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Title: The Skunk and Flaming Cats Christmas, UPDATE! Post by Cathi04 on Dec 26th, 2006, 4:31pm Ok, looking back, I am beginning to laugh now. We have been fighting a skunk who wants to take up residence in our crawlspace for a month or so, now. He has been fighting for this spot with an opossum who wishes to keep warm here as well. We have blocked points of entry, used a reccomended concoction of Murphy's Oil soap, detergent and human urine, spraying that around the perimeter, hired a trapper(who takes weekends off) and yet he returns. 5 times in the last month, around 3am, I am awakened by a burning sensation in my eyes, and a horrendously foul odor......always when the traps are down. We caught the opossum, and the trapper took him back into the wild, but the skunk eludes us. Christmas Day, we were having a fairly large crowd over. I didn't want the house to smell funky, and quite frankly, after a month of dealing with the odor, I'm not certain that we can smell the odor if it's lingering, so, leading up to Christmas, I aired out the house a LOT, and augmented with candles. This is something we never do, since we have 4 cats. Candles and cat tails just don't work together very well-BUT, as a means to an end....... As an extra measure, on Christmas, I lit one in each bathroom.........well, one of our cats is a 22# pure white, almost albino persian. His name is Phantom, as he is so quiet when approaching, but when he has arrived, he will make such a ruckus, it is frightening! When speaking on the phone to someone he is known to catch us off-guard, beginning to howl, and invariably, the person on the other end of the phone thinks I'm killing the cat! Phantom is deaf......but he is not dumb.....orr mute...whatever.. he is, however deaf and stupid!! He decided to jump up on the bathroom counter right before our guests began to arrive, wagged his huge, fluffy tail......and....... Gil went into our bedroom and immediately called to me in a panic... the bedroom was smoky. I checked the damper on the fireplace, it was open......I could find NOTHING amiss.....we went about our business, till I popped into our bedroom once again, and found Phantom on our bed, shaking like a leaf, his tail charred almost to the root! He had run, tail on fire, from the bathroom, thru the doorway, into our bedroom, behind our bed......past my sheer silk swags on the windows, and across our bed, tail ablaze!!! We found evidence of charred fur in the bathroom, bedroom, behind the bed...... till, I guess he finally remembered to stop, drop and roll.....he was still smoking a bit when I found him. I grabbed him in my arms, and Gil and I proceeded to check the tail, cutting off all the fur, shaking like leaves.....Phantom began to kiss me, purring the entire time, then fell asleep in my arms..I thought for a minute he was dead, overcome by shock or something. He is 17-odd yrs old. I am thrilled to report, aside from his embarrasment over his tail, he is perfectly fine. The house no longer smells like skunk........it smells like burned fur...........which, I assure you is much worse! Consequences averted...... Very badly charred cat, with medical issues Dead cat.... Torched house, and subsequent Christmas Brunch in local hotel...... Secure in the knowledge that house and cat are fine- priceless...... Recovering our sense of humor and moving on to enjoy the day......again, priceless! NO residual consequences at all........ I do have a whole bunch of candles to give away for the asking! Hope yours was great! Cathi, and Phantom, less 1 life........ **********************UPDATE*************** We are thrilleed to announce that we have found a solution to our skunk issue......... It seems skunks hate the smell of singed cat, and, as long as we can keep that scent in the air, they seems to be staying away! |
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Title: Re: The Skunk and Flaming Cats Christmas Post by Guiseppi on Dec 26th, 2006, 4:47pm Hokay....I challenge ANYONE to one up Cathis' Christmas! [smiley=laugh.gif] Guiseppi |
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Title: Re: The Skunk and Flaming Cats Christmas Post by Linda_Howell on Dec 26th, 2006, 6:32pm Elaines stories could usually one up that.... but she's already said she had a nice day with no one arrested, no one heading for the ER, no one stuck in the mud, etc. So Cathi I would have to say that you, my friend...are the winner of the (yet to be named) award. shaking my head. |
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Title: Re: The Skunk and Flaming Cats Christmas Post by chewy on Dec 26th, 2006, 6:42pm Sounds like you had one hot............never mind. |
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Title: Re: The Skunk and Flaming Cats Christmas Post by Charlie on Dec 26th, 2006, 8:52pm http://www.netsync.net/users/charlies/gifs/Mondeiu Smiley.gif Nope. Can't beat this one! Charlie |
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Title: Re: The Skunk and Flaming Cats Christmas Post by purpleydog on Dec 27th, 2006, 3:45am Thank goodness the cat is ok! I hope the skunk kept it's distance. Merry Christmas, Cathi! |
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Title: Re: The Skunk and Flaming Cats Christmas Post by zwibbs/Scott on Dec 27th, 2006, 5:46am Phantom is deaf......but he is not dumb.....orr mute...whatever.. he is, however deaf and stupid!! Somehow I can picture this being YOUR cat. :P |
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Title: Re: The Skunk and Flaming Cats Christmas Post by sailpappy on Dec 27th, 2006, 6:13am ;;D ;;D Sorry, I don't mean to take pleasure in your misfortune, but at this time of the morning your story has just set the mood for the day! I can just picture your poor cat freaking out, tail blazing and even the odor that permiated the room from the burnt hair! Sounds like a Garfield episode! Pretty funny stuff I must say. Thanks for sharing, sure made my day seem mondane. Pappy |
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Title: Re: The Skunk and Flaming Cats Christmas Post by taraann on Dec 27th, 2006, 6:19am Ok now THAT was funny! I awwwwed the poor kitty but then couldn't help but laugh regardless! Hey switch to smelly sprays and plug in air freshners ;) |
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Title: Re: The Skunk and Flaming Cats Christmas Post by nani on Dec 27th, 2006, 10:39am Oh, poor Phantom! Poor Cathi and Gil! And...LMAO... [smiley=laugh.gif] Here's hoping that the skunk can't stand the smell of burnt fur, and moves away. hugs, nani |
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Title: Re: The Skunk and Flaming Cats Christmas Post by kimmiedawn81 on Dec 27th, 2006, 11:22am Oh my gosh! That's too funny! [smiley=laugh.gif] I'm sure at the time that it was WAY not funny. Glad that you can laugh about it now! -Kim |
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Title: Re: The Skunk and Flaming Cats Christmas Post by Cathi04 on Dec 27th, 2006, 11:59am For those of you who are feeling guilty about laughing at Phantom's unfortunate accident, please don't! It was quite frightening when it happened, but all is well, really! We were lucky, and, in retrospect, the visual of a flying, flaming cat can be funny! Of course, the history of this cat is quite funny. When we moved from CA to OR, I had placed our cats in carriers and tranquilized them. Phantom is pretty much at ease wherever he is, so, when we stopped in Redding for the night, he was the only one who actually ventured out of his carrier. The next morning, when my daughter and I were ready to complete our journey, Phantom was nowhere to be found! We searched the hotel grounds compltely, alerted housekeeping, everything we could think of! No cat. We called Gil, who was still in CA, finishing a project, told him we would be staying overnight, that we were certian, if the cat were still alive, he would NOT be out in the 115 deg heat, so we would rest till sunset, and continue searching after that. Told the desk to book us in for another night, and laid down on our beds where we sobbed!! About a half hour of this, and we were sobbed out, exhausted from our morning, so we lay quietly, waiting for sleep, thinking we might need to check a very busy street intersection on which this hotel fronted. A dire thought, but, that would be our plan at sunset. Our room, finally in total silence, we began to drift off to sleep, when we both heard a very plaintive cry....not, this cat is DEAF, but, when things settle down, he comes to life.......we threw the mattresses off our beds, and ,sure enough, he was resting in the underside of a box springs as if it were a hammock! He got up, streeeetched and looked at us, totally unaware of our devastation! Dana grabbed him from the box springs, raised both her hands up high in the air and took the cat for a 'victory lap" around the hotel, while I threw the other animals in the car....... imagine....he could've been left in that hotel room, for some unsuspecting new guest to find him......sometime later!!!!!!!!!! Yes, he IS deaf....but he is stupid too! Oh, and we love him dearly! Cathi-who is laughing, too! |
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Title: Re: The Skunk and Flaming Cats Christmas Post by kcopelin on Dec 27th, 2006, 9:43pm [smiley=laugh.gif] thanks Cathi, I needed that laugh. Glad all y'all are okay. I pray the craziness will slow down enough for you to jump off to San Diego for a few days! LY kathy |
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Title: Re: The Skunk and Flaming Cats Christmas Post by Woobie on Dec 28th, 2006, 12:44pm I am LMAO right now! Cathy - thank you for sharing that story!! that's classic! So How are you gonna get the skunk. ???????????? |
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Title: Re: The Skunk and Flaming Cats Christmas, UPDATE! Post by Cathi04 on Dec 31st, 2006, 12:48pm Woobie-dooo......... After a few months of setting traps, the trapper has declared us skunk-free, but that's only because he doesn't get that the skunk uses our place as his weekend getaway!! :-/ We haven't had any evidence of the skunk since Dec 23...maybe he went home for good, or, perhaps he is on Christmas Vacation! Either way, if he shows up again, I think we're ready for him! Personally, I think he hates the smell of singed cat! Cathi BTW- Phantom is doing just fine, and no longer smells!! |
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Title: Re: The Skunk and Flaming Cats Christmas, UPDATE! Post by Opus on Jan 1st, 2007, 9:51am Cathi, Have you tried moth balls? We use them to keep rats and mice out of things. Paul |
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Title: Re: The Skunk and Flaming Cats Christmas, UPDATE! Post by cathy on Jan 1st, 2007, 10:00am LMAO oh it's good to read something funny Cathi I loves ya.....so Jezzzeeebellll have ya been bitch slapped recently im officially gonna be the first in 07...!! :-* Happy New Year to you....x |
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Title: Re: The Skunk and Flaming Cats Christmas, UPDATE! Post by Cathi04 on Jan 1st, 2007, 11:04am LOL!! Listen here, Miss Fluffyknickers! You're gonna have be to be brighter than a dimbulb, if you're gonna bitch-slap me! :-* Happy New Year, Cathy, now, please, don't be such a stranger! Cathi(who spells it RIGHT!) :P |
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