Tonight I made the mistake of letting the dogs out when they barked and they caught a skunk full in the face. This is the second time it's happened in 3 years. This time I didn't let them back in the house for more than a second. Still, the smell is suffocating. Here's the recipe that seems the most vouched for for skunk smell. I can hardly wait til the drugstore opens and I can try to buy a gallon of peroxide!
Whatever you do, don't bring a freshly skunked pooch into the house! The dog will rub on things and tranfer the smell, then the whole house will smell like a skunk. If you must bring him in, wrap him in something washable until you get to the bathtub.
Skunk Smell Remover
1 quart 3% Hydrogen Peroxide
1/4 cup Baking Soda
2 tbsp Dish Detergent. The stuff for washing dishes in the sink, not something for dishwashers.
Mix the ingredients in a large bowl, because it will boil up like Vesuvius. We are, after all, making an oxygen generator. Wash the dog with this while it is still foaming, because it is the oxygen which reacts with the thiols in the skunk stink to neutralize the odor. If it sits around, it will loose it's efficacy because the oxygen boils off. Don't try to store it in an airtight container, because it will blow up. The brew also works for clothes, humans and unlucky cats.
Sometimes being chased by a dog is not enough to scare a polecat off the property, in which case, mothballs will do the trick.
Mosquitos are unusually bad this season, too. Please check your yard for standing water - they can even breed in a bucket or a flowerpot saucer.
ReplyDeleteI phoned a local 24 hour vet to verify the anti-skunk recipe. She said it works and read me their recipe, which is the same except it uses 1 tbsp of scented, non-medicated shampoo instead of the dish detergent. She noted also that you need to spray it on and leave it on, not wash it off. Be warned also - don't try to use water to clean off the skunk smell - she said a groomer told her that it sets the smell (makes it last a long time). I did make up the ingredients (in half-amounts because 450 ml was the largest size 3% peroxide they had at Shoppers 24-hour store. Sprayed it on and also worked it by hand as the dogs are long-haired. It works immediately. Thank goodness! I'm only sorry that I mopped with water where the dogs had set foot in the house.
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