Underground Skunk Spray and Its Aftermath

If your dog is hit by skunk spray underground you may be in very serious trouble! Get your dog out of the ground as fast as possible. If the dog is not breathing when you get it out of the ground, do mouth-to-snout CPR as explained here.

Even if your dog recovers, he or she may still end up having issues. The reason for this is that skunk spray explodes red blood cells, and can cause serious persistent anemia in your dog.

Skunk toxic shock seems, in part, to be genetic, with certain lines more susceptible to this problem than others, perhaps due to overally weaker kidney or liver function. If your dog has been skunked several times underground and lived to tell the tale (all my dogs) count yourself lucky!

After your dog has been sprayed underground, check your dog's gums regularly for at least a two or three hours. If the dog's gums become very pale (almost white), rush your dog to a vet. A pale pink gum is normal, but white is not.

Most dogs that are skunked underground get out of the ground on their own or with help, and most dogs recover from an underground skunking provided they get out quickly. Time is of the essence, however, and a dog can lapse into a comma after only a few minutes if it is unable to exit a tight earth.

If your dog has pale gums or seems to be in shock, rush it to a vet and make sure your dog is seen immediately. Explain that the problem is MORE than stink: skunk-related shock and anemia can kill a dog.

The best course of therapy for a dog suffering from skunk toxic shick is to fully hydrate the dog (an IV will be needed) to speed the flushing of toxins, as well as to dose the dog with Acetycistein (sold as Mucomyst, Fluimucil, Mucolator, or Tixair).

Acetycistein seems to help the dog cough mucous out of the lungs, and it also strengthens blood cells and the vascular system in general, while working to maintain renal function -- a big issue with skunk toxic shock syndrome.

Since acetylcystein is cheap, easily available, and a well-tolerated drug, starting a dog on this drug is always a good idea if skunk toxic shock seems to be setting in.

If your dogs gets out from underground and skunk toxic shock does not seem to be an issue (this is the situation most of the time), your next issue is the stench. What to do about it?

The short story here is that nothing will completely get rid of the smell of skunk spray except time. And yes, I have tried it all.

"Nature's Miracle Skunk Odor Remover" is a commercial product that works well for a few days at a time. I have tried other commercial skunk-odor removers (such as Skunk Off), and I do not think they work quite as well as Nature's Miracle.

You will need a quart of Nature's Miracle Skunk Odor Remover to dose a 12-pound terrier, but buy two quarts (about $10 a bottle) and keep a spare quart in the wheel well of your car or truck for emergenices. The main ingredient in this stuff appears to be alcohol, but the important ingredients are various enzymes that break down the stink.

What about masengill douche, tomato juice, and vinegar? I have tried them all -- forget it.

What about home-made skunk-odor reduction recipies?

The good news is that they work and they will save you a few dollars over time, as you are going to have to wash your dog every four or five days for a month as the skunk stink leaches out.

Here's the recipie for home-made skunk stink remover:

• 1 Quart of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide


• 1/4 cup of Baking Soda


• 1 teaspoon of Liquid Soap
  
  Mix it all together in a pan, and wash the dog in in while the mixture is bubbling... let is sit for a few minutes, and then rinse off with tap water.
  
  Do not get the mixture in the dog's eyes!!
  
  The quantities described here are for a small Jack Russell. Scale up as necessary.
  
  Be sure to use FRESH Hydrogen Peroxide... H2O2 will eventually turn into water.

Why does this hydrogen-peroxide, baking soda, and squirt-soap recipie work, and why will your dog have to be rewashed in four or five days all over again?

The short story is that skunk spray contains several kinds of thiols.

The oxygen in the Hydrogen Peroxide releases the Thiols (the odor part) as it foams up, and the detergent removes the oily part that holds the odor in the animal's fur. The baking soda provides a little texture against the fur (thiols are sticky) and also helps deodorize the dog a bit.

The reason that the skunk spray keeps coming back is that the thioacetates absorbed in the skin and fur of the dog, continue to break down over time, turning into stinky thiols. This process is speeded up a bit if your dog gets wet again, but NO, you cannot speed it up too much as it is partially time-released.

If your dog is hit straight-on with skunk spray, either underground or above ground, your dog may get some small blistering around the muzzle and may get some caustic burning of the cornea as well. This occurs because one of the ingredients of skunk spray is hydrochloric acid, created when different skunks two glands mix chemicals together as they exit the skunk's rear end.

It is a myth that skunk spray can cause permanent blindness. When gotten into the eyes the spray often causes temporary blindness, and burns like crazy, but there are no documented cases of skunk spray causing permanent blindness in a dog.

If you dog does end up with ulcerations of the cornea, crate the dog for several days and load it up on antibiotics (cephalexin is fine). The only thing to fear is infection. The important thing is to let the eye rest and heal.

Feed and water your dog well and keep it warm and rested for at least a week after a skunk encounter.

Road flares placed in a skunk den are said to kill the animal, but if your dog has just been sprayed, and stink is pouring out of the hole, you may just want to get the hell out of there and take care of your dog. First thing's first!

Canine Health Care in the Field

Since you are the human with the credit card, the cell phone, and the keys to the truck, you are in charge when it comes to emergencies in the field. These emergencies may range from poisoning to traps, from suffocation to laceration.

Whatever the problem, the thing that will matter most in the end is preparation beforehand and quick level-headed action afterward.

Part of preparation is having a decent medical kit with you in the field.

Part of level-headed action is taking the time NOW to think through possible problems and emergencies that might arise.

Field health and emergency situations can be broken down into two categories: critical and chronic. >> To read more

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Pet Insurance Data Shows Mutts ARE Healthier!

T-shirt available here.

When it comes to warranties and insurance, predictive values are important, and fortunes are made by determining the correct digits to place to the right of a point mark.

What does this have to do with dogs?

Quite a lot.

You see, pet insurance companies are in a competitive business to get your dollar. If they get the numbers wrong, and price a premium too high, potential customers may forgo pet insurance altogether or else sign up with a competitor's plan. On the other hand, if the company routinely prices insurance premiums too low, they may push themselves into bankruptcy.

And so, pet insurance companies have collected data on hundreds of thousands of dogs and analyzed that data, in order to assign correct premiums to predictive risks.

What do pet insurance companies tell us? Basically, three things:

1. The size of the dog matters.
   As a general rule, larger dogs do not live as long as smaller dogs. This is not closely held information. As a major British pet insurance company notes: "Typically, larger pets are more expensive, so ... a terrier will be cheaper then a Labrador."
   
   
2. The breed matters.
   Not all breeds of dogs are equally healthy. This is not closely held information, as any review of Kennel Club breed health surveys makes clear. If you are looking to get complete health care coverage (as opposed to a catastrophic plan to cover vehicle impacts), your premium will rise or fall depending on the breed.
   
   
3. Mongrels are healthier than pedigree dogs.
   Again, this is not closely held information. As a major British pet insurance company reports: "A survey by the [insurance company] found almost 40 per cent of pedigree pet policy holders will make a claim on their insurance compared to just over 20 per cent of cross-breed owners." David Pickett, pet insurance manager at Sainsbury's Bank notes that "While it is imperative all cats and dogs are adequately insured, our experience is that pedigree owners are more likely to call on their pet insurance for illness and disease than owners of crossbreeds because their animals are more likely to suffer certain hereditary illnesses."

What else do we find by looking at the fencing-in of risk by insurance companies?

Well, for one thing, we find that some pet insurance companies are willing to extend insurance to older cross-bred dogs, but not to older pedigree dogs.

Embrace Pet Insurance, for example, will insure a mixed breed dog up to 8 years of age, but the cut-off for purebred dogs is 6 years.

What's that about?

Simple: Taken as a whole, there is a "health gap" between cross-bred and pedigree dogs, and that gap is about two years. The insurance industry is simply mirroring in policy, what has been proven true on the ground.

Why are pedigree dogs less healthy than their mongrel cousins?

One factor is that many breeds are positively selected for exaggeration.

Flat-faced breeds which have been selected for brachycephalism, for example, are far more likely to suffer from cleft palettes, breathing problems, and eye injuries than cross-bred dogs which have better snouts.

Dogs that have been selected for the benched legs associated with achondroplasia (a kind of dwarfism) are more likely to have heart problems and joint problems.

Giant breeds are more likely to die of gastric torsion, heart problems and cancer, while teacup breeds are more likely to suffer from neurological and dental issues.

Dogs bred for wrinkles are much more likely to have skin problems, while dogs bred for screw tails or very long backs, are more likely to have vertebrate problems.

Another problem with purebred dogs, of course, is inbreeding. Here the issues are best observed not by looking at dogs through the lens of purebred vs. mongrel, but by looking at dogs, within breeds, that have higher or lower coefficients of inbreeding (COI).

Here too the data is rather unambiguous: Dogs with higher coefficients of inbreeding tend to get sick sooner, and die sooner, than their less inbred counterparts, a fact that holds true for breeds as varied as the Rhodesian Ridgeback, the Dachshund, and the Standard Poodle.

How does this translate down to the realities of pedigree dog ownership?

Simple: Purebred dogs are, on the whole, sicker more often that their cross-bred brethren, and as a consequence the vet bills of purebed dog owners can be expected to be 15% higher says Saga Pet Insurance.

Pet insurance premiums, of course, reflect this reality. As the PetGuard Insurance company notes on its home page:

If you own a pedigree dog or cat, you are more likely to incur greater veterinary expnse (sorry!) due to the degree of inbreeding that has to occur ... pedigree cats and dogs are more likely to suffer from respiratory or hereditary conditions.

Bottom line: If you are looking for the healthiest dog possible, stay away from Kennel Club dogs and look for a mongrel that weighs between 10 and 40 pounds and which has a real snout.

Is that dog guaranteed to be healthy? Nope.

But, as the pet insurance industry will tell you, the odds are certainly tipped quite a lot in your favor.
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Stems Cells Might Fix Dysplasia in Your Aged Dog

Jemima Harrison has sent me a link to something that is completely new to me, which is the use of stem cells to cure some serious canine problems, especially hip dysplasia in aged dogs.

This appears to be pretty miraculous stuff, and as Martin Bashir at ABC News notes (video link and a lot more information here), this is no longer experimental therapy: It's available right now.

It's not cheap -- about $2,500 -- but a heck of lot cheaper than operating on two hips, or even one hip.

And if we can do this with dogs now, what will we be able to do with humans into the future if we allow science to continue apace?

Thank God Barack Obama has greenlighted stem cell research to continue apace.

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