Serious Bleeding   Minor Cuts and Wounds   Shock   Car and Truck Accidents   Transporting the Injured Dog   Breath Stoppage   Electric Shock and Lightning   Burns and Scalds   Poisoning   Choking

Snakebite   Encounter with a Skunk   Porcupine Quills   Bee, Hornet and Wasp Stings   Dogfights   Attack by a Cat   Heat Exhaustion   Lameness   First Aid Kit

ENCOUNTER WITH A SKUNK

The skunk is a docile, easygoing animal. He rarely hurries or gets out of your way. He'll let you or your dog approach quite close. And that's why dogs usually get sprayed. If your dog runs afoul of a skunk, you'll have no difficulty in diagnosing it!

Symptoms

First, a powerful and distinct odor. The dog's eyes may be inflamed and he may paw at them.

First Aid

You'll hear of all kinds of treatment to get rid of the skunk smell. Very few of them actually eliminate the strong odor. It just has to wear off.

However, to hasten the process, you can do something.

Wash the dog thoroughly with soap and water. Then wet him down with plenty of tomato juice. Rinse off the tomato juice with a 5% solution of ammonia. Avoid getting the ammonia solution in the dog's eyes. They're already smarting from the skunk spray. Put some eye ointment in the eyes.