Skunk Kit Death
The first year mortality rate is high with pet skunks, and I dread hearing about the kits that don’t make it. This morning I opened my email to discover a sad letter from someone I know, letting me know she lost her skunk kit sometime the night before. This owner has experience with skunks, other captive wildlife, and domestic pets and she is known to take excellent care of them. I called to find out the details of what happened and she has allowed me to share them in the hope of preventing another death. The owner got her baby at approximately 6 weeks old and has had him for about 5 weeks. He was slightly larger than the palm of a large hand and he weighed about 2 lbs. She recently purchased a new refrigerator that has a bottom mount freezer. The owner was unaware that this particular model has a gap on both sides when you open the bottom drawer of the freezer or she would have chosen a different style. This gap was large enough that a small animal could get inside the freezer on side that was not against the kitchen wall. The owner had company, a family member, staying with her. Sometime during the night, the family member took something out of the freezer, and put it in the refrigerator to defrost. The family member, is not used to captive wildlife, and was not aware that the little baby had climbed inside the freezer while […]
Inflammation in Pet Skunks
What is Inflammation? Inflammation is a condition caused by the swelling of any part of the body. Areas commonly affected in pet skunks are the limbs, joints, discs, and internal organs. Inflammation of the skin may occur if the skunk has an allergic reaction, has been bitten, or is injured. So what comes first, inflammation or the inflammatory condition? Inflammation can be a healthy body’s way of responding to an injury or illness. Inflammation occurs when the immune system has identified a problem and is attempting to correct it by sending in special cells that speed healing. For instance, if your skunk is injured, pain or swelling are actually signs that his immune system is working properly to heal the affected body part. A healthy skunk’s body should be able to correctly regulate the intensity of it’s response to the problem. Sometimes the body is not in optimal health and the immune system over reacts to the problem by not pulling back when the crisis is over. Healthy tissue may be affected by the body’s aggressive defense, possibly causing more damage than the original health issue. An example of this would be a skunk with a herniated disc. Immediately after the disc ruptures, the body starts trying to repair the damage. There is a crucial point where the repair work needs to end. If the body does not shut down the repair work at the correct time, the continued attempts can result in calcium deposits which may possibly fuse the […]