a mix of a ferret and a cat. Here are some sites:

http://www.skunk-info.org
http://www.skunkhaven.net/
http://www.justskunks.com/

:lol: I've grown up with skunks coming thru the backyard, and had to back off from a few but never that close. lol Dogs only got sprayed once in my 49 years here that I know of. I yelled, 'Pauper, that is NOT a white cat!!!' ..too late. ;) That's when we learned we had an albino skunk in the neighborhood. lol

So I am assuming that you opened several cans of tomatoe juice huh?? :lol:

WHAT??? Now I have to watch for the white cats in case they could be an albino skunk!? LOL! I will have to stick to either petting the cats in the daytime or stand on the front porch with the light on and a piece of bologna in my pocket in case the neighbors cat turns into another skunk.

Tomato juice didn't help our dog very much. :ph43r: But then she was a big hairy beastie - half collie/golden retriever mix. She ended up getting a haircut LOL Yep, that was years ago and my eyes and nose are still burning remembering that LOL!!!!!

LN, It looks like even a cat can get comfused! Isn't this CUTE!!!!!

That's so cute! I've seen similar photos/stories before. The baby skunks can't spray until they're over a month old (not sure exactly how long). They won't normally spray if they're used to people but a few people who have kept them as pets and didn't have them descented were later regretting that decision because, eventually, their skunk became miffed enough to squirt!

Oh my gosh, that is so precious!!! You would never believe something so darn precious could smell so darn bad, would you???????

Awwwww........ what can you say about the cute little stinkers? That is so neat that the mother cat adopted the babies. Thank you for sharing the photo and the story :)

if a skunk raises it's tail, you better be F-A-S-T. I have learned (first hand) that skunks can spray over 20 feet :o ...and you can't make 'em leave if they dont wanna go :rolleyes:

I have washed our dogs in tomato juice after being sprayed, but it just makes them smell like skunk marinara!! I have used peroxide with better results.

Aww...I love this sort of posts!

Skunk marinara........ That is too funny!!!! :lol:

We always have skunks around here. They are town skunks, so they are used to light and noise...and people unfortunately. I did the same thing last year, was outside at night saw one of our "cats" and walked right up it and and was reaching out for it when I realised my mistake. Just backed away slowly and all was fine.

My dog Pete (a beagle) was not so fortunate about 2 weeks ago. Whenever he sees any other animal his tail wags so hard he can hardlt stand up and he runs up and wants to...well, smell their butt!! LOL...not the best idea when the other animal is a skunk! He smelled quite ripe for a few days for sure!

I since realised there is a family living under my back shed. It is about 100 feet from the house. I was going to try and drive them out (have heard both mothballs and amonia work), but since it is so close to winter now I figured they might freeze, so I decided to let them hibernate there and evict them in the spring.