Why?!?!?!?

[Guest firegypsy]

Paladin caught and mauled a skunk tonight. TONIGHT. The first day of school is TOMORROW. He stinks to high heaven and Darby isn't much better. PLEASE tell me how to get rid of this smell!

[Guest herbsofmine]

Try tomato juice, it neutralizes the odor.

[KF_in_Georgia]

Paladin caught and mauled a skunk tonight. TONIGHT. The first day of school is TOMORROW. He stinks to high heaven and Darby isn't much better. PLEASE tell me how to get rid of this smell!

 

Hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and dish washing liquid. Proportions are here.

 

General opinion these days is that tomato juice just results in a stinky dog that's pink.

[Guest firegypsy]

Try tomato juice, it neutralizes the odor.

 

did vinegar, did tomato juice. Nada. It smells like burnt skunk.

 

I just did baking soda, peroxide and dish soap. Still smells horrid. I'm so sad for my kids. It's a new school, its the first day and they're going to smell like skunk. I'm ready to cry.

[OwnedBySummer]

Tomato juice doesn't work. Try this:

 

This was written by a greyhound owner on another forum and she knows her stuff.

 

Oh No! It was a skunk!

Don’t wait until you can smell it, be prepared.

 

Have a bath area in mind - preferably outside, but the garage or basement may be better if it is late at night, the bugs are looking for you and you need some light!

 

Have your de-skunk kit assembled and at hand - you don’t want your dog following you through the house while you search for it.

 

Now the fun begins! If you have a clothes peg, you may want to use it.

 

1. Put on the rubber gloves or every time your hands get wet, you’ll wish you had.

2. If you are going to have to clean the dog’s face, put a couple of drops of mineral oil in his eyes to protect them in case the solution splashes.

3. Mix the peroxide (1 L), baking soda (1/4 cup) and dog shampoo, but if you don’t have that, use dish soap (1 tsp) and lukewarm water in the pail.

4. Do NOT wet the whole dog, you do not want to spread the scent all over! Skunk spray is oily, you should be able to see where your dog got hit. Using a sponge or wash cloth massage the solution on the parts that got sprayed. Allow the solution to remain on at least 10 minutes, but not too much longer. Rinse with lukewarm water. Repeat, repeat, repeat until the smell is gone!

 

*NOTE If your dog is black, you may see his coat lighten or redden from the peroxide. It will return to normal once it grows out.

 

De-skunk Kit

 

Pail

Rubber gloves

Mineral oil and an eye dropper

3% hydrogen peroxide (have at least 1 L, extra would be better!)

baking soda & measuring cup (only need 1/4 cup, so a small box is enough)

liquid soap (only need 1 tsp, so small bottle is enough)

Sponge or wash clothes (you’ll be discarding them)

Old towels (in case you don’t get ALL the smell out - you won’t want to be using these towels again!)

 

Replace the peroxide and baking soda annually, you don’t want to find out there is no fizz when you need it most!

[tbhounds]

Just want to say sorry-- been there many times I know how awful it is!!!

[Guest firegypsy]

Tomato juice doesn't work. Try this:

 

This was written by a greyhound owner on another forum and she knows her stuff.

 

Oh No! It was a skunk!

Don’t wait until you can smell it, be prepared.

 

Have a bath area in mind - preferably outside, but the garage or basement may be better if it is late at night, the bugs are looking for you and you need some light!

 

Have your de-skunk kit assembled and at hand - you don’t want your dog following you through the house while you search for it.

 

Now the fun begins! If you have a clothes peg, you may want to use it.

 

1. Put on the rubber gloves or every time your hands get wet, you’ll wish you had.

2. If you are going to have to clean the dog’s face, put a couple of drops of mineral oil in his eyes to protect them in case the solution splashes.

3. Mix the peroxide (1 L), baking soda (1/4 cup) and dog shampoo, but if you don’t have that, use dish soap (1 tsp) and lukewarm water in the pail.

4. Do NOT wet the whole dog, you do not want to spread the scent all over! Skunk spray is oily, you should be able to see where your dog got hit. Using a sponge or wash cloth massage the solution on the parts that got sprayed. Allow the solution to remain on at least 10 minutes, but not too much longer. Rinse with lukewarm water. Repeat, repeat, repeat until the smell is gone!

 

*NOTE If your dog is black, you may see his coat lighten or redden from the peroxide. It will return to normal once it grows out.

 

De-skunk Kit

 

Pail

Rubber gloves

Mineral oil and an eye dropper

3% hydrogen peroxide (have at least 1 L, extra would be better!)

baking soda & measuring cup (only need 1/4 cup, so a small box is enough)

liquid soap (only need 1 tsp, so small bottle is enough)

Sponge or wash clothes (you’ll be discarding them)

Old towels (in case you don’t get ALL the smell out - you won’t want to be using these towels again!)

 

Replace the peroxide and baking soda annually, you don’t want to find out there is no fizz when you need it most!

 

 

tried it, it didn't work! And my HOUSE smells terrible now too. I've showered, dh has showered, dogs have been bathed about 8 times each and the smell is horrendous.

 

How likely is it that WE will smell tomorrow? I know the dogs still will...but I'm not going to be able to tell how badly we smell. Dh and I have to work and kids are going to school. Should I just march them to the nurses office for a smell check? They've been in bed the whole time, but the smell is in the house.

[OwnedBySummer]

I've been TOLD it works. I checked with someone and she said that it may not have worked for you because you did other things first. Damn. I keep a bottle of store-bought skunk stuff around all the time but I can't confirm if that works, either, because I've never had to use it.

 

I would guess the kids would be all right as long as they don't get close to the dogs. I hope they are older kids so they can shower, shampoo and take off right away!

[GeorgeofNE]

It's not the end the world! This happened to me too, ironically the first day I started night school for a CIS certificate and I survived both the smell and the embarassment.

 

I sat in the back of the classroom (unlike your children, who I assume have had no involvement whatsoever with the clean up, I had to take care of the dog!), and the professor said, "Come on down here and join us!" and I said, "Uhm, well, you see...my dog got skunked today, and I stink!" and the class had a laugh, and that was that.

 

I've never known tomato juice to actually work, although it's constantly recommended.

 

They make commerical skunk odor removers--not sure what's in them--but that's what worked on my dog.

[Guest BrianRke]

Ugh! I would try some of the skunk odor remover from a pet store. I would also burn incense in my house. I bought some in Bali a few years ago that will cover up the smell of ANYTHING.

[joejoesmom]

I live in the country and have dealt with skunkings many, many times.

 

It is important not to use tomato juice or vinegar. In my experience, using anything but the peroxide mix, sets the smell and then the peroxide mix does not work.

 

At this point, you will probably need to wait until the smell wears off. Be sure to get rid of the collar your dog was wearing. As for your clothes, you can try using the peroxide mix but you may have to burn or throw away your clothes. You can also use the peroxide mix on yourself, your hair and all the tile and hard surfaces in the bathroom where you bathed him.

 

If you got all the oil off of him, he probably won't contaminate your rug. To be safe though, you might want to confine him to hard surface areas that you can deskunk with the peroxide mix.

 

For future reference:

 

I have found that you need to bathe the dog in the deskunking mixture within an hour of him getting sprayed. Actually, the sooner the better. I always keep the ingredients on hand. One time I was out of ingredients and it was 1 am. By the time that I got back from the all night grocery store it was past the one hour mark and the solution didn't quite get it done.

 

Warm water seems to work better than cold water from the hose. I can get warm water from my laundry tub to the outside, so if it isn't really cold, I do the first bath outside. Mix 1 quart of peroxide (3%) with 1 teaspoon of dish washing detergent (any detergent I think would work, just don't use soap). Add 1/4 cup baking soda and use immediately. Use a sponge to thoroughly soak the area where the skunk musk hit (it will be oily). Be very careful around the dogs eyes. Let stand for at least 5 minutes (10 is better but it might bleach a black dog). Rinse thoroughly with hot water (the hottest temperature that feels good to you). Repeat on the dogs whole body. Rinse very thoroughly.

 

I add an extra step from other people. I then make a lather using mint flavored baking soda and peroxide toothpaste. Just put the paste in your hand and rub it into the dogs coat. Let sit again for 5 to 10 minutes and rinse thoroughly. Now you should have a minty fresh, slightly skunky dog.

 

Be sure to throw away the dogs collar. You can also try soaking the dog's collar in some of the peroxide solution, but it may not work.

 

I have tried all of the deskunking solutions carried by my local pet stores (as of about 4 years ago) -- none of them worked any better than the peroxide solution and most of them didn't work as well.

 

By the way, my all-time deskunking week was 14 deskunkings (counting the different dogs each as one) over a 6 day period. Not a good week.

 

Jane

[duncan41]

Is Odormute still on the market? It was a wonderful product, but I am in agreement; once the dog is wet, the stink may be there for the duration. In another life, I had a dog that killed a skunk! I have to tell you, that takes the odor to an entirely different galaxy! OH EM GEE! Lived in MI at the time, it was fall, so all the windows in the house were left open, but it still took 3 or 4 days before the smell went away - in the house. The dog..............well, his face had lingering traces of the aroma for several months.

[onrushpam]

Jane's advice is sound. It works. And, you can use the "destink" solution on yourselves and the kids.

 

But, if the dog has been in the house, you will have a challenge removing the odor from anything that's been touched by the stink.

 

Absolutely get rid of the collar.

 

I feel for ya! We had to destink my sister's dog so they could load her up in the car for a two day drive!

[Houndtime]

Nature's Miracle makes a skunk odor removing product. I won some of it in raffle basket and never thought I would use it. Well, we did and it worked. You dog will smell like skunk everytime he gets wet for months. Sorry. I like that toothpaste recipe. I had to have Stanley Steemer come and clean our carpets. When I opened the door, the carpet cleaners asked, who died in our house.

[kikibean]

I've heard vinegar douche works.

 

Luckily I've never had to try it out.