Skunk!!!

Every morning, my dog (you see where this is going already, don't you?) comes downstairs with me and goes outside for her morning routine. Today, wanted to come back in much sooner than usual, which surprised me a little.
As soon as I opened the door I knew something was wrong. Her eyes were like slits, she was licking her chops constantly, and it looked like something was wet on her face. And then it hit me. Like a giant load of incredibly foul smelling bricks.

Skunk!

So I'm staying home from work to handle this. My wife is staying home to help out, my son is trying to get through his work day, and I wound up picking up my daughters from school because the smell has attached to them as well!

I've done some internet diving for remedies and have been bathing the dog in a peroxide/baking soda/dishsoap mixtures every few hours, we've sprayed a vinegar solution on just about every square inch of the house too.

And it still smells like skunk in here. Or burning hair, I can't quite decide which.

So if any of you fine folks have a better solution, I am, as the saying goes, all ears!

My parents adopted a retired Greyhound (awesome dog) who would occasionally tangle with a skunk. They used tomato juice, I think.

EDIT: Quick search...

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"Does tomato juice get rid of skunk smell on dogs?

Bathing your dog in tomato juice may appear to get rid of the smell, but it’s really just masking it. The smelly oil is still stuck in your dog’s fur, even after a tomato juice bath. The only way to get rid of the oil in your dog’s fur is by chemically altering or neutralizing it."
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Oh well.

The vinegar, hydrogen peroxide and baking soda solution is mostly pretty effective, although there are some surfaces, like grass and porous materials, where its just not going to get it done.

You have to chemically neutralize the smell.

I once had the misfortune irritating a stink bug on a door handle. Oh my word what a smell! Horrible, the stench would not leave me, and I tried everything to remove it--peroxide, vinegar, detergent, soap, alcohol, nothing would work. What finally did the trick, though, was lemon juice. Strangely, the acidic composition of the juice neutralized the stench and within seconds after a good scrub and soak, it was gone.

Sucks Johnny but the generally accepted fix is what you did ,,Best not to bring a poor pup into the house when he was nailed ..When i take my buddy out I smell the air first.and never let him run loose in the morning always a leash,, at least you didn't get sprayed,,Good luck !!

As the owner of a really annoying cat, I can tell you the only way I believe there is to combat horrible biological smells is vinegar.
You said you sprayed it. DOUSE it. SOAK it. Let it sit, then wash it off.
Then do it again.
Then do it again.
Repetition is the key.

I've always heard the tomato juice remedy, but I just don't see it for something this severe.
The lemon juice sounds promising though. Maybe a combo, alternating?

Been a while, but I remember when I had a German Sheppard / Lab mix he tangled with a skunk. We tried everything. We finally ended up having at to take him into the vet. I forget what they did.

One thing I do remember is, after everything he still seemed to have bit of the smell on him. We couldn't figure it out. Finally we realized that his collar was still holding the smell. We got him a new one after that.

I feel for you (and your dog). Hope it works out soon.

Thanks all. Bringing her into the house was definitely a mistake, but that was a lesson hard learned.
We're covering everything in vinegar, dog is going on bath number 3 for the day after this post too.

Gonna give the lemon juice thing a go too, can't be worse than what we've got anway!

Hahahah!
I used to have a dog in the East Texas country, a fun loving German Shepherd named Salem.
Salem *loved* skunks! He would seek them out and felt it was like a badge of courage if he got sprayed.
That dog would be as happy as a cat in a birdcage after he got sprayed.
We just left Mr Stinky outside for a few days before that odor wore off.
The trick was to not let him drag up against you when you left the house.
Thankfully he was good with "Nooo!!" And "Stay!" Haha

My father had no sense of smell. As a young boy growing up in the 1930's he also liked to trap rabbits and have his mother fry them. One day he caught, unharmed, what he thought was a cat. It wasn't. They could smell him well before he reached the house on the way home with his new pet.

LOl F4 that's hilarious bet they didn't let him in the house

I had to deal with a dog that got sprayed a couple of months ago, surprisingly the dog cleaned up fairly easily but there were areas in the yard where it had rolled and scraped itself off after it initially got hit, that smelled for months afterward, this despite heavy rains and even a couple of snowfalls in that time.

At the old house Dad let the dog out for her before bed constitutional. Usually she was very quick to come back in so he went to look to see what was up. He sees her playing with a skunk as big as her (beagle/collie mix). He didn't know what to do as growing up in the country had a few dog-skunk experiences and didn't want to spook either. I say this because she was very property border protective. I guess she noticed Dad standing there and just turned away from the skunk and came in. The skunk wandered off. A big sigh of relief, be sure.

Leaving my friends house out in the country on the bike near dusk saw what I thought was a cat on the side of the road. As I got near, it moved out into the road. I moved over to the other side of the road and slowed down a bit. It was oblivious to my approach and kept crossing the road. So at 80kph just clipped it. I then noticed the unmistakable stink of skunk. Good thing it was a 45 minute ride home as most of the stink had gone when I arrived home. Found skunk hair in the foot peg. Dodge a big one and the bike had an aroma for almost a week.

Is a major shave possible for the dog or is it extremely short haired already? I would think that kind of a short cut if possible.

Bill, that WOULD happen to you. LOL

A shave is out of the question - she’s very skittish about being handled (she’s a rescue dog), she has to be sedated for vet visits. So far it’s been bath, bath, bath and more bath.
Bringing her into the house was definitely a mistake, the house is still skunky. Even our clothes are skunk smelling (I had to brought her to our room to alert my wife, another big error)

Gonna be a long couple of days to get it under control.

I can undestand that. My rescue is very skiddish about things. Storms, teenagers, people outside...
That vinegar works in the wash, btw. Pour a cup or two in there and let it soak, then wash. Just don't put bleach in with it or it creates a toxic gas or some reaction like that.
That's how we've had to deal with cat pee entirely too often with our half-feral cat.

I'll tell the wife about vinegar in the wash - she's been using baking soda. We picked up some stuff from Petco - "Nature's Miracle Skunk Odor Remover," that seems to be effective. We've sprayed it on the rugs, furniture, put it in the wash, and on the dog. It's been a long day, but it does seem to be better.

Or your sense of smell has been suppressed.

Not trying to make fun of your situation - unless you're a city dweller, we all know the stench of a skunk, but

With the news of 20mm passing...if you happen to wake up from a dream involving a flamethrower - he's channeling.
and trying to help ya.

:-)

I've been hearing about a product called Jingos that seems to get significant accolades by its users and among the list of offenses its advertised to tackle, skunk is one of them. This is supposed to be a scent and stain killer and not a masking product. If you were to purchase some I'd be interested to know if it helps your issue as it almost appears to be one of those miracle products that actually succeeds in its claims.

I know that skunk smell but thankfully I've never been touched and tainted with it as of yet. Other animals also give off some really bad scents. I imagine that smell is well seated in the household's nostrils too.

https://buyjingos.com/

Ayup... Olfactory Fatigue is definitely a real thing.

I'm surprised how often skunks are mistaken for cats... how can you miss that tail?

Also surprised how often I see neighborhood cats (including my own) hanging out with skunks. I wonder what they talk about?

Day 2 and the smell has gotten better some but it's definitely still there. We are shampooing everything fabric in the house - furniture, carpets, beds, etc.

We have a tall closet with wire shelving in the kitchen where we keep our dishes - the dishes AND the wire shelving have the smell too!

Ugh. This sucks.

Wow, JC, that is been an ordeal!
Hopefully you will just have it as a bad memory in next day or so.
Sorry, Brother!!

*Bets that JC will *never* let that skunked dog in the house again. HA!

Skunks like pussies...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lsQfTaStcs


Lol...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svZdNI8aQns

Thanks Bill, that's a bit you're sure to win!

Although, not as bad as skunk, the smell from a fox spray is pretty nasty too. I never knew that, until I came across were one had just marked his territory.

Around 25 years ago I worked in a pet store. We had all steel animal traps for rent. There was a mandatory deposit - if you trap a skunk you now own the trap.

I've never encountered any close up skunk smell, but I was amazed just how drastic that measure was for an object entirely made of metal. Definitely gave me a higher respect for the power of a skunk...

Hahah for you JC!

LOL!!

I would say the worst is over. We've gotten most of the smell out, now we just have to wait for rugs to dry and start putting things back together.

The cleaning solution recommended by our vet included peroxide, baking soda, and dish soap. It got rid of most of the smell, but not all of it. It did have one other interesting side effect though....
Before



After

Bleach blonde!

The dog will never willingly get near a skunk again, for sure...

Some still go after porcupines even after getting a muzzle full of quills.

I didn't see this....sticking with Zamzow!