Do dingy stripes on a skunk indicate a health problem?

Question

I have a one month old brown skunk and noticed that his stripes are slightly yellow and he is very skinny (I can feel all of his bones). I feel that petting him might be hurting him because he is so small. I am assuming that he probably wasn't eating right at the store I bought him at. I am wondering if anyone knows the diet I should be feeding him so that he can gain some weight at a healthy rate and get whatever nutrient(s) that are causing the dingy stripes.

Answer 1

What is very concerning as the the fact that you can feel his bones! He's most likely malnourished due to improper feeding. Here is what to feed a skunk of that age.

From 4 to 8 weeks of age, your baby skunk should be fed 4 meals a day as much as it can eat at one time. This is the time of very rapid growth and it needs a good food supply to get up and going on the right track.

Offer a wide variety of vegetables, such as squash, mushrooms, peas, corn, and a few bites of fruit. At this age, chop the food rather small, maybe into 1/4 inch cubes. Offer low-fat cottage cheese mixed with the vegetables once a day, low-fat yogurt mixed at another meal and maybe finely chopped boiled chicken for supper. A late night snack could maybe be 5 or 6 raisins and a few pieces of popcorn. Be creative and feed a broad spectrum of foods for a happy, healthy skunk.

DO NOT EVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, FEED CAT FOOD OF ANY KIND, UNLESS ADVISED TO DO SO BY YOUR VET.

All skunks should receive a daily FeloBit vitamin; however, DO NOT USE Aviatron Liquid Vitamins for your skunk. Linatone Plus should be given daily to prevent a D-3 deficiency. Introduce vegetables into your skunk's diet as soon as possible. At birth, a skunk weighs about one ounce and then grows very rapidly. It does not stay a baby very long. Therefore, it does not need to be on baby food or formula for more than 8 weeks. If it is kept on a high protein, high fat diet for very long, your skunk's long-term stay in your life could be endangered.

90% of a skunk's diet, regardless of age, should consist of vegetables. The remaining 10% should consist of fruits, low-fat cottage cheese, low-fat yogurt and either (feed only one at a time, they do not need all three at one meal) boiled chicken, water-packed fish or dog food. They may have certain sweets in small amounts occasionally but NEVER chocolate. Do not feed tuna as mercury poisining may occour.

There is a lot of information available by searching for "skunk pets" or something similiar on the web. Skunks require very specific care.