Roomie Petting Baby Skunk

My family actually once had a skunk for a pet. My father found it while mowing our massive lawn. He had accidentally run over the nest, and the little guy was the only survivor. He was about four weeks old and my father's guilt was so great that he decided to nurture it back to health.

He was taken to a vet, purchased baby animal formula and when he was old enough, he was fixed and de-scented. He was very much like a cat in our house. In fact he used the litter like our cat, played with our cat and spent most of his days snoozing on the back of the couch in the sunlight.

However, he had a job in our home. My mother loathes salesmen and other solicitors. When she would hear a car pull into our driveway she would pluck Pepe (Yes, my dad named him Pepe-Le-Pew, very creative, I know) up off of his spot on the couch and plop him on the sun porch. Needless to say, most of the solicitors who approached our porch, if they were observant enough, quickly returned to their cars and left without knocking. The other, well, they left in a hurry too, but probably had some wet seats as they screeched out of the driveway.