Help!!! Dog ATTACKED by skunk! 2nd UPDATE post 18

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Karrie13

Karrie13

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My sons yellow lab was just attacked by a skunk... I mean attacked not sprayed. I have never seen anything like it. She was inside her kennel and wok me up barking and growling. I went outside to see what was going on and the thing was chasing and spraying her. I can only assume it is rabid, though I haven't heard of any rabies in the area. I woke up my husband who dispatched the skunk as it was latched onto Troopers leg. It did bite her several times. There was blood. We bagged the body and moved the dog but havent treated yet. I googled and found that if it is rabid to not touch the fur for at least 2 hours. Has anyone heard of a non rabid skunk getting into a dog kennel that didn't have any dog food in it and attacking a dog? PLEASE SAY YES??? Her rabies vaccine has lasped.
 
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take her to the vet asap. How far lapsed is the dog? The vet may be able to do an antibody titer test to see if the vac is still active..... I think it takes 10 days of waiting to see if your dog has contracted rabies. Hopefully your dog will be ok.

I think the vaccines for rabies and other shots last far longer than we're lead to believe.

You'll need to send the skunk in for testing as well.
 
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I would for sure suspect rabies. How old id the dog and how many rabies vacs has she had? They are effective for much longer then is recommended by vets, and as stated above they can do a test to check her levels, the more vacs she has had over the years the better in this case. I would take her to the vet asap and start a course of action. Take the dead skunk they will have to send it off for testing.
 
oh geez, you need to alert animal control, or the health dept immediately. Rush that dog to the vet NOW to be given her shots again and treated for the bites, they can get infected quickly, and what ever you do, be on high alert for more problems with wildlife. There have been a bunch of rabid animals in our area already this spring, cats, raccooons, foxes and skunk are the ones that I can remember!!

PLEASE keep us posted on her condition and the skunks results
 
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What everyone else said.


Hopefully the skunk just got into the kennel looking for food not aware that your dog was sleeping there. When your dog was awakened the fight started.

Keeping my fingers crossed for your dog!
 
Your dog is probably fine, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association, dogs do not need to be vaccinated every year or even every 3 years, their immunity can last many years or even a life time if vaccinated properly in the beginning. Of course, you should seek vet attention to treat the wounds and follow your vets advice, but try not to panic, I think you should be ok.

I would say you are right though, sounds like the skunk was definitely rabid.
 
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The skunk was IN the kennel, which meant it was trapped in an enclosure with the dog. A fight is precisely what I'd expect to have happen in that situation. Why did the skunk go into the kennel? I dunno...why do skunks do anything they do? May simply have been investigating. Thing is, if it had the wherewithal to be spraying the dog -- as a skunk in its right mind would NORMALLY do -- I'd say there's a fair chance it was perfectly fine.

I guess what I'm saying is that nothing in the story strikes me as particularly strange or unusual..

And if your dog has been vaccinated anytime in the last 3 years at the very least, he'd be protected even if the dang skunk was rabid. As others have mentioned, the vaccination probably lasts much, much longer than 3 years anyway.. Ever hear of anyone going in for their yearly tetanus vaccination? Of course not...

Now...the dog WILL NEED ANTIBIOTICS or he'll almost certainly get a nasty infection. And, so far as not touching the fur or whatever....I can understand that as a precaution, but those wounds need to be flushed, and soon. If he were here, I'd probably just put on some latex exam gloves or those big yellow cleaning gloves or something and get some betadine in those holes ASAP.. And then I'd start him on an antibiotic...amoxicillin if I had it, but if not, Naxcel/Excenel, or even Tetracycline or PenG in a pinch..

I have all that stuff on hand on account of raising goats, though...most folks don't.

We actually had something similar happen the other day, but instead of dog vs. skunk, it was our dog vs. our other dog(s).. Two came out with gaping wounds, which we cleaned and flushed with betadine. We still had a ton of amoxicillin oral suspension from when one of the cats needed it, so the little dog got 5ml (250mg...10mg/lb) of that, twice a day.. The other dog...
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...I had to crack open a $35 vial of Naxcel for her, of which she recieved 1.5ml/day injected SQ, for five days.

Both are perfectly fine now...wounds are scabbed over, and nobody's worse for the wear.

If I hadn't basically had to become a veritable "country vet" over the last few years on account of these fricken goats, though...well, I'd have paid a vet to do pretty much what we did.
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Long and short...with or without rabies (most likely without, I'd say)...there's still work to be done. If you can't do it, get him to a vet ASAP.
 
I think the major problem here isn't that the dog might not be protected from an expired vaccine, but in our state it is MANDATORY for all animals to be vaccinated. I can imagine most states are the same. Her dog will most likely be quarantined. They probably should send the skunk in for a necropsy to check for rabies. Bad situation.
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Here animal control will test the animals brain if it has attacked something. they do this because for every rabid you find, there is more out there. And it is ALWAYS fatal, but you can still get doggie vaccinated.
Skunks are one of the most rabid animals there are, I would not be taking any chances.
 
take the dog to the vet NOW and bring the skunk. if it was or was not rabid you need to know right away. plus if it was not rabid, and your dog acts weird after the antibiotics you may save your dog from being put down unnecessarily.
 

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