# Dead Animal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 3, 2004, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-animal/253340 "2004-07-03T04:41:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spezza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Spezza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spezza)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-animal/253340/1 "2004-07-03T04:41:16Z")
What does a dead animal smell like? And, how do you find it? Found a new smell in the basement tonight, only way to describe it is _“death like.”_ How can I tell if it’s a dead animal and if it is how do I go about finding where it rests? cheers ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-animal/253340/2 "2004-07-03T04:52:34Z")
If it’s the worst smell you ever smelled…it’s death. It doesn’t stink. It’s beyond that. It’s death. You can actually feel it. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-animal/253340/3 "2004-07-03T05:38:28Z")
YYYyyyyyyyyeah…like **Reeder** says…orrrrrrrr. Know how meat marinated in \*Lee & Perrin’s \* smells just before you throw it on the grill? Make that smell just a bit more sweet than is comfortable. Then add an instinctive “ick”-sourness to it. That’s what you’re looking for. To find it, enter the suspect area, close your eyes and focus on the scent. Get on hands and knees. Follow the following breathing sequence: Inhale deeply through your nose, exhale though the nose, inhale with your mouth, exhale with your nose. Advance from a point of known cleanliness, keep your face near the floor, and look under stuff. Follow your nose. You’re looking for a mouse. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-animal/253340/4 "2004-07-03T20:04:25Z")
> [@Inigo Montoya](#): > > To find it, enter the suspect area, close your eyes and focus on the scent. Get on hands and knees. Follow the following breathing sequence: Inhale deeply through your nose, exhale though the nose, inhale with your mouth, exhale with your nose. Advance from a point of known cleanliness, keep your face near the floor, and look under stuff. > > Follow your nose. You’re looking for a mouse. Or if you’d rather not do all this crawling around on the floor, you might just try borrowing a neighbors cat. Be prepared to spend a bit of time watching the cat, as it explores nearly everything about this new & exciting place. But eventually the cat will find the dead animal. (Assuming it isn’t inside a wall.) ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-animal/253340/5 "2004-07-04T02:04:31Z")
It’s been awhile…but from what I remember, the best I can describe it is as “sicky-sweet.” ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-animal/253340/6 "2004-07-04T07:06:01Z")
Put a half pound of ham in your car Monday morning. Leave it there. When you get into your car after work on Tuesday you’ll know. Not that I’ve ever done that before, of course. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-animal/253340/7 "2004-07-04T12:25:17Z")
When my cat left a mouse trophy to mature behind the TV one hot summer, the smell was sort of like salt-marsh-at-low-tide. A bit of sulphur and decay. Bigger animals smell a lot worse.