My dog had his first experience with a skunk today. I had him off leash in an unincorporated area of the county while I hunted for wild asparagus. Unfortunately, he got too close and got hit right between the eyes. I washed him with vinegar and shampoo, now the only part of him that smells skunky is the spot between his eyes. He’s locked in the garage right now, I’m upstairs in my bedroom. I can smell skunk. Now, most of us know how a skunk smells a half-mile away, or how an area smells like skunk 3 days after it sprays. Fresh skunk spray smells nothing like that. It doesn’t even smell biological. It smells like the Monsanto chemical plant outside of Cahokia, Illinois. It smells like an oil refinery and a steel mill, but only stronger. Is there anything besides vinegar to remove skunk smell?
Did you try tomato juice?
Also, Mythbusters tested several remedies and found a household mixture of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and dish soap (as I recall) worked well.
I agree. Tomato juice.
There are some commercially available items also. One of them is “Skunk Off” but I’m not sure they’re any better than tomato juice.
In the end - speaking from experience here - I think it’s repeated washings (take your pick of washing agent) and time that ultimately works.
Helix, How much time? My dog is a pit bull, very short fur, no under coat. He’s always been an indoor dog. Since overnight lows are still below 5 degrees Farenheit here I don’t want to keep him in the garage any longer than necessary, but he sure as hell isn’t coming in the house until the smell goes away.
that should read below 50 degrees farenheit :smack:
Tomato juice, paste or even ketchup. IIRC the acidity neutralizes the oils from the spray. Lemonjuice or vinegar will just make him smell worse. Let us know how it goes.
One of my dogs got skunked last year. I couldn’t use tomato jouce, because it would stain his fur - a partti/white non-shedding coat.
Check out a product called De-Skunk. It’s about US$6 for a 32 ounce plastic bottle. Independent pet supply stores are more likely to carry it than PetSmart or Petco. It’s more expensive than tomato juice, but it’s really the only thing that will remove the stink from my pooches without staining their coat orange.
I used vinegar and water, tomato juice, and lots of shampoo on the first night. The best we could do was spray perfume on her to mask the “piquancy”, temporarily.
I bathed her a few times over a week and the strength of the smell gradually dissipated. Time, soap, and a generous dousing of a slightly less noxious cover scent seem to be the only remedy in my experience.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I went downstairs to let my dog outside to piss this morning. When I opened the garage door the familiar skunk smell rolled out and damn near knocked me over. Poor dog was so happy to see me, or maybe he was just trying to stay close enough to me to warm himself up. I’ll wash his face with tomato juice after work today, maybe that will help. I really do feel sorry for him.
seriously, the hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and dish soap is the way to go. Much better than tomato juice
Another voice for H2O2/baking soda/dish soap. Or commercial products like Skunk-Off. The main aid tho is tincture of time.
A former coworker of mine swore that bathing his dog in (ahem) douche worked wonders. Unfortunately, he said it took quite a bit (I want to say 20 bottles, but not sure) so probably a fairly expensive option.
Has anyone here who is suggesting tomato juice actually tried it? I can tell you from experience that it doesn’t work for shit.
Commercial products like Skunk Off don’t work all that well either but better than tomato juice.
The Mythbuster formulation works very well. One part hydrogen peroxide, one part baking soda and a squirt of dish soap will do the trick. You can’t mix it up beforehand, have the ingredients ready and make it when you need it.
Haj
What’s a “non-shedding” coat?? I thought all hairs are shed.
Agreed - it may not even be as good as simply using soap. A friend whose dog doesn’t seem to learn quickly reports that the peroxide/baking soda/soap formula is the way to go.
My last direct experience was before this idea was in circulation. I was helping someone whose dog had been thoroughly sprayed, and I felt the tomato juice she bought (a huge amount - perhaps 2 gallons) was basically a waste of money. (Perhaps there’s some trick to using it that we never heard of.)
You know you are supposed to wash the mutt in the tomato juice not make him drink it right? 
Okay, this is bizarre.
I just started reading this thread out of curiosity, and suddenly I smell skunk.
Either I’m extremely susceptible to suggestion, or one of the feral cats in the area just found out the hard way that certain little black critters with white stripes do not play well with others.
By the way, even the Mythbusters mix isn’t perfect. You’ll still have a lingering skunk smell for a while no matter what you do.
Haj
Who you callin a dog?
And I can tell you from experience that it does. I’ve used it on three different dogs (komondor, silver shepherd, and short-hair terrier mutt). In all cases it worked great. Most recently, my mutt took a huge blast and was truly foul. I had no tomato juice so I smeared him with a jar of spagetti sauce. Worked great, almost completely eliminated the skunk smell.