My dog just came in the house, shaking his head and mildly foaming at the mouth, and then I smelled it. But it didn’t really smell like a skunk, more like strong garlic. I grabbed him up and bathed him with green apple shampoo and after just that, most of the smell was gone. So I gave him another bath and he’s not really smelling too bad…which is good, he sleeps in my bed. Nothing as tenacious as I’ve heard skunk spray to be.
Any other spraying critters? I’ve seen possums around, do they spray? Any idea what this might have been? It was certainly very pungent, I can still smell it in the house, but not overwhelming.
I hear mink can be pretty bad. Not skunk bad, but bad.
For that matter I believe all Mustelids have pungent musk glands, so it could have perhaps been some other weasel ( i.e. like a Long-Tailed or Least Weasel ).
Garlic, huh? Are you familiar with the smell of a dog’s impacted anal gland? Could it be that? I think of that as a garlicky smell, and it’s certainly pungent although sub-skunkal in power.
No, this was definitely a spraying. After doing some reading, I’m not so sure it wasn’t a skunk. Burned garlic is used pretty often to describe it, his collar is really coated and still reeks. That and the foaming make me just about 100% certain he got sprayed, now I’m thinking it might have been a skunk. I just got out of the shower and can smell it more now, I can taste it! I guess I’ll see how bad the house really smells in the morning, but I’m bushed and have got to get to bed pretty quick…smelly Rat Terrier and all.
IME, not all skunks smell the same. Our dog has gotten skunked a couple of times. Once it was your basic skunk smell, only up close and personal.
Last time, though - great googly moogly! It was some sort of mutant nuclear skunk or something. It didn’t even really smell like skunk, it was more like sewage plus something dead plus I don’t know what the hell that was. Incredibly vile beyond any skunk I’d ever smelled before.
So maybe you lucked out and got a mild, garlic skunk.
Last weekend a dog my boss was dogsitting got sprayed.
She had a window open in the office because it was so bad that she smelled like skunk! Apparently it was a Nuclear Skunk and the smell had gotten way too into their house…nothing like having your boss walk by behind you and a second later…sniffsniff “Ewwww…”
Did you witness the act, or just assume it was skunk? Could the dog have fallen in a sewage system?
And Ferret Herder, AFAIK cats don’t spray as a defensive mechanism, and can’t aim for an attacker like a skunk can. I don’t think cat “spraying” is in the same class.
Another vote for a skunk attack. My dog and I got sprayed this summer in our backyard. (Through a series of unfortunate events, I ended up between my dog and the skunk and two of her babies- never a good idea) It smelled nothing like what I was used to smelling when you smell a skunk from far away. It was much more strong, and smelled more like decaying tissue that what I had previously associated with a skunk. I think when you smell it in the air it must be more diffused or something.
Dare I say it… it was more like I tasted it than I smelled it, it was that oily and heavy. I actually vomited, and I’m known for my iron stomach.
Just thinking about it makes me a little sick to my stomach even now.
BTW-- the only thing that worked on the smell was washing with Dawn dishwashing liquid, baking soda and hydrogen peroxide.
No chance of falling into a sewer or anything like that, my backyard is fenced and no septic system, but I am puzzled that a critter would have been in the yard. I went out with him this morning in case said critter was still around, the yard is very pungent still.
I’ve owned a ferret, I know that smell and this was totally more vile. Same with a cat and their glands. This ain’t that.
Since I grabbed the dog as soon as he came in and got to washing, I seemed to have nipped it in the bud. He got 2 more baths last night after I said I was going to bed, I read up on the vinegar/peroxide/baking soda/Dawn and gave him one with that and then another with shampoo. Then took some underarm deodorant and smeared on his snout and neck. He barely smells today, but his collar is still evil. That’s a bummer, it’s a nice leather collar he’s worn his entire adult life (13 now), I hope I can salvage it. It’s soaking in the v/p/bs/D solution now.
After the aroma had a chance to “mature”, it’s taken on a decidedly more skunk-like quality. I’m not too thrilled to think that there might be a future encounter. I have a live trap that we used on possums before, but I’m really not looking forward to trapping a skunk.
I’m going out for a while, it’ll be interesting to see what the house actually smells like when I return. I’m afraid it probably stinks a lot more than I think it does and I’m just accustomed to the smell right now.
But when your post (I know its 6 yrs old but it is EXACTLY what just happened to my Amos!) said "strong garlic smell I thought “BINGO! Thats it!!!” We were sittring out back letting him do his nightly property check when suddenly he shot off to the front of the house and I thought I heard trash being dug in and I did put a bag of regular trash on the front porch for my roommate to take to dumpster. So he was fighting with something that was in our trash I thought until he came running back, quite proud of himself but smacking his mouth. I thought he just wants a drink of water until he got within 10 feet of me!!! :eek:Whoa:smack:! What in the WORLD was that smell?!! No Amos! You can’t go inside I’ll bring you the water outside! So I go inside to get his bowl and the door is closed but I could still smell him on the other side of the house INSIDE!! Also, I looked out front expecting t6o see our trash all over the place. Nothing out of place. The bag didn’t even look like it was even touched by dog or critter! So what causes that kind of “wrotten garlic” smell in the midwest, Indiana to be exact? I hope someone still reads these older posts cause it was the only ‘hit’ when I searched that was even close. He’s outside now and I can still smell him STRONGLY too. What do I do?:eek:
My German Shepherd just got ‘sprayed’ by something worse that a skunk!!He shot off after something by the side kitchen door that I couldn’t even begin to see and I think that he chased whatever-it-was off our front porch. I got one whiff on his way back to me and told him to “STAY!” don’t come near me! I’ll bring you your water and food bowl but you are not coming inside the house reeking like rotten onions, decaying celery, and 2-month old mold covered elephant garlic!!! I’m inside the house and I can still smell him as if he were in here with me!!! And Gosh is it terrible!!! I may need to go vomit…. Yes I do! brb….
I did. Yuck.
I searched with Google trying to find out what the Hell could have sprayed him with such a pungent horrible stench! Your post from back in 2008 is the only search result that even came close. I know its 6 yrs. old but it is EXACTLY what just happened to my Amos! When you said "strong garlic smell I thought “BINGO! That’s it!!!” We were sitting out back letting him do his nightly property check when suddenly he shot off to the front of the house and I thought I heard trash being dug in and I did put a bag of regular trash on the front porch for my roommate to take to dumpster. So he was fighting with something that was in our trash I thought until he came running back, quite proud of himself but smacking his mouth. I thought he just wants a drink of water until he got within 10 feet of me!!! Whoa! What in the WORLD was that smell?!! No Amos! You can’t go inside I’ll bring you the water outside! So I go inside to get his bowl and the door is closed but I could still smell him on the other side of the house OUTSIDE!! Also, I looked out front expecting t6o see our trash all over the place. Nothing out of place. The bag didn’t even look like it was even touched by dog or critter! So what causes that kind of “rotten garlic” smell in the Midwest, Indiana to be exact? I hope someone still reads these older posts because it was the only ‘hit’ that even came close when I searched on Google. He’s outside now and I can still smell him STRONGLY too. What do I do? Please can anyone help me with this?
:eek:
I bet it could have been a skunk. We had a cat get sprayed a few years ago, and he came back into the house through the swinging cat door during the night, and when we arose the next morning and went out into the living room, the smell was incredible - but we didn’t recognize it as skunk. We thought maybe it was a fire. We also couldn’t tell it was on him, because the smell was just full on, our noses were pegged at 100%, and we couldn’t recognize stronger or weaker until we got further away from him.
We did figure it out, because at a greater distance as we aired the house out the smell became recognizable. We also figured out he was the carrier.
I think the experience was like being completely blinded by brilliant light. You can’t find the light, you just see overloaded signal everyplace you look and your eyes hurt to signify that they are malfunctioning and at critical risk.
This claims skunks have exceptional fine motor control over their assholes. They can spray a very fine mist using very little Green Stuff all the way to shellacking a would be predator with a concentrated hydrolicking.
I had a dog that was devoted to the eradication of skunk. I can’t tell you how many he killed. I can therefore tell you that this method actually removes the odor. Truthfully, once I applied the mixture to remove the odor and rinsed, I didn’t usually bother with the second step, the shampoo.
Wear dirty/grimy clothes. The kind of thing you’d paint in and don’t mind getting a little dirty.
A little Vick’s VapoRub under the nose may help you tolerate the odor, but really getting the mixture on the dog ASAP will help the most.
My two dogs were sprayed last night and it smelled nothing like a skunk. I know a skunk smell! Both dogs were freaking out, shaking their heads, rubbing all over everything and one of them was foaming at the mouth and his throat was convulsing every few seconds for about half an hour. Other posters have mentioned a garlic smell and it was kind of garlicky but really a bad smell. They both had a bath last night and the house smells today, of course. Does anyone know if there is an animal that has a garlicky spray or do skunks sometimes change it up for variety.
Skunks are omnivores, and so they can eat a totally different diet then they normally eat and still be healthy.
Odour will depend on the diet the skunk has been eating.
If its been living on humans garbage, and eating kitchen and restaurant scraps, such as vegetable off cuts and stale bread, it may well be low on fatty acids to make the horrible smell with.
