CRITTERS, are a part of living in the country.
And for the most part we keep a “live and let live” arrangement going. But yesterday, Muffin the Wheaten Terrier had an unfortunate meeting with a SKUNK. Unfortunate for both…Muffin got sprayed,,, and the skunk…well…sadly, has gone to Skunk heaven.
THE SMELL is hideous….beyond hideous…HORRENDOUS, woke me out of a dead sleep and it permeated every corner of our house…BUT MUFFIN had it the worst…she was clearly not happy about her encounter but …she just could not help herself!
HOW TO GET RID OF SKUNK SMELL
I put the question to my Facebook friends and got back two “HOME” remedies…
The SCIENTIFIC – Hydrogen Peroxide mixture remedy.
….and the KITCHEN – TOMATO JUICE REMEDY.
There are also plenty of de-skunk smell products available at the store.
SCIENTIFIC
What I learned is that the ONLY way to get RID of the smell on an animal or yourself
is to neutralize it at the CHEMICAL level.
MIX
1 QUART HYDROGEN PEROXIDE
1/4 CUP BAKING SODA
TEASPOON DISH SOAP.
I HAD TO GO to two stores to get enough hydrogen peroxide! Another dog on our street got skunked the same night, I guess it is just that time of year!!!
I mixed a DOUBLE BATCH AND PUT everything in a LARGE pitcher and then transferred IT to a mix jug for easy pouring.
DO NOT LET It get into your dogs eyes!!!! YOU MAY even want to have a jug of warm water to rinse in case some does. If it does happen and the dog seems irritated, a vet visit may be necessary.
The dish soap breaks down the oils in the skunk spray thereby allowing the chemicals to NEUTRALIZE the other STINK CHEMICALS. I first washed Muffin with kids shampoo (no tears) to clean her up because she was long over due for a bath. Then I slowly poured the SKUNK MIXTURE over her…letting it sit for 5 minutes and kind of lathered her up in the meantime…giving her a rub down which she loves. (I WORE KITCHEN GLOVES!!!) Then I rinsed AND RINSED AND RINSED. I then sprayed her all over with some AVEDA Detangler that I got for Ellie…which smells AVEDA amazing.
TOMATO JUICE
I have used the tomato juice remedy in the past and found it to be fine, if you are okay with not eating pasta for a while. What I learned is that the tomato juice does absolutely nothing to get RID of the chemicals…but instead OVERRIDES the smell…in your nose, so you smell it first…I am sure all the washing does SOMETHING too…to diminish the existence of the spray but only TIME then makes it go away.
I TOSSED her collar and the bedding she had laid on before we knew she had been skunked. We lit Lavendar candles all over the house and today the smell is BETTER ….if not gone.
My husband picked up a few of these at REBECCA’S NATURAL FOODS ….and I am SOLD!!!!
IN the end..(no pun intended) these things happen and the smell will go away. I feel sorry for the poor little skunk that met Muffin…and I am certain Muffin did NOT learn her lesson…so some things I am going to do to make sure the skunks do not come into her territory –
1.REMOVE the dog food FROM the porch at night,
2. Pick up food scraps from outside eating.
3. Move the compost out of the dogs range (their collars give them a 90 ft radius to roam) .
4. AND keep enough hydrogen peroxide in the house!!!!!!
XO
reminder – always keep your pets updated on their Rabies vaccine. Skunks do carry rabies.
Your timing is so perfect on this one… My husband was walking the dog the other night and actually got CHASED by a skunk on his way back to the house! He said the skunk sprayed, but luckily it didn’t spray at anything, just into the air. It smelled for a little while but dissipated fairly quickly. Glad I now have these tips in case the little stinker comes back for another round!
I kind of had to laugh and glad no one got sprayed! I have to wonder, as I am hearing a LOT about skunk hits in the last week…if this is some special skunk time, I read that their mating season is in early spring so maybe their are babies??? and with the rain, at least here, the food has gotten washed away/ because they don’t usually come so close to our house…ah Nature!
The same thing happened to us and Rosie (you painted her) last summer. I used the same solution and it worked like a charm. The only part that smelled was right around her eyes where I could not get the solution. The skunk sprayed right on the corner of our house, near the foundation, and the smell went right into our basement and permeated through the floor upstairs. It was a week before the smell really dissipated! It was horrible as you now well know!
Oh my goodness, I never knew the babies were so cute! Such an adventure you had, and I thought I had it rough with big Golden muddy paws!
Something tells me Muffin got her revenge. Wheatons are such nice dogs until they run into critters.
Your story reminded me of one summer when my friend and I both had skunk experiences – which is unusual in Albuquerque, NM. We mixed up the same recipe you used for her Black Lab. A week later my Doxie was sprayed and that’s when I learned that Masengill disposable douche works great!
Oh, this sent chills up my spine…2 springs ago, our son/daughter-in-law had a new puppy that got attacked (and apparently bit) by a skunk. It was too young to have its rabies shots, so long story short, 11 people ended up having to get rabies shots after the puppy showed signs of having them. And of course, the puppy had to be put down. Skunks are not to be taken lightly! They are one of the main carriers of rabies. So make sure your animals are up-to-date on all their shots. I have experienced that smell first-hand, and it is suffocating when it is first sprayed. And very HARD to get rid of. So glad you didn’t have the whole nightmare we did with the rabies scare. But people, stay away from skunks!
Wow! Thank you for the reminder!! That is so sad and I am so sorry about the puppy.
Oy!! My sister lives not far from you ( she got her doctorate at UVA!!!) and they had a similar experience on their farm a while back and she said the smell is like no other 🙁
Marcie
I will be trying this, soon. Our Catahoula has been skunked numerous times and still goes after them. The big knucklehead! He had a cold, Dawn dish soap bath today, but he’s still very stinky.. Sure hope this helps. Thanks
Good luck! I have given muffin two baths with the hydrogen peroxide mixture and, while it is better, it still is pretty intense. I think when they get a direct hit it can take a while to read them of the smell. I have actually contemplated trying the tomato juice recipe just to see if it would make any difference at all!