American Skunk Toxic Shock
Syndrome
by
Michael Bilbo
Date: February 4, 1995
Place: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Elevation: 5,500 feet apx.
Temperature: About 50 degrees F.
Time: 09:00
Victim: Jack Russell Terrier (Male), 1 year of age, 15 lbs
A Sequence of Events
A friend of mine and I were out for a day of
hunting our Terriers in the area of Colorado Springs. We
approached a known Fox Set on a beautiful Saturday morning
at about 9:00 am. Weather could not have been any better. It
had been unseasonably warm for the previous week so most of
the frozen surface ground would once again be digable. As we
approached the set I staked three of our five terriers about
20 feet away from the entrance to the Fox Den. We initially
brought one of Pat's younger bitches who has had a lot of
ground work to the entrance. She showed a very keen interest
in entering the hole, so with the tracker collar securely
attached, Pat let her have a go at it. Within about 15
seconds she was actively working at a quarry. She kept this
up for about 30 to 45 seconds when she backed out of the
hole. She entered once again and repeated the above
performance in the same amount of time and once again backed
out. Pat looked at me to ask what I thought. We both put our
faces well into the entrance of the hole to see if there
were any scent of skunk. Neither of us could detect any
scent what so ever. He asked if I wanted to try my Terrier
and I thought it seemed like a good idea, my dog being a
little more aggressive, maybe we could get the fox to bolt.
Upon entering, he too was very actively working a quarry for
about 15 to 20 seconds when he backed out looking somewhat
confused. We let him enter once again, and again he was busy
baying and growling at a quarry. Pat said lets begin our
dig. I ran about 10 yards to the side of the mound to get a
second shovel when Pat yelled to hurry back because he had a
very distinct smell of Skunk spray. I ran back quickly,
listened for the dog's baying, which had stopped completely,
called his name and commanded him to come several times with
no results. The time now being about 09:15.
The dog had been in the den about 2 minutes. We both
began digging furiously calling for the dog as we continued
to dig. Time now about 09:20.
We were about 5 to 6 feet into the side of this bank and
broke a chunk of dirt loose which exposed the dogs rear
legs. I could see that the dog was laying on his side and in
convulsions. I crawled into the hole and grabbed him by the
legs and yelled to Pat to pull me out by my legs. The smell
of the skunk spray was almost overwhelming. The dog was
unconscious and not breathing, and still in convulsions. I
breathed into his nose a few times and he started breathing
on his own almost immediately. I set him on the ground to
see if he could walk, but he was too disoriented. He began
regurgitating and then would lapse into unconsciousness.
After about 10 seconds he would wake up and then regurgitate
again. Time now about 09:25.
I picked him up and ran him over to a stream where I sat
him down and splashed cold water on his face and rubbed wet
sand all over his front end in hopes of ridding him of some
of the skunk spray. He was still regurgitating about once a
minute. He was beginning to be able to walk on his own now
so I walked him back up the stream bank and toward the
truck. He was now trying to rub the skunk spray off on the
grasses and bushes we walked by. Time now about 09:30.
He was still regurgitating and apparently quite sick to
his stomach as well as being a little disoriented. We had a
bottle of Skunk Off with us and we applied the entire bottle
and worked it into his fur very thoroughly. The dog at this
point seemed to be doing better, so we packed up our gear,
the other dogs and headed for an area where we might find
some raccoons. Time now about 10:00.
We arrived at the ranch and let all the terriers out for
a walk, including my little skunked friend. He seemed to be
acting normal and except for the very bad smell you could
almost not tell anything had happened. We bolted a couple of
rabbits hiding in an old shed and enjoyed watching the
little white hunters streak back and forth for about 3 to 5
minutes having a good sporting chase. My fragrant little
friend was right out there with the rest of them apparently
having no problems at this time with either breathing or
running.
Our day continued on for a good while, driving to some
badger sets, although not being able to either locate one or
catch up with one while he out dug our best efforts. The
dogs all had a wonderful time running to their hearts
content, taking in alot of sunshine, and just generally
enjoying being the energetic terriers they are in the
outdoors. Looking back at the whole day I feel very
fortunate that the outcome at that first fox set was not
much more tragic. I can not emphasize enough how important
it is to be prepared for any possible scenario which may
occur while out hunting. The most obvious mistake that we
had made was not switching the tracking collar to my terrier
when we had entered him. Fortunately for both him and us we
were able to get to him within just a few minutes. I really
feel certain that if he had been another 10 feet into the
tunnel, that because of our inability to have an accurate
location to dig to he would have died before we reached him.
Approximately 2 to 3 days after the encounter with the
skunk he began showing signs of little sores or ulcers
breaking out along the edge of his lips. He also began
suffering from diarrhea. Both of these additional symptoms
began to clear up right away fortunately and now are all but
gone. At the time of this writing which is 10 days after the
incident he looks and acts perfectly normal and apparently
has suffered no serious ill effects from the spraying. The
purpose in writing this is to once again reemphasize the
potentially serious outcome of an encounter between the
common North American Skunk and our Jack Russell Terriers.
We have all seen articles in True Grit from time to time
talking about this problem, but like myself, maybe you
tended to not pay close enough attention to them. I hope for
the sake of your dogs and the emotional stress that you
would experience due to the untimely death of your terrier
that you heed this article and others like it.
Michael Bilbo |
