What to do if your pet gets skunked

Long before the term “gig economy” became common lingo, pet owners were slipping neighbor k ids a few bucks to walk their dogs. Years before apps, they were call- ing the local, mom-and-pop doggy day care to watch their pooc hes during the family vacation.

These days, those services are just as likely to be provided by national companies with names like Rover or Wag — Uber-like operations headquartered in the tech-forward West and now ensconced in a blossoming canine commerce designed to make sure the dog-walker or weekend pet-sitter is but a few clicks away.

But that hardly means the services are remote. The kid down the street or the momand-pop shop might well be at the other end of that click. As independent contractors under the banner of the big boys,s ome local providers are now supplementing their incomes while boosting the bottom lines of the companies, which take a cut of dogwalkers’ fees.

Emily Pickup was hired by Rover earlier this year. The Tampa, Florida, resident was already doing some work for a local pet-care company, and handling a few dog walk- ing gigs on her own, while holding down a full-time job at a property management company. After completing a background check and creating a personal profile, she was ready to book gigs. As all Rover hirees do, she set her own prices — $12 for a 30-minute walk, plus $5 for each additional dog - and paid Rover its 20 percent commission.

Soon Pickup, 30, was taking three to six appointments and pocketing $30 to $50 a week.

“It’s a great side job to make some extra cash pretty easily,” she said. “And since I love animals, it’s just something fun to do that I get paid for.”

Neither Wag nor Rover, both private companies, discloses their earnings. But dogs are big business, and apps for

Veterinarian Gary Ryder says it’s one of the most common phone calls he receives at his emergency room practice: What do you do when your pet gets sprayed by a skunk?

Before offering advice, Ryder first wants to dispel the myth that tomato juice will remove the awful smell. “They don’t work very well,” Ryder said of the cans of cocktail juice. “And then you end up with a dog that smells like skunks and tomato soup.” Instead of tomato juice, Ryder recommends mixi ngabatchofthe following solution and rub- bing it into your pet’s fur as soon as possible: 1 quart hydrogen peroxide 1/4 cup baking soda 1 tablespoon dish soap; he recommends using Dawn

This can be a messy process, so wear clothes that you don’t mind staining, and protective gloves are helpful.

If possible, try to let the mixture stay on your pet for about 10 to 15 minutes before rinsi ngitoff.A lthough your pet is likely to be dis-

MEMORIALIZE YOUR PET

Doyouhaveabelovedpet that has passed away? You can honor a pet with Pet Memorial to be printed in the newspaper on our Pet them have attracted big startup funds. The Seattle-based Rover says it made $100 million in bookings last year and has more than 200 employees, not including the sprawl- ing network of walkers and sitters. After debuting in Los Angeles, Wag expanded into San Francisco and New York and has rolled out 25 more markets in the summer. A Canadian company, GoFetch, sees the potential and is look- ing at “aggressive expansion plans,” into the United States, said its chief executive Willson Cross.

Longtime observers of the pet market say demand for such services was all but inevitable.

“That’s j ust the world we live in now,” said Marty Becker, a veterinarian and prolific pet book author known for appearances on “Good Morning America.” “People are used to using apps in their daily lives. This includes everything to do with our pets, from findin gapet sitter to managing their pet’s health records.”

Both Wag and Rover started, perhaps not surpris- ingly, with a dog story. Wag co-founder Jason Meltzer was running a popular - and very conventional - dog-walking outfit when a bonkers-busy tech entrepreneur named Joshua Viner contacted him in 2014 with a tale of pining for his childhood dog, Brit- tany, and also realizing he was too busy for a pooch. But that gave him an idea.

“Uber had had a lot of success, and the on-demand mar- ketplace was growing in pop- ularity,” M eltzer recalled. “And he thought, ‘If I have something l ikethis,Icould tressed during the process, the longer it is on, the more it will help break down the components of skunk gland secretions.

The dish soap is especially important, as it will break down the skunk’s oil-based spray, which is composed mostly of compounds called thiols.

If an animal has been sprayed in the face, it will often rub its eyes against the ground to try to remove the painful irritations.

Ryder, who fields pet questions on the Q&A website JustAnswers, recommends Spot page. The memorial will include a photo. For more information, call 937-223-1515 or email coh. classified@coxinc.com. have a dog, too.’”

Vinerfigured there must be other super-swamped people who a lso wanted a canine companion. Not long after, the Wag app went live.

Rover’s genesis was similar. Co-founder Greg Gottes- man’s family dog, Ruby, came back with kennel cough after being boarded. That bad expe- rience and the coincidental success of Airbnb convinced him and fellow co-founder Philip Kimmey that the ondemand market for doggy ser- vices was out there, barking to be heard. Rover has since acquired companies includ- ing the dog-walking app Zingy and home-boarding business Dog Vacay, helping build a network that Kimmey says exceeds 100,000 sitters.

But this rapidly changing pet care landscape is draw- ing scrutiny from veterans in the field, such as Patti Moran, who in 1993 founded Pet Sitters International, a North Carolina-based educational association that offers a cer- tification for professional pet sitters. Moran said the advent of Wag and Rover reminds her of that era, when profession- als monitored “hobbyists” who would sometim espost fliers in neighborhoods, rais- ing concerns about the newcomers’ proficiency.

“When a ‘pet-sitter’ or ‘dog- walker’ can be found in one click, it’s vital that pet owners understand that not everyone that has an online profile is a reputable qualified pet-care professional,” Moran said in an email. “It’s essential that convenience not override quality and technology not undermine professionalism.”

Last month, a South Flor- ida CBS television affiliate rinsing the eyes with a saline solution — either contact solution, artificial tears or eye wash. Make sure to wash your pet’s mouth with cool w atertoo. When to see an expert “If you notice severe leth- argy, pale gums or labored breathing, then get to a vet right away,” Ryder said. “While rare, anaphylactic reactions to being skunked is possible. These can poten- reported that a Yorkshire terrier was killed by another dog, a chocolate Lab, in the home of a Boca Raton sitter — a Rover location. The sitter did not have a countyrequired permit to board animals. County officials shut down the boarding business and fined the sitter.

This wasn’t an isolated incident. A poodle was fatally mauled in North Hollywood, in 2015, and a dog drowned while in a pet sitter’s care in Las Vegas earli erthisyear. Both dogs were in those homes as Rover bookings. Also in 20115, a Brooklyn Chi- huahua nam edDuck ie slipped away from the Wag walker, went missing for several days and was s ubsequently run o verandkilled.

Spokesmen for both comp anies say sitte rsarecarefully vetted before hiring, and they described the incidents as isolated tragedies. Rover has booked “millions of ser- vices,” spokeswoman Brandie Gonzales said, adding “while situations like [these deaths] are extremely rare, we take them very seriously.”

The unfavorable publicity so far appears to have done l ittled amage to services that target both a growing pet pop- ulation and an increasingly busy human one. Many Rover customers have turned to the service after their traditional solution fell through - and then they “develop this relationship with [the Rover sitter] they wouldn’t otherwise have met,” Kimmey said.

That’s how it worked for Cathryn Michon, a screenwriter and director in Venice, Calif. She and her husband were planning to bring their dog, Tucker, to an event, but decided at the 11th hour to leave him home. They went on the Rover app, booked a sitter on short notice for the night and became instant converts, she said.

“We have loved it, and used it a few times since, when we know we’re going to some big, long event and don’t want to leave him alone that long,” Michon, 46, said. “They would text and send photos or videos of how Tucker’s doing throughout the evening. We still use them. It’s a great resource.” tially be fatal.”

Some of Ryder’s fello wv ets at JustAnswer also offered this advice:

What about products?

Ve ter inari an M ich a el Salkin recommends Skunk Off Shampoo and Nature’s Miracle Skunk Odor Remover. (If you have skunks in your neighborhood, you might want to stock up no wb efore the worst happens.)

Any advice for keeping skunks at bay?

Veterinarian Roy Cruzen says “skunks operate in twilight, dusk and dawn, inconveniently when we are most likely to be out walking our dogs,” so you might want to consider changing your walking schedule or when you allow your pets outside.

He said you can also discourage skunks from coming around by never leaving out dog or cat food and minimizing the amount of seed spilled from your bird feeders — these are like skunk buffets. commercial

Our yard backs up to a small woods. Lots of furry animals live in those woods.

Squirrels, chipmunks, and raccoons a rec ommon guests. They climb between the fence posts to the grass undern eathmy husband’s bird feeders.

Ed has four different feeders where wrens, cardinals, and woodpeckers dine daily.

We like to sit on our deck and w atchthis menagerie. So does Teddy. We watch for the entertainment value. Teddy watches for the sport.

I’m not a “sporting” person, but it’s inbred in Teddy. I don’t l ikeitand I don’t want him getting hurt.

The black lab can fly off our deck and be at the corner end of yard, about 80 feet away, in seconds.

We also have an opossum living under the same wooden deck.

Two years ago, when Teddy first joined our family,hehadaru n-in with an opossum.

The pooch won. We’re not sure what happened. Teddy looked fine. The opossum did too.

No bite marks. No blood. No scratch marks.

I prefer to think that the opossum died from fright.

So what to do with the new opossum?

I don’t want Teddy hurt. I don’t want the opossum hurt either.

We could humanly relocate the opossum, but it won’t stop other animals from entering our yard.

The backyard has a multitude of trees for squirrels to climb to avoid the pooch, so I’m not as concern for the nut eaters.

Now before I let Teddy out I look for the opossum. Any raccoons, skunks, or other furry animals, too. And yes, this makes me a worrier. It’s in my genes. My mom and sister both worry.

Ed, and my daughter, Jordan, sa yI ’m a gigantic worrier.

When it comes to my family, both human and furry, I wear that descriptor proudly.

Years ago, Ed and I were visiting my mentor and his wife, Ray and Tish Wagner.

They had a beautiful three-story l og home in Athens, Ohio, and our first dog, a Miniature Schnau-

FUN FACTS ABOUT FLYING SQUIRRELS

They glide, not fly. They can store up to 15,000 nuts in one season. They are friendly with each other. They frequently feed and den together. zer, Mocha was with us.

All of us, including Ray and Tish’s daughter, Christina were relaxing on their second-story deck.

It was fall and the view from the deck was beautiful.

Mocha pranced back and forth on the deck. She movedcloselytotheedge andpeereddownwatching the squirrels scurry around.

My worry gene kicked in.

“Mocha is going jump.” Isaid. “No, she’s not.” Ed said. “Mocha’s going to jump.” I said again.

Ray laughed, patting Mocha on the head. “I don’t think so.”

This conversation went on for several minutes.

The salt-and-pepper Schnauzer didn’t wait for the conversation to end.

Mocha glided off the deck doing her best flying squirrel imitation.

All of us sat stunned. I didn’t want to look down.

Fortunately, the fallen leaves that blanketed the ground below cushioned her landing. Other than muddy paws, Mocha was fine. I was shaking. Mocha shook it off as if nothing happened. The poochwasevenannoyed at having her paws cleaned off.

So do I feel justified worrying about Teddy and the opossum or any other furry creatures in our yard meeting each other?

Big time.