Removing Skunk Smell from House

The non- emergency police patched us through to 911! Two squad cars showed up. They scoped our house at 1am in the morning only to sadly tell us they were pretty sure our dog was sprayed by a skunk! We were so upset, but the police were very helpful. They suggested we use Murphy's Oil soap on the dog! It worked except for her nose area.

As far as the house. We did the candles, coffee grounds, incense, and the baking soda on the carpet which all seemed to help. It's now 2:50 am and we are finally breathing a little easier. I have to get up at 5 for work so I better say good night! Thanks to all for all the wonderful suggestions! I love this site.

By IrishBabe from Erie, PA

Archives: Request: Removing Skunk Smell from House Archived on 10/28/2009 A skunk crawled under the house and sprayed. Ugh. What can we use to get rid of the smell in the house? We have windows open, but it is cold where we live. I have heard of some sprays, but what exactly do you spray? Since it is under the house I don't want to spray anything on furniture, etc., but really need help. By Catherine from Rochester, NY Feedback: RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House I don't know if this would work for you because it's usually recommended to be used on the fur of animals that get sprayed by skunks. You're supposed to wash the animal in plain old tomato juice. It seems to neutralize the skunk odor for some reason. I don't have pets but people on this site have reported success using this method. You could get a professional insect sprayer and fill it with tomato juice. We bought ours at a local store that sells professional insect killing products to the public. It's not like what you'd buy at a hardware store, but what real professional bug killers use. It's like a large cylinder with a hose and spraying attachment that you pump first and then spray. It has good range and a strong spraying action. My husband bought this as well as professional killing powder that gets diluted according to the instructions and we spray our house for bugs and roaches (we live in Houston, TX where it's the perfect weather for roaches) and we've never had to employ a professional company. Now if you have children and pets, you'd want to see if you could buy something for insect killing that wouldn't harm them, of course. Have you tried saturating the area with baking soda? I mean I think you'd need about a ton of it, but it might work. Maybe you could dilute baking soda with water and use the spraying method above. Also, have gone to a Home Depot or Lowes-type hardware store? They might have a product. You might want to ask at your local Petsmart or one of the larger pet chains. If either place can't help you, I'd email these sites directly and so many stores are completely helpful and can offer products. Have you tried to Google or Bing.com, Ask.com your question? You might have to search around for your answer, but I bet you'd find one there. I'd also search thriftyfun.com, but you've probably already done that. Good luck with your yucky problem! I hope you find something that works. (10/13/2009) By metroplex RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House Our dog was sprayed twice last week. I immediately wiped down the dog's eyes and nose with wet paper towels (get rid of them!) because I think that he was sprayed in the face! The poor dog! I used the mixture of regular hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and Dawn dish washing liquid (my friend's a veterinarian and she recommended the Dawn) to wash the dog's coat. The exact measurements are available online. Be super careful not to get this in the dog's eyes! Do not attempt to cover or store this mixture either. Use it promptly. I also wiped the dog's coat down with apple cider vinegar. I used paper towels. Be sure to throw these away far from you house! What helped me was essential oil of peppermint (you probably need to buy it at a health food store) applied to cotton balls and placed throughout the house. You could easily refresh these as necessary. It has been a week now since I put them out and I can still smell the peppermint (and I didn't even saturate the cotton balls). I also bought a "clean" scent candle (Yankee candle brand? it's blue) at our local Agway store. Best idea? You will find that you can't get the smell out of your nose. Because I had been sick, I had the idea to apply some Vicks Vaporub to my chest (also a strong smell) so that I could smell that instead of the skunk! It helped. I was able to fall asleep. Luckily, I haven't had to try the next idea yet, but a friend who was a dog groomer swears by a product called Skunk Off. Apparently you apply it to the dog's coat and don't have to rinse it off. If you can avoid bringing the dog into the house for a bath, you will be much better off! I also purchased Shake-Away Animal Repellent online. The main goal now is to keep the skunks out of our yard! Meanwhile, I am walking the dog on a leash. (10/22/2009) By SkunkDog Report Spam or Abuse Request: Removing Skunk Smell from House Archived on 10/12/2009 Does an ozone machine really help to get rid of Skunk smell from your carpet, furniture, clothing, etc.? By aelder from Utica, KY Feedback: RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House The EPA does NOT recommend the use of indoor ozone generators: From: Indoor Air Pollution: An Introduction for Health Professionals -epa.gov Ion generators act by charging the particles in a room so that they are attracted to walls, floors, tabletops, draperies, occupants, etc. Abrasion can result in these particles being re-suspended into the air. In some cases these devices contain a collector to attract the charged particles back to the unit. While ion generators may remove small particles (e.g., those in tobacco smoke) from the indoor air, they do not remove gases or odors, and may be relatively ineffective in removing large particles such as pollen and house dust allergens. Although some have suggested that these devices provide a benefit by rectifying a hypothesized ion imbalance, no controlled studies have confirmed this effect. Ozone, a lung irritant, is produced indirectly by ion generators and some other electronic air cleaners and directly by ozone generators. While indirect ozone production is of concern, there is even greater concern with the direct, and purposeful introduction of a lung irritant into indoor air. There is no difference, despite some marketers' claims, between ozone in smog outdoors and ozone produced by these devices. Under certain use conditions ion generators and other ozone generating air cleaners (see epa.gov ) can produce levels of this lung irritant significantly above levels thought harmful to human health. A small percentage of air cleaners that claim a health benefit may be regulated by FDA as a medical device. The Food and Drug Administration has set a limit of 0.05 parts per million of ozone for medical devices. Although ozone can be used in reducing odors and pollutants in unoccupied spaces (such as removing smoke odors from homes involved in fires) the levels needed to achieve this are above those generally thought to be safe for humans. (07/02/2009) By lah34a RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House I don't know if it will work, but this product Kids N Pets gets rid of cat spray. It claims on the bottle to get rid of skunk. I find it at WalMart. (07/06/2009) By caraing RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House I'll never forget going into my brother's house and feeling like I was breathing very strong bleach fumes. It was killing me. Turns out they had an ozone air cleaner in their bedroom. If you choose to go this route, be careful and use it only as much as necessary. I do not have allergies or asthma, I have never smoked. I exercise regularly. My point is that my lungs are very healthy and that my reaction had nothing to do with a prior health issue. It may work, but use caution. (07/08/2009) By Lynn RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House Our dog got skunked. Boyfriend brought him into the house. The smell was everywhere in the house. So strong it made both dogs and me vomit. We rented an ozone machine from ServPro and left for the weekend. They manned it and moved it around from Friday to Sunday and when we came back, we could only smell it faintly in spots here and there. We did not need to clean carpets, drapes, or furniture it killed the smell on everything. Only clothes we had to clean were in the basement where we washed the dog. Shell the money out for the rental. You will not regret it. No, the machines are not safe for everyday use. ServPro did not recommend it for everyday use either. But it is completely safe to use it, not come into the house for about 4 hours afterward, then, open windows and let the house air out. Our house did not smell of anything nor did we have any adverse affects after use. But we did let the house air out with all windows open to make sure. (08/15/2009) By CrazyHorseGirl Report Spam or Abuse Request: Removing Skunk Smell from House Archived on 07/02/2009 My house must of had a skunk spray under it last night. I don't know exactly where, because most of the bottom of my house is still insulated with snow. I can't bear the smell of my house and the smell is actually irritating my throat a little bit. Can you help me? By Elliemaefall from Steamboat Springs, CO Feedback: RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House This site has a homemade recipe involving peroxide and soap and some other ingredients. I hope it works and the snow melts soon for you! http://www.totalwildlifecontrol.com/remove-skunk-smell-odor.html. (04/13/2009) By Robyn Fed RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House My dog was just sprayed last week for the 3rd time. My husband was out of town on business so I wanted to make sure the smell was gone by time he got back a few days later. I had tried a product called BON-CC-41 the last time she was sprayed so I decided to try it again because it worked so well. I had the same results this time. It completely eliminated the odor on my dog and around my house. My husband didn't even know Moxie was sprayed by a skunk until I told him. I'm keeping this product around my house now for the next time it happens (and I'm sure it will, my dog likes chasing skunks, ha). http://www.adbio.com/pet/skunked.htm (05/01/2009) By Melissa02 RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House I am traumatized and terrified. These animals have been living under my house but I had no idea they were skunks. I believe there are at least 2 of them. I was home sick with the flu when I smelled this disgusting odor coming from the basement. I thought immediately that it must be those creatures under the house; and yes it was them. I learned later that they are skunks. I am now trying everything under the sun to get the odor out. I'm scared to sleep in my house. I called animal removers and they set a trap and caught 1 and have plugged up a machine outside that's pulling the bad odor out of the hole. My next step is to dig around the porch and put a concrete wall about 2 ft in the ground. I've read a host of things on the Internet about skunks and will be trying a lot of them to make my house livable again. I think I'll need therapy after this. I'm even dreaming about these things at night. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. (06/03/2009) By rmarietd Report Spam or Abuse Request: Removing Skunk Smell from House Archived on 04/13/2009 A skunk sprayed under my house 3 weeks ago and the smell will not leave. I have tried everything and nothing works. The smell is even in my jewelry. Can someone please help? Geneva Feedback: RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House For all the skunk odor issues here: Call a professional Cleaning Service. Have your air ducts cleaned, furniture, carpets, clothing, drapes, etc! Wash down your walls and tile, clean hard floor surfaces as well. A pro service with air filtration to scrub the air and neutralize with dry vapor deodorizers will help improve the inside of your home. Also, there is a product out there in hardware stores called the Air Sponge. I highly recommend you put one in every room. This product will absorb all malodorous odors organic and synthetic as well. This product can absorb odors as strong as decomposed life of all types. As far as the outside is concerned, you will have to wait until spring to take care of this problem. I had a job similar to this one and if you or your animals are effected by this, you should seek doctor's and vet care. The skunk spray is very strong and can cause problems with your immune system and make you sick, I know, I've been there before. When the soil has thawed out, have it removed, go under decks or concrete porches, as well. You'll have to dig down at least 1 foot deep. Put sand, activated charcoal and cedar mulch in place allow to be exposed for at least two weeks and then cap over with new soil. Wash the exterior walls, shrubs, decking or anything else in place. This should work for you and give you peace of mind. Supreme Care Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning Sincerely Mark (01/30/2009) By Supreme Care RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House Some years ago we had a dog that was sprayed by a skunk. Before we knew what had happened she ran into the house and spread the smell everywhere. After hours of trying everything (some made it worse) I found Febreze helped the most. Also there is a spray call Ozium that will remove all odors. Hope this helps. (01/30/2009) By Cindy in Texas RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House I live in the country and we often have skunk problems. It has been about 10 years now so I consider myself to be an expert. I have had it all happen to me (including a skunk getting IN my house). I have 2 dogs that love to chase skunks to (you would think they were learn). I have tried everything you could possibly think of. A few years ago, I came across a product called BON-CC-41 by a company called BioWorld. I almost consider them friends now because I have ordered from them so much. Their BON (odor neutralizer) is the only solution I have found that actually gets rid of all the smell in the shortest amount of time. I just keep it around the house now for whenever I need it (which is 2-3 times a year ha). I love how it is so versatile. I can bathe my dogs with it, add it to my mop water, shampoo the carpets, and even add it to my laundry. I even used it to paint my house a few months ago and it left no paint odor behind! Not even for a day. Take it from me, it is worth it to try this product. I don't think you will be disappointed! http://www.adbio.com/pet/skunked.htm (02/20/2009) By Mindy F. RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House What a blessing to read all the comments on dogs getting skunked! Our Brittany "Bruno" got skunked yesterday at 5am when my husband let him out before work. It is Feb. and I had no idea the skunks were even out! Anyway, desperate-I found this website and did the peroxide/baking soda/detergent on all surfaces affected. Much better! We also took our dog to Petsmart that has a skunk smell removal wash they do for a fee. Big difference. I highly recommend that. Left him there stinky, picked him up smelling great. Thanks for all ideas. (02/26/2009) By fitmama RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House OUR STORY: Dog out (23 degree weather), dog in - luckily I find this website. We now know the skunk(s) also sprayed the side and front of the house and the property at one end. So we were fighting the stench from out and in. Most of our information came from this site but we'll add a few things. TRUTHS - this is a crises and a nightmare. You probably will not have friends to help you through this. Anyone who hasn't experienced this will not understand. It will take time, money, and work for you to take care of the problem OR it with take time and money for someone else to do it. You probably will have to throw away some things but - not everything. Some materials just suck the smell up more than others (leather and synthetics). Homeowners doesn't cover it. I asked if they would cover odor removal for a fire-yes, animals-no. If you think it doesn't smell, it's because something else smells more. As you get things cleaned, look at this as a positive thing because you've gotten rid of a stronger smell when you now smell something else. In essence you will probably wash most everything in the house. You will probably have to wash things more than 1 time. Even when things get better you will get whiffs of smell, it's probably from drafts. When it's to that point - go the church and thank whomever you pray to. MYTHS - It will never end. SHOPPING LIST - Walmart has large sizes and seems to be cheaper than regular stores. Peroxide, Baking Soda, Softsoap, bleach, vinegar (white and cider gallon size), Pine Sol, Fabreze, nutmeg, cinnamon, canned coffee, bags of rags (Home Depot $14/bag), laundry soap, liquid dishwashing soap (for exterior), large bottle yard sprayer, Air Sponge(s) (hardware store $5 ea.), Nature Miracle Skunk Remover (Agway $10), Oxiclean (~$10/tub), Wallflowers ($12) plug-in air freshener from Bath and Body Works. You will have to take care of your dog, you and your home. IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW-if you don't clean and clean and clean all the ozone machines and fans are not going to help. They will tell you to wash anything your pet may have touched, well what about the stench absorbed into your clothes, furniture and rugs. If it's there, do you think it might not be sticking to the walls above the 4 ft mark the dog may have reached? Think about the dog's collar and fence receiver. Our guy got it in the face and it corroded the receiver surface. The smell was never coming off so we had to contact the Electric Fence people to buy a new collar and receiver (not cheap but necessary). We got hit at 5:58 am on a (Wed.). I know cause I heard hubby open the door and 2 seconds later the smell was in the bedroom. Never having done this, hubby washed doggie's face, mommy washed doggie's face, dog coat washed 3x (then thrown out the next day), and we went to work. MISTAKE #1, I was sent home for obvious reasons. That night a company that does clean-up after fires etc. brought in 2 air scrubbers, washing machine size charcoal filter fans. Well it seemed better (breathable) while they were running. We were told to shut them down on (Fri.) am and see how it was when we came home. MISTAKE #2-doing pretty much doing no cleaning thinking the fans would do the trick. You almost died when you came near the front porch (by the way, neighbors could smell skunk through their closed windows when it originally happened and we're in the country). Horrible. Called the Pros and they came with an ozone machine. Put the dog in a kennel, got our sleeping bags and found a place to go because you can't stay in the house while it's running. Prior to turning the machine on and leaving, we were instructed to get Pine Sol (because it's a solvent) and start washing everything down. Place many rags in a bucket, wash walls and anything else -THROW RAG AWAY, do not put back in bucket. Ozone machine on and we left. We came back in the am (Sat.) - Horrible. Ok, big hot spot at the entrance. So we bleached the porch decking and Pine Sol'd the outside of the door and doorway (poured it all over the bricks). MISTAKE #3 not thinking about point of entry from the outside. Washed everything again, Ozone Machine back on and left. Came back that night, improvement but still bad, repeat cleanings, Ozone machine back on and leave for the night. Came back in the am (Sun.), improvement seems to be sticking (mind you the place stinks but we are lessening that in your mouth taste and gag effect). So, were crossing our fingers the improvement will stick. The windows on the end of the house were hot spots. They had to be attacked from the outside. Bleach water and a large garden sprayer (which we had at least). It took about 4x plus removing the curtains for it to finally get better (not perfect, better). Meanwhile, the washer isn't stopping. (Mon.) It's stabilizing now aand going in the right direction. Curtains are in bags in the garage to go to the dry cleaners. My electric bill will probably be $300 with the fans, washer and dryer. We are now more into the masking of odors which you see all over this website. We wanted to focus on the source(s), doing as much as we could before we moved on to cover up. (Tue.) Tuesday night our first outsider came to the house to bring a gift of food and said she couldn't really smell it. While it's in our noses we couldn't be happier, after 7 days to be to this point. There's still a lot more laundry to do and airing out should the weather get warm some day. But we're not in crises now. It's gross to still have any smell, we've lost some furniture and possessions but keep focused on the priority - make the house livable again. We can only hope the skunks leave the property and we have some hard rains to help take care of the ground and outside air smell. We cannot imagine having this happen more than once as it has to some people. YOUR DOG: The peroxide bath will be the cheapest and most rewarding thing you do for awhile. 1 bucket, 1 quart 3% Peroxide, 1/4 cup baking soda, and 1 teaspoon of liquid soap (animal rescue said use the cheapest Softsoap). Apply-use a washcloth for the face, don't get in the dog's eyes! Wait 15 minutes, rinse. Use your nose, repeat as needed. Wash as usual when done. My dark brown dog is now light brown. Six days out his head started to smell again after being stressed in a heated area. A quick dose of the Nature Miracle Skunk Remover Solution and bath took care of it. YOU: Find a place for to put some clean clothes. Before going in public, shower and wash your hair, run to the clothes and get out. My husband put his clothes in the garage and changed out there in 20 degree weather. He didn't get too many stink complaints the second day at work. I on the other hand was told to bag my leather briefcase (trash), the next day it was my leather pocketbook (contents into a manila envelope, bag to trash outside of office!). So it goes. Going to work makes this that much more stressful. Get Halls cough drops to help the taste in your mouth and sinuses. You'll know when things are getting better when the palms of your hands and body stop exuding a stench and your pillow case doesn't smell as bad in the am. We both travel with a Fabreze bottle as well. YOUR YARD: 1 cup of non-foaming (liquid) dishwasher soap + 1 gallon clear vinegar in your sprayer. YOUR HOME: Exterior walls and decks - 1 cup bleach + 1 gallon water in your sprayer. Repeated sprays may be required. Interior - Bags of rags (Home Depot $14/bag) Pine Sol in a wash bucket, soak rags, use once and throw away (right into a plastic bag). Wash your rugs, curtains and anything fabric that you can. Don't be surprised to find some closed closets you thought were OK really smell once the air in the house isn't so bad. MASKING IDEAS: Cheapest strong coffee in a can you can get. Put a cupful in a bowl and place in a room. Just shake it around each day to stir up the aroma. It's a welcome relief and lasts awhile. I had to put it next to the bed because the stink is still wafting from the window next to me. We used apple cider vinegar in small containers too, but only smelled the coffee so we don't know if it helped. Boil Nutmeg and Cinnamon in water on the stove (tried some other combinations but this seemed most pleasant). Don't forget to check and add water - MISTAKE #4 - boiling the pot dry. Candles were good once the horrible smell was settled down. Fabreze helps for awhile but we don't think we can sit on the chairs with that smell either so they will probably have to go. You either smell it really strong or it smells like a mix of the stink and Fabreze. For the moment it allows us to not put them to the curb. The leather recliners however, left day 1. YOUR FUTURE: Most of the posts are from dogs going out at night. Ours never will again. He is 11 and I guess we've been lucky as we are surrounded by woods and he's always running out back barking. If it's dark or in the middle of the night, it doesn't matter. We will get up and take him out front on a leash (we have an electric fence). Because - that inconvenience, is NOTHING compared to this. Most people are not doing their posts after their crises to give us an idea of how long before things get back to normal. I'm just grateful to be to this point in 7 days. Good Luck. I hope my experience helps. This is a great website! The Sicklers - PA (03/04/2009) By lvcrtrs RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House 48 hrs ago, I had 2 skunks fighting under my house, apparently both sprayed. We were driven from the house within an hour, as the smell was so intense there was no room where we could go to breathe. My son also has respiratory issues, so he needed to leave quickly. I got on this site as fast as I could and read about the ozone generators. I looked up "fire restoration" in my zip code and came up with a carpet cleaning company that rented the machines. We had to be out for 24 hrs while the machines ran, so I gathered overnight essentials, etc. and loaded them in my car. The ozone machines were surprisingly cheap- $50 for 24 hrs. So 24 hrs later we returned to a totally smell free house. Well worth the money- I highly recommend this process to everyone. We stayed out another 24 hrs. to get rid of the ozone, and are now in and fine. What a deal. It completely works! (03/26/2009) By RArlayne Report Spam or Abuse Request: Removing Skunk Smell from House Archived on 01/29/2009 My dog was sprayed in the mouth by a skunk. It never smelled on his coat, but after he threw up, the smell overwhelmed the house. I found that he was sprayed right by my back door and it's also on the siding. Any suggestions? Gina Answers: RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House Your poor dog, sprayed in the mouth. I can't imagine anything worse. There's a joke that ends up with the line "and my mouth tasted like a camel's backside" This would be even more horrible (not that I've had anything to do with camels, thank you). All my experience is a skunk spraying under the car (trying for a wild tomcat) and that took gasoline to take it off, AND I was screamed at for using such a flammable liquid. Don't do it. It wasn't that great. Good luck (01/15/2009) By tennesue RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House I sound like a broken record, but OdoBan from Sam's Club takes out skunk odor completely. I mixed it half and half. It will also take cat urine out of wooded floors but you need to put it on full strength and scrub it into the wood. Sarasota, FL (01/15/2009) By Jo Ann RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House I agree with a couple of posters - OdoBan is great and it has a eucalyptus scent. But before I would try anything with chemicals in it, try white vinegar. Buy a big bottle and pour some in bowls and mugs and put one in each room before you go to bed. In the morning, dump it out and it should help. I would also go one step further by doing a 50/50 mix of white vinegar and water and spray fabrics in the home - rugs, curtains, couch. The white vinegar smell disappears fairly quickly. It's a natural disinfectant and it does a great job of removing odors. (01/16/2009) By dvg RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House As a PS - I would wash down the siding too while you are at it. White vinegar, and water, with some dish soap to really get it clean. (01/16/2009) By dvg RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House Can't read all the responses. Too many, but did anyone say " tomato juice"? That's what my mom used on her dog years ago. (01/16/2009) By shirleyamh RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House I sit here at 2:30 and had almost called the fire dept! The skunk smell is the worst garlic and onions I have ever smelled. It is below freezing outside so I cannot open my windows. I had turned off my heating system cause I thought it was burning electrical smell outside. I took the flashlight and went outside, no fire or electrical disaster. It was a skunk. Now I have to wait until morning. But thankfully this site has given me solace that my house is not burning down. I run a small mail order business from the house too and hope that I won't be mailing skunk smell to people for the next week. I will be using the vinegar and crock pots. I am grateful for everyone's post here! (01/22/2009) By Emily W. Report Spam or Abuse Request: Removing Skunk Smell from House Archived on 01/13/2009 My dog got sprayed by a skunk and brought the odor in the house. How do you get rid of the smell? Chris Answers: RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House Who knew that there were so many skunks around! My pet was sprayed about a week ago. Not very fun to deal with, especially if you are having a Christmas party in a few days. Of course she came in the house before I could stop her. I tried EVERYTHING that I found online. Most of it worked okay but the smell still lingered, especially in the house. I found a product called BON-CC-41. It is an odor neutralizer. It worked GREAT! I had my carpets shampooed and I added the product to the shampooer cleaner and it got the smell out almost instantly! I was also surprised how many things you could use the product on. It is like an all-in-one product. I also washed my dog with the BON and put some in with my laundry! After I did all that with the BON, the smell was completely gone and no one at the party even noticed a skunk smell! (12/23/2008) RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House The house was sprayed, and the morning after my husband found it dead underneath the house! The smell was over everything, including my clothes. We went for Christmas Eve dinner with family and everyone could smell it. It was awful. We're opening windows and trying the vinegar in bowls. I'm afraid of what to do with all my expensive clothes that are usually dry cleaned- I have a lot of them! Any suggestions? (12/25/2008) By Anony RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House DO NOT USE HYDROGEN PEROXIDE around the eyes. I read somewhere that this can cause blindness...don't take the chance. (12/26/2008) By d RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House My suggestion to remove skunk smell from the house & clothes is to burn candles all day every day while you are at home until the bad odor is gone. Good luck. (12/27/2008) By kathleen W. RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House The best thing I found to remove the skunk odor from the house and clothes is an odor neutralizer from BioWorld Products. I think it is BON-CC-41 but you might want to double check. When my pet was skunked and brought it into the house, it was horrible. I shampooed my carpets with their odor neutralizer (and the carpet shampooer solution) and added the odor neutralizer to my laundry and it worked very well. The next day I had guests over and they couldn't even tell that we had a skunk odor problem. I'm not sure of how to deal with the dry cleaning clothes though. You might be able to spray the solution on the clothes but I'm not sure. If you call the company, they will help you, they were very helpful when I had my problem. (12/29/2008) RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House My wife and I were on our way out of the house to the airport to visit our brand new grand daughter. I was making coffee in the kitchen and heard a noise next to me from the pantry. I looked over and to my horror saw a skunk looking back at me. A skunk had somehow gotten INTO MY HOUSE! No idea how he got there. What a nightmare. With only minutes to work with, I decided I had no choice but to shoot the thing with my BB gun. How else would I get the skunk out of the house? And we were late for our plane! The skunk released his glands on his last breath and the house became unlivable. I cleaned up the mess, but had to depart for the airport. Thanks to this very blog, I had my neighbors put crock pots with Apple Vinegar throughout the house. We returned four days later to find the house was void of any skunk smell (although it did smell like a pickle factory!!). We then replaced the vinegar with cinnamon potpourri and we're back to normal. I'd like to thank all of you who suggested the vinegar. It was a life saver. (01/02/2009) By Tom RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House My dog got sprayed last night about 12:30. I brought her in from outside not knowing that she had been sprayed. At first we thought it was something burning but then we quickly realized what it was. We had to leave our house and go stay with my parents. Does anyone know how long the scent will stick around? We opened all the windows and cleaned the dog with tomato juice. It worked somewhat but I will try again with the baking soda and peroxide. I just hope I don't have to wash all of our clothes. Does anyone know if that has to be done, or will it eventually air out? (01/04/2009) By brooke Report Spam or Abuse Request: Removing Skunk Smell from House Archived on 12/23/2008 How do you get rid of skunk smell from a house? Jenny Answers: RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House Yeah, it seems that maybe two days ago a skunk sprayed around our house. I didn't really notice it until today when I went to school everyone said they smelt a skunk. I never felt so embarrassed in my life. My clothes, my books, my backpack, it all stunk. Every class room I went in someone said they smelt something bad, and I knew it was me. I wanted to just call my mom to pick me up. When I got home this afternoon, the smell has just completely overwhelmed the house. We have a dog, but he wasn't sprayed. We are pretty sure that the skunk is under our porch because the smell is just incredibly strong from under there. The whole house smells and I can't stand it. I have so much work to do and I can't even concentrate. If the smell doesn't get any better by tomorrow I am certainly not going to school. Is there anyway I can quickly remove the odor so it does not stink up my clothes and belongings? Opening the windows is out of the question cause it's like 30 degrees outside and I don't feel like freezing to death right now. (12/17/2008) By Nick RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House Can definitely help you with the dog. Dump a bottle or 2 of peppermint extract into the dog's bathwater, it worked on my dog's leather collar too (careful though, leather & water aren't a great mix). You may want to try wiping your floors with water & peppermint extract if they're tile or lino, it should be okay on countertops too. (12/17/2008) By Michele Hydrogen Peroxide Question: Has anyone experienced or know of this hydrogen peroxide/Dawn/baking soda dying/bleaching out or changing the fur color? Our dog Sandy, a golden retriever/chow mix has the golden/reddish/orangish colored, long soft, fur (see picture) and I really want to use this treatment, but we are worried it will dye her hair/fur. So will it? Does it? Thanks for the laughs as I sat here after 2 hours of fighting this stench (it's midnight) with a masked face and nose. A bowl of vinegar at my side, coffee/cinnamon/ginger/almond/cloves in the oven, and vinegar with apples and cinnamon on the stove. It really helped! BTW, that is not the skunk in the picture, it's Sandy's chew toy- I think a squirrel (hahaha). (12/18/2008) By Sandys Family RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House My dog was skunked the first day of a 7 day power outage due to an ice storm. I had no water and it was too cold to leave him out. So he stayed in the mudroom which has carpeting. After we got power and bathed the dogs with various concoctions, I tackled the now stenched mudroom. I tried vinegar in bowls, coffee grounds and febreeze. They helped some, but what really did the trick was sprinkling Arm & Hammer kitty deodorizer on everything and vacuuming up the next day. Hope that helps. (12/23/2008) By tld08 Report Spam or Abuse Request: Removing Skunk Smell from House Archived on 12/17/2008 My dog got sprayed by a skunk and he came into my house. Now it's unbearable. How do I get the smell out of my house and off his face? Lori from Bloomington, IN Answers: RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House As far as your house, you're going to have to rent a large OZONE generator. When we had a fire several years back the insurance company sent in an ozone machine to rid the house of that horrible smell of burnt campfire & nasty pervasive smoke. We ran it for 2 days (it was a VERY large 5 bedroom 3 bathroom 2 story home) and after those 2 days all traces of smoke smell were TOTALLY gone & the smoke had even gotten into the cold air intake of the furnace, so the smoke was EVERYWHERE in the home. If I were you, I'd start calling around different rental places & see if they have them & what they rent for. You'll most likely only need it for half a day. If it's a large ozone generator, you'll have to leave the house while it's running because it can take oxygen out of the air. We just ran it downstairs & stayed upstairs in a room with the door closed. But they don't recommend this (but, like I said it was a large house). If you can't find an Ozone Generator in a rental store then look up "Fire Contractors" in the yellow pages, because they'll be sure to have one or can point you in the right direction to find out where you can rent one. If you know someone who has several of those ozone producing air cleaners, they might also work, but would take much longer. You may be able to buy one at a store & return it a week later if you decide to not keep it. But, be advised, they can cost around $400 new! So renting one is a much better option. And if you can find an ozone machine you won't have to scrub every nook & cranny! (09/30/2008) By Cyinda RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House I called a company that came and sprayed some chemicals around. My kids went to school that day and had to come home. Even my leather purse stunk. The chemicals worked right away. What a mess. God bless. (09/30/2008) By Pat RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House My dog Mara got skunked yesterday at 5:30 in the morning and not knowing what to do we brought her inside the house.....BIG NO NO. We put her in the bath with tomato juice, ketchup, whatever we could find. Then I found this page and tried the Baking soda and peroxide combo and it seemed to work a bit better. We immediately took her to get shaved and now there is just a faint smell left on her. I was told that the best remedy is air. We've been airing her out (lots of walks). It will probably take a good week and many baths before she smells pretty again. Do not wash your dog in the house if you can. We are going to wash her at a local pet supply store that has baths available for you to wash your pet, kinda like a Pet Wash. Now as for the house, OMG! I wanted to run far away and never look back. I had to throw away quite a few things (carpets, shower curtain...) all of which I'm sure could've been washed but for me were tainted. I got really depressed when I opened my drawers in my bedroom and realized that it got into everything. I thought I was going to have to wash all my clothes. What I did do is opened all my drawers, closets in the house and all the windows and aired everything out for 24h.It looked like I was robbed. Being October it's pretty cold outside but there is a beautiful breeze that runs through the house and just picked up the smell. I tried vinegar and coffee and that did absolutely nothing. What I found worked miracles is Incense. I burned them all day long on every floor and it made being in the house pleasant. Clean your house and any affected areas as soon as possible. I used vinegar to clean everything (not a fan of toxic products) and it worked wonders. I cannot get over that smell, it has to be the worst smell in the world! I had a mask on and it didn't help, I was very sick to my stomach and I think I still am...It may seem like there is no end but it does get better, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Good Luck! (10/03/2008) By Jenny RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House When using the peroxide, baking soda, dish soap to wash your pet, be sure to put Vaseline jelly around the eyes to make sure none of the mixture gets in the eyes. Quite painful, I'm told. (10/04/2008) By breadbag RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House I have 3 Siberian huskies that are inside/outside dogs. If anyone knows huskies, they like to hunt. So of course we have had a few run-ins with some skunks that have come onto our property. About a year ago, I bought BioWorld's BON-CC-41. It works the best. I can't keep my dogs from getting the skunks, but at least I don't have to stand the smell for long. I have a kiddie pool in my back yard so I just add the product to the pool, and wash them with the product and shampoo and it takes care of the problem! I'm a pro now at removing skunk smell, ha. (10/06/2008) http://www.adbio.com/pet/skunked.htm By Heather Removing Skunk Smell from House / Dog Greetings Support Group! I feel like I'm joining a meeting for skunked people and dogs! Like most of you, I just had my very first up-close-and-personal skunk experience -- of course at 5:30am when my husband let our two golden retrievers out before he left for work. Our younger dog, Mick, came bolting into the bedroom and began scraping his face on the area rug next to my side of the bed. The odor that launched me from the bed was unlike anything I'd ever experienced before! I quickly started to 'Google' while my husband panicked. I have to admit -- I found the solution to the smell on the dog on another site, but it worked fantastic. IN AN OLD PLASTIC MILK JUG -- About a half cup of dish detergent and a heavy pour of salt (I used kosher because I had a big box of it) -- fill the jug to make a half gallon of soapy water. Shake well and use the mixture to wash the dog. Mick just happens to be a very docile and obedient retriever and I was able to convince him to get into the shower with me (our downstairs shower is a double-wide with about a six-inch ledge to step over). I soaped him up good with the mixture. Got as close to his eyes as I dared. I rinsed him and let him sit under the water while I washed my own hair, etc. Sure, the bathroom got a good shower too when he shook off, but that was a much better alternative than the smell on the dog! I'm off to simmer some cider vinegar/cinnamon stix and maybe roast some coffee! (10/08/2008) By Deb RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House Deb with two goldens: ditto for me, last night, 9 p.m.(!) I let my two goldens out, went upstairs to change, and heard my big male let out a very unusual bark. I knew immediately what it was. Smaller female came running for the house with tail between legs and head down - knew she'd done something terribly wrong. Came into the house snorting and ran immediately into the living room to hide between the couch and ottoman/coffee table. Male had jumped the fence, so I had to cajole him back over. It's taken longer to type this than the whole episode took, but in that short time, Gidget (female) had made her way through the whole house, leaving a trail of vile stench. Tucker (male) luckily avoided the full-on hit. I had a bottle of the skunk odor remover stuff, which helped some. Then, into the tub she went. A couple of washings, and more rubbing the odor remover, and she was better this morning. But, oh!, how the house and any clothes that weren't in drawers or the closet reek... The suggestions about washing things with coke and cooking cinnamon/coffee grounds/nutmeg are SO helpful - that will be the next step tonight. It really is like a support group thing. "Hi, my name is Amy, and my dogs were skunked". Ugh! (10/08/2008) By Amy RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House 'Tis the season! I was elbow deep in a turtle tank last night when the call came in from a furious husband. Our rat terrier decided to hop-scotch a skunk and it frightened her under everyone's bed and who knows where else. I used the old trusty tomato juice. She's small, so we put her in a tote outside and rubbed her down in it. Brought her in and gave her a warm bath with Pantene in the tub - seemed to work for most of her. Her snout still reeks, but I am afraid to try to work that part for fear I'll drown her. The tomato juice worked great on my fat cat a couple of years ago when he got frisky with a skunk. He didn't appreciate the juice-in-tote bath, but reluctantly agreed. We've been airing out the house all night with candles going and the pellet stove. My mom is saving me some coffee grounds to roast after I get the kids off to school. I seriously hope it works on this smell in the house. Everything has been washed and it's like it comes in bursts. Ugh. (10/10/2008) By Smellanaberry - Howard City, Mi. RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House Yesterday, I noticed that a skunk was hit by a car and lying in the middle of the highway about a block away from my house. The smell is only going one way (the cars are driving over it are spreading the smell) and of course going in the direction of my house. All the windows are locked now, but the smell got in before we closed them and now everything smells. Does anyone know how long skunk smell lasts in the air outside? I try using all the methods listed for clothes, carpets, and rugs, but I cannot open my windows to air the smell out or hang anything outside to air out. Any advice would be great. Also, did anyone else notice that it seems as though items like tissues, toilet paper, and books also absorb the smell? (10/14/2008) RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House Mara my dog got sprayed on the 3rd of October and I posted my experience. I am happy to say that she is all better now and we just laugh at the thought of it. Although at the time it was not so funny! We thought it would be appropriate and extremely funny for her to be a skunk for Halloween. Just thought I'd share and add a bit of humor to this page. Good Luck!(10/15/2008) By Jenny RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House We have had skunks going under our house for over a year now. My husband has trapped 3 and killed them. Sometimes the smell is so bad in the house it makes me sick to my stomach. I have burned candles, used air fresheners, Febreeze, coffee grounds, vinegar and anything else you can think of. All of this just masks the odors, and mixed together it is sickening. We have bought 2 air purifiers and that helps some, but the smell is not gone completely. I've seen a couple of things on this site that I might use. Wish me luck. We're about ready to sell out and move on. (10/23/2008) By Victoria RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House White vinegar removes odors from the air if you set it out in small dishes. Yeah, the vinegar stinks, but not as bad as skunk and it absorbs the skunk odor well. White vinegar in your laundry gets rid of lots of odors; sweat, mildew, etc. (10/23/2008) By Regans97 RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House Hi, my name is Kathy and my dog has been skunked! This website is really helpful to me in both practical application and also therapeutic application! I arrived home from 8 hours of work and 5 hours of class to what I thought would be a pretty routine night. Quite the contrary! My hound dog Lucy, decided to chase a skunk, skunk bomb! She made a bee line for the slider and went directly under my bed (her den). We bathed her in peroxide, baking soda and liquid soap which helped her but the house is putrid! I am at work now and according to my office mate, I smell of skunk. What do I do? (10/28/2008) By Kathy Mac RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House Thank you so much for this site. My dog got sprayed this morning when he went to potty, ran into the house and just ruined the day. Both my children called home saying they smelled like skunk and had to change clothes. One is in the middle school, across town, the other further away in high school. I had just laid down trying to sleep and avoid that smell. After picking up my daughter we mixed the solution and bathed the dog with it, and with his shampoo. He smells great. The house is sprinkled with baking soda, and I'm boiling apples and allspice. I used Vaseline around his eyes before bathing the dog. Good luck guys, and I really appreciate this site. We now have to figure out how to get the smell from my husband's wool, and leather coat. (10/28/2008) By minnie RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House We were "skunked" early Sunday morning. We don't even know where the skunk hit, but it was the worst in the basement and came into the rest of the house, via, the vents. Today is Wednesday. The house still smells. We ordered an industrial strength ozone machine (400.00 plus 60.00 to ship overnight) and began using it yesterday. I couldn't stay out of the house for more than four hours, so that's all the first floor got. Tonight, the ozone machine is in the basement and we have the windows open upstairs so we can breathe. I hope this works. (10/29/2008) By Elizabeth RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House THANK YOU TO ALL WHO POSTED, you kept me sane this morning. Our dogs went out to use the potty at 5am. My dachshund was under the deck when she encountered a skunk. She started SCREAMING, like a baby, it sounded like she was dying. I opened the patio door to call to her when my Pomeranian started barking and chasing something across the yard. She ran in the house and dropped to the floor, rubbing her face on the carpet and rolling and "crying". The burnt rubber garlic smell was overwhelming. I had no idea that it didn't smell like what you smell when you pass by one on the road, at least not at first. I grabbed the affected dog (only one got hit) and put her in the tub and rubbed a can of tomatoes all over her (all I had in the house that I thought would work). Then when it didn't do anything, I found this site. I had just enough of the materials for one bath with the hydrogen peroxide bath solution. It worked wonders! She still stinks around the muzzle, but much better. I then went to the grocery store and loaded up on apple cider vinegar, coffee grounds, cinnamon sticks, apples, Vick's, more hydrogen peroxide (I am sure the check out girl was thinking what the HECK). I also reeked of skunk. I ran home and did the bowls of vinegar, put the coffee grounds in the oven on a baking sheet and boiled vinegar with apples and cinnamon on the stove. BETTER. I am going this afternoon to get replacement air filters and will be washing everything in cold water and bleach the rest of the day. The advice on this site is really helpful and it helps to know others have been here. I have called a wildlife solutions group that can hopefully humanely trap and release the skunk elsewhere, it isn't the skunks fault it is so stinky! Good luck to you all, I hope when I go to work this afternoon I don't stink people out. Oh, and it is Halloween. I told my daughter to dress up like a skunk for school and she would already have the smell ;) Good Luck and God Bless! The Kissicks (10/31/2008) By Kay RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House Our dog got sprayed in the face around 1:30 am this morning, and quickly made his way through the house and down to his bed in the basement before we could get to him. We got him into the garage (by pulling him and his bed out there), and got onto the internet. I was ready to go to the store for gallons of tomato juice when my husband found the baking soda/peroxide/liquid soap suggestion. We went with that and it worked. Within about 10 minutes, the smell on the dog was neutralized. The house is another story. After we got the dog taken care of, we lit Yankee candles (and any others we could find), and I febreezed every carpeted and upholstered surface. I had to put Vick's under my nose to fall asleep, and even that was a struggle. In the morning, my husband roasted his coffee and I simmered apples and cinnamon all day, while febreezing, lighting Glade and Febreeze candles, carpet freshening the carpets, and cleaning the hardwood floors with ammonia. It's now 2:00 p.m., roughly 13 hours after the skunk bomb, and my mother and neighbor came over and said all they smelled was candles. The dog has small traces of skunk smell on his nose, which I swab away with witch-hazel and baking soda. We bought him a new bed, and while I still can smell the skunk, others cannot. I'm sure I'll be able to smell it for weeks, but hopefully others won't. (10/31/2008) By Heather RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House Exactly the same thing happened to me tonight. My buddies and I were playing Rockband and we started smelling a skunk, then it progressed into the garlic, onion smell. My dog got sprayed, then came inside and started rubbing all over our carpet. No amount of Oust is satisfying. (10/31/2008) By Michael RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House I guess 10/31/08 was a good night for skunk bombs. My dog got hit last night as well. I don't think it was a direct hit but was still bad enough. This is a first for me. My wife and I started to smell the burnt rubber smell but didn't realize what it was until the dog had already been in the house for a while. I found the peroxide/baking soda/detergent mixture here and gave the dog a bath. It worked well except for his nose. I tried the witch-hazel mixture there and also some vinegar. It seems better now. As for the house, it was a combination of Febreeze, open windows, candles, steam cleaning the carpet, and washing clothes. I only seem to notice the smell in certain areas now. It's good to know I'm not alone in this. It's not fun. (11/01/2008) By Kevin RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House My Great Dane, Layla, was skunked last weekend and I have spent the past week getting the smell out of the house with candles, Febreeze, and Nature's Miracle. Luckily the weather was mild here last week and I was able to open some windows. I am going to try the bowls of vinegar throughout the house because every once in a while I get a whiff of skunk, especially when opening closets and cupboards. As for Layla, I used tomato juice and dog shampoo on her and that seemed to work. I still smell skunk around her mouth, so I am going to try some vinegar and water in that area. What a nightmare! (11/07/2008) By Kelley RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House Thank you for all the tips! I put my dog out at 2:30 am last night and there was a skunk, basically waiting, about a foot and a half from the back door. Got hit instantly. It stinks, so now I'm off to the grocery store for all the recommended items. My roommates are less than thrilled, the entire house smells. Oh well, what can you do? This should be a 'cheap' grocery bill. (11/11/2008) RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House My dog got skunked last week, it was a horrible experience. My first time. I came on this page and did some other research and found a product from BioWorld Products called BON-CC-41 that worked AWESOME. I had tried some of the other methods. The peroxide method worked okay but I really didn't wash my dog around the face because of the risks it has. It really only lessened the smell but I could still smell the skunk. I ordered the BON overnight, which was pricey but worth it! I washed by dog with the solution like they had instructed me to. I added a little to my bath water and also to the shampoo I was using. I was surprised at how well it actually worked. I noticed a difference right away. I also like the fact that I could use the product around the house as well. I washed all my floors with the product and even added it to my laundry to get rid of the skunk smell in my towels. Unlike some of the other products, I can also use it for other things around the house so it won't just go to waste! This product saved my life. http://www.adbio.com/pet/skunked.htm (11/12/2008) By Elliot RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Ok guys, here is the best solution I have found. My lab got sprayed for the very first time 3 nights ago. So you guys know how hideous the smell was. I have a very sensitive "sniffer" so needless to say, it was not good. I was about to pack and get a hotel room until my husband saved the night. He used his hunting "Premo no scent shampoo and body wash" on the dog and it worked wonders. Got the smell right off of her even though it was 3 in the A.M. and it was a half effort job. Still has a little odor around her face, but we will re bathe her today. As for the house, we used "NO SCENT" spray on the furniture and clothes. You can get both these products at Bass PRO Shops or any hunting goods store. We also use "Renuzit Super Odor Eliminator" from Home Depot for only 20 dollars. A whole lot cheaper than $120/ night hotel room. Those 3 things with lots of candles and fresh air, you will have your house back to normal in no time. Oh, and we tried the vinegar also. UGHH! Coffee beans were much better. Try this guys, it works. (11/24/2008) By Kay RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House I forgot to mention that along with the products from the hunting goods store, you can buy a box of BOUNCE dryer sheets and put several sheets in each dresser drawer and in between your clothes that are hanging up. It's amazing how it completely eliminates any skunk odor from your clothes! (11/24/2008) By Kay RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House What is it with the coffee grounds? What does that do? How are they used? And the vinegar in the separate bowls? I yelled at a cute little skunk in my laundry room and it sprayed the laundry room (which adjoins my kitchen/house) just the other day. Now my entire home stinks, thus so does my clothes, my purse, stuff in my freezer, etc. What will the coffee grounds in the oven do? I have set out a skunk trap (it came through the cat door) and I have locked the cat door for the time being. (11/26/2008) By shades RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House I am going through the same thing as all you folks. My dog blasted 2 nights ago under my back porch. I cannot get rid of the smell under the porch, I guess when "pepe le pew" sprayed it went every where up in my wood floor. How do I get rid of the smell? Please help, I can't even sit and watch football on Thanksgiving in my house. IT STINKS. Any ideas? (11/27/2008) By Steve RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House Okay, misery does love company. I feel so much better after reading the information on this site. I am actually laughing instead of crying. Last night my husband, son, and I all lay awake thinking we smelled skunk. We finally all got up and proceeded to search the house. We found the strongest smell was in our basement. I shut down the furnace, as I thought it was starting to smell like burning rubber. My husband called the fire department and before we knew it about 12 firemen were at our house. They said they smelled skunk from the end of our driveway (we have a long driveway) and then they were smelling garlic. We had eaten dinner out that night. They checked everywhere and convinced us that it must have been a skunk. Sure enough, the one night our cat was out a little late, he must have gotten in the line of fire, as shortly after the fire trucks left I let him in and he had a yellowish area on his leg where his fur is usually impeccably white. He smells strange, kind of chemical-like. Anyway, I grew up on a farm, but I don't think one can ever be prepared for something like this. I will give the ideas from this site a try. Thanks to all. (12/01/2008) By Angela in NJ RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House Hey. We have this trap door full with sand in it and we think our new neighbors are scaring this skunk my mom sees every day at 5 in the morning. And we also think they are living in the trap door. We are afraid to check, like they might jump out at us. We had the same problem with raccoons. They pooped near the trap door. My sister and I (don't know about my brother) went to school smelling like skunk. We are very embarrassed. But it's kinda good to know you're not alone in this situation. Tomorrow is my birthday and I don't wanna smell at school so I wanna stay home in the funk. We read about some other people's experiences so right now we are putting small dishes of white Vinegar where we smell it most. Hopefully it works, otherwise I'm not going to school tomorrow. The guys at my school (well most of them) are very rude about the smell. But I have a lot of friends to help me out. And I smell everything that people smell too. I put lotion on our vent and that smells a little bit better. HELP US! (12/10/2008) By Deanna RE: Removing Skunk Smell from House I had the same ordeal as Angela in NJ. The first odor I smelled was skunk, then Garlic, and then some indescribable smell. I too, called the fire department who also (from the street) informed me that I had been introduced to skunk. They laughed, and called the animal control officer over. My basement is ground level to the street, but the crawlspace between the basement and house is where the animal control officer thinks he is. She said that the smell really won't ever go away, and will permeate our clothing and upholstery. She recommended washing our clothes in a vinegar and water douche, and if we find the spot where he sprayed, washing that in vinegar. She also said that soaking rags in Banana extract and setting them in bowls around the house should help alleviate the stench. In four days we are having company over for Christmas... should be interesting! (12/14/2008) By Kaytee C. Report Spam or Abuse Request: Removing Skunk Smell from House Archived on 09/30/2008 My dog got sprayed last night at 1 a.m. and I brought her in to wash her eyes and now my house smells awful! Is the vinegar everyone puts out white vinegar or apple cider vinegar? I put out bowls of white vinegar last night and it is not helping! It doesn't help that it is very humid out and I don't know if I should open my windows or not! Laura from MI Answers: RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House If worse comes to worst, and you just can't get rid of the skunk stench via the regular means, check the Yellow Pages for one of those cleaning companies that gets rid of the smell of fires, etc. They have ozone machines they can leave running, which will get rid of just about any smell. Good luck. Just driving NEAR where a skunk has been is bad enough. I can't imagine a direct hit. Gag!! (07/02/2008) By WildIrish RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House My dog got sprayed and he killed the skunk right outside our living room window. The house reeked! Luckily I found this site. The unused coffee grounds worked for me. The vinegar didn't seem to do anything. The dog also needs a redo. I mustn't have cleaned him good enough the first time. (07/04/2008) By Karen RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House You HAVE to try this! Vicks on your Nose! After experiencing this first hand, my husband let me in on a little trick. He's a fireman first responder and when they have a scene that is a little rancid (body been there a while, etc). They use Vicks Vaporub in their noses. He got tired of me tossing and gagging last night and suggested I try it if I could deal with the Vick's smell. You are darn right I can. I slathered it on the end of my nose and I was able to get some sleep. Finally! I had to refresh it a couple times but that was so much better than smelling the putrid stench of a skunk's back end! Hope this helps someone. Torry (07/04/2008) By Mystic-B RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House I'm so glad I found this site. I thought I was the only person that had this problem! My house was impacted on July 4 when a skunk sprayed my air conditioner. The odor came through the vents all at once. I had a cookout the next day and got through it with Fabreeze and lots of air (neither one is working today). Baking soda alone is working somewhat on the carpets, but I'll try the mixture I see on this site for the walls. Coffee grinds sound interesting too. I'm on my way to the store. I'll post my results. Thanks! (07/08/2008) By Tricia RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Thank you all for this tips. I put a bowl of cider vinegar in each room then I put the organic ground coffee on a pan. I heat it up on the stove for 2 minutes and the house smells like coffee right away. I let out my 2 girls(yellow lab) last night at around 11pm, which we don't normally let them out at this hour, but when one of them came back inside the house, she smelled terribly awful. My husband knew right away that she got sprayed by a skunk so he panicked and asked me to bring her outside the garage, which I did. I also learned from a dog spa to give your pet a bath once they got sprayed and so I did. I washed her with a "pearl of milk bath" for 3 times and the "skunk-smell" on her face is gone. When I dried her I could still smell her a bit on her right cheek, so i wiped it with a cider vinegar and it works wonders. Thank you all for this awesome site and thank you all for your "organic-tips". God bless on this site. aggie/steve 070908 3am (07/09/2008) By aggiesteve Thank You My dog was sprayed again about an hour ago. The first time we tried the tomato juice. It worked temporarily but then the smell got worse. Almost like rotting tomatoes so off to the groomer we went. This time I was prepared I used the peroxide/soap/baking soda mix. It worked great. The problem was she had made it into the house. She rubbed on her bed so I immediately washed that. I boiled a pot of vinegar and put a bowl of it in each room. I also put dryer sheets under each vent. So far so good. I will let some fresh air in tomorrow to help. At least I can sleep. The smell at first was unbearable. (07/18/2008) By Cheryl RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House My dog got sprayed last night. What happened next was she raced into the house and dragged her face and body across the carpet. Unbelievable, can anyone help with getting the smell out of the carpet, I have used baking soda and shook it all over the carpert. I already washed my dog with the Dawn, baking soda and Hydrogen Peroxide. That was wonderful advice. Thank you (07/22/2008) By Brenda RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House There is a product called Odor Neutralizer that can get rid of skunk smells and it is safe on animals. I use it all round my house. I have never personally used it on skunks but I did read there customer comments and there was a customer who got rid of the skunk smell using the product! http://www.adbio.com/odor/odor-control.htm (07/23/2008) By JoniB RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Our Golden Retriever got skunked last night around midnight. When she came running in the house my husband asked me to come smell the garage, because there was a strange smell. Then we started darting all over the house trying to locate the source- it smelled like something was burning and my 9 mo. old daughter was sleeping upstairs, so needless to say I was paniced. Then it started to smell like garlic- weird! Finally we figured out that it was the dog! Is this what it smells like when your dog gets skunked? YEP! So we confined her to the garage- called the emergency vet to make sure the peroxide mix was safe and went to the store to buy a bunch of peroxide. We mixed 3 batches of the solution (she is a big dog) soaked her twice rinsing in between and then washed with her regular soap. Worked great! We also used coffee grounds in the house and opened the windows- also seems to have worked! Anyway the recipe for one batch is: 1 quart hydrogen peroxide, 1/4 cup baking soda and 1 teaspoon dish soap (I just squirted some without measuring). Good luck! (07/24/2008) By Amy RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House My 2 labs were sprayed by a skunk last night, and it happened right on my back porch and all my windows and doors were open to the house. The dogs came running in immediately and began rubbing their faces on the ground. IMMEDIATELY. I smelled a HORRIBLE smell, not the regular skunk smell. Like burning rubber or the strongest garlic smell ever, so bad I was gagging and my eyes were all red. I quick came online and found the peroxide/baking soda/dawn solution, and it worked great on them. Took the smell away. I washed them both twice with it, and let the solution sit on them for about 10 minutes before washing it off. NOW the big problem is...my entire home smells. I have no idea how to get rid of it. I am going to try the vinegar and coffee grounds. I hope it works! I was so paranoid to come to work today thinking everyone would smell me. Oh and I got no sleep last night because the smell was stuck in my nose.THIS was a HORRIBLE experience :( (07/25/2008) By skunked in PA RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Coffee works! Our dog got skunked for the second time just now and although I only let him into the house for about 5 seconds before I realized what had happened, the house STUNK to high heaven. I cooked some coffee grinds on the stove for a few minutes and immediately noticed a difference in my kitchen. I put a few bowls around the smelly areas of the house and just a few minutes later my husband and son came in. They couldn't smell any skunk smell in the house! The baking soda, vinegar, and detergent solution worked wonders on the dog, too. Pain in the neck, but at least there's something that works well and quickly! One thing is crucial - attack the smell IMMEDIATELY. The first time I wasn't there and my son let the dog in for a few minutes. Doggy darling rubbed the skunk oil an anything he came in contact with and it left the house stinky for days. (08/02/2008) By Cindy RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House I have been doing a lot of research online about this. This site has the information all together. http://www.adbio.com/pet/skunked.htm The tomato juice and vinegar have been methods for a long time but they are not very good ones. They only mask the odor, they do not get rid of it. There was another homemade remedy online I found but it said it could explode and to avoid the pets face, where it most likely got sprayed. I don't know about you but I would not want to use a product like that on my dog. BioWorld Products has a great product to ELIMINATE the skunk odor. It works on everything. You can even add it to your wash when you do your laundry. You can spray it all around the house and your pet. It is natural and very safe! You should keep this product around your house in case it ever happenes again. It would even be worth it to get it now for your pet, even though you would have to wait a couple of days to get it because most products will reduce the smell but this one will eliminate it. So you can use the other products to get you through the worst of it if you don't have this product on hand and then use this product to eliminate the smell! (08/12/2008) RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Thank you all so much - we also found ourselves with a skunk stinky JRT headed back in the house. He got as far as the laundry room, and we knew something was wrong. That was around 10pm. We used the 1 quart Hydrogen Peroxide, 1/4 cup baking soda, and a splash (5ml) of Dawn and washed him first with Dog Shampoo in the laundry room tub. It helped, but even though Bandit did not rub on anything - the house smells AWFUL! We boiled coffee ground, and lit a bunch of candles. Started getting queezy from the multitude of smell, but as soon as we shut off the boiling coffee, it started to stink of skunk again. Poor dog is in his crate out in the garage. I feel so bad for him, he was so scared. I just did the boiled vinegar (did not have cider vinegar, so used regular with a cut up apple in it); walked around the house with it, and then poured it into bowls. Seems to be working pretty well. It's now almost 1am. This is worse than I ever imagined - thanks for this "support group" I feel like we will get through it. (08/18/2008) By Vicki RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Used tomato juice as a first response. No good. Peroxide, dawn, and baking soda...great! For the rancid garlic smell (which was odd, we smelled skunk when we didn't see our dog for 10 minutes, but once inside, garlic.) coffee and vinegar around the house are working so far. I have a Lab, and I have noticed that there is a history of labs doing this, so be aware! (08/19/2008) By lollipops mom RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House This has been the worst experience of my life. I think I have handled seeing my husband off to war better than I have handled the past 24 hours. I went out with the dog, as I have been doing ever since they shot a cougar in the city, and she was darting in the bushes, I hear the strangest noise and it was instantaneous random horrible stench. I was scared and brought her in the backdoor but it only took a few seconds for my husband to yell SKUNK and take her back out. We called the emergency vet and got the magic solution and I hit the store at 11pm to get everything. We did the wash 2 times, and she was miserable with the cold hose water. We did the bath again today, and added the beer and a dash of vanilla extract as recommended way above, and it seems to have helped except for the one spot we think was the hit spot. The best thing for the house was just to air it out all day. We both stayed home from work to take care of it all. I've also been boiling the vinegar and my friend just came over and said all she could smell was vinegar. VERY IMPORTANT - if you are outside with your dog at any point of this, do not wear the same shoes in the house. This is how we think the smell really got in, but cleaning the tile floors with the same solution and lots of air freshner. The dog will definitely be on a leash at night for a good while. Too scary! (08/20/2008) By Katie RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House OMG thank you everyone for the suggestions! my Saturday to sleep in and at 6A my husband heard a scuffle in the back yard and a YIPE and saw the little skunk running along the fence line. The two pups promptly jumped in bed with me :( The peroxide, baking soda, dish soap works wonders. So far in the house 3 hours later the vinegar dishes in every room, fans going with open windows is working as well. Thanks for the VICKS suggestion, hubby has been puking all morning. With that picture in mind, pup #3 puked all over in the excitement too! Is 9A too early for a cocktail? (08/23/2008) By Sally and Tim RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Well, here I am just like everyone else, wide awake at 0100am, quitely reminicing about the "PEPE' la PUE" smell that my collie beheld 2 hours ago. We have lived here for 8 yrs and never a problem. However, tonight as I was having a "boo hoo moment" thinking "it can't get any worse," in comes my collie smelling like burnt garlic. At first (as she is running about the room) I thought my neighbors were BBQ-ing, then I realized the smell was skunk. It's doesn't smell like the dead ones on the side of the road either. The house smelled terrible. Thank goodness for internet. I googled this problem and luckly found this site. Full of helpful information, I tried all the suggested remedies, the baking soda/vinegar/H3C02/dishwashing liquid worked the best. I did not have tomato juice so I added water to crushed tomatoes and added an apple to white vinegar. So far my house still smells but is getting better. My collie wasn't too fond of the cold midnight bath, and she looked humiliated doused in tomatoes, but she now realizes the consequences of playing with that cat, and may not be so eager next time. :) The positive out of all of this is the smell is gone, my mood is lighter and now I think I will have myself a Bloody Mary and call it a night. (08/23/2008) By Smelly Cat RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House My dog got skunked like all the other ones a week ago. I tried the tomato juice but it just made my dog smell like skunk and tomatoes and she looked like a pizza (she is a blonde lab)! The peroxide remedy seems to dangerous since it sprayed my dogs face. Honestly, with all the cautions that come with that solution, I don't feel safe using it on "my baby!" I actually ordered that BioWorld Odor Neutralizer from a comment below and it worked the best! After a couple of bathes with it the dog didn't smell at all! She got in the house so I had to shampoo the carpets but I added that solution to the carpet cleaner and it got the smell right out! It took a couple of days to get shipped to me but luckily it hasn't been to hot the past few days so I just left all the windows open and avoided the house! I had even tried febreeze but that didn't help either. The odor neutralizer is a true blessing! (08/26/2008) By Rebecca RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House THANK YOU to everyone on this site! My CAT wrestled with a skunk on my front porch. Before I knew what was happening I opened the door and Sullie ran in and hit every room in the house in a panic! My house, clothes, curtains, furniture reeked for 2-3 days! I used the baking soda/peroxide/dawn on the cat (Well- to anyone who has ever tried to bathe a cat---I TRIED) To no avail- he went to the groomer and had to be shaved and bathed several times. The baking soda on everything helped as well as the Orange Citrus Natural spray. BUT-- the only thing that really works is fresh air. I have bowls of baking soda and coffee in every corner of the house!! I am still doing the 25 loads of laundry and my daughter moved to her father's for the week! It is devastating to say the least. I cried for 24 hours while washing, cleaning and bit&*(%$!!! If this ever happens again---it will be easier to sell the house and MOVE! But I do see the light at the end of the tunnel as I grabbed a Coors light and tackled the rest of this laundry. Hang in there! Misery loves company! (08/26/2008) By Kelly from NY RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House My dog just got sprayed by a skunk! It is 12:11 A.M and we have been cleaning for almost two hours! The smell is still in the house! We have been using the peroxide and it seems to be working we also but vinegar around and we also boiled some coffee grounds and so far it is starting to go away! The dog is in the garage and I don't even want to smell the garage in the morning! Well My mom is done so now got to go get more vinegar! I HOPE IT WORKS! (08/26/2008) By Britani Eaton RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House My lab got skunked directly in the face! This was in the middle of the night, of course, and with his access to a dog door, he came inside and the stench woke me up. He got nailed a few years ago also. The best thing for your dog is to find a pet grooming place ASAP and have him professionally cleaned and de-skunked. It may cost you $30-$40 bucks but it's worth it! Buddy smells wonderful now. As for furniture, I washed everything that was washable 3 times each. As with other suggestions posted here, fresh air is very good. (08/27/2008) By Dave RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Oh My Gosh! 5:30am, felt like a smack in the face awakened me....oh, so bad!! My poor blue heeler got nailed, ran through the doggie door and boy does my house reek! My vet opens in less than an hour, I can't bathe her, (just had neck surgery) so I'm very limited as to what I can do. She's locked outside now, and I put that arm and hammer pet carpet stuff on the carpet and furniture and let that set and vacuumed it up. Helped for about 10 minutes. Then I sprayed the heck out of the house with "air neutralizer" and that helped a little, but I'm thinking I'm in big trouble. Supposed to have a small social gathering at my house this morning and already canceled it. Any hope to get that stench out of the house? I live in Arkansas and it's in the 90's with major humidity, so keeping the house open is out of the question. Thanks in advance and God bless! (08/29/2008) By Julie RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House I saw an episode on Myth Busters and they were experimenting with the most effective ways to get skunk smell off - tomato juice is a myth. It doesn't help. Just plain old soap and water proved to be more effective. Also, in the show, they couldn't get the skunk to even squirt them, even after taunting it and poking it with a stick. They finally gave up and just bought skunk "juice" and poured on themselves for their experiment. The "myth" turned out being - skunks are actually very reluctant to spray. (08/31/2008) By David E RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Our Chocolate Lab was sprayed early this morning, what a day! Lot's of good advise on the internet. Luckily I had a bottle of Skunk Off and cleaned her nose & mouth with vinegar and then used Summer Breeze Douche which seemed to help and is more gentle for the face. CAUTION if leaving coffee grounds around the house for smell, i have read that coffee grounds are fatal to cats if ingest. (09/04/2008) By Katherine RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Just wanted to thank everyone for those suggestions. I was in tears before I came in here to read. Think I'll go have that cocktail now. LOL. Thanks again. (09/06/2008) By rsebd47 Forget the Smell - How Do You Get Rid of the Skunks "Someone" (no one is fessing up) left the garage door open, later shut it, and unknowingly trapped a skunk inside. Our Yorkie and I went out in garage; she went nuts, found the skunk. OMG - I don't have to describe anything further - all y'all know. I read the blogs on this site - started out for the store. With a skunk in the garage, I went out the front door-only to be met by TWO skunks. I was a prisoner in my own house! I found a roman candle and "shot" my way out. So forget the smell, I want to get rid of the little guy. ANY ADVICE? BTW-I checked with a local wildlife company, they charge $250 to set traps out for 3 days--checking each day--you pay whether or not they get any skunks. $250 will buy a lot of roman candles. (09/07/2008) By Donna RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House I was desperate about 2 hours ago when my dog got sprayed by a skunk! I heard a noise, looked out the window and then the smell came! I immediately shut my large picture windows, left the dog outside and ran for my computer to figure out what to do! Thanks for the great advice! The peroxide seems to be working. I have since reopened my widows because the smell inside was worse than the smell outside - my poor pooch will be quarantined in the garage unitl morning, though, until I figure out how badly he still smells. Right now my nose is saturated and everything smells! But thanks for the helpful advice in the middle of the night! (09/07/2008) By Becky RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House My Dog got sprayed by a skunk tonight. The baking soda, dish soap, and hydrogen peroxide really helps. I bathed her and let it soak on her for about 15 minutes before rinsing. The smell is off her but as for the rest of my house, I'm still working on that. Hopefully some of your suggestions will help. ~THANK YOU~! (09/08/2008) By Sarah IMPORTANT tip! Hello! My dog got into a skunk and stupidly I took her upstairs to get a bath. My house smelled REALLY bad. My brother got some febreeze pet odor eliminator spray. With the windows way more open than normal and spraying the febreeze everywhere it helped, just FYI. (09/09/2008) By Schmitt RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House A tip on getting the smell out of the house, out of the doggy bed, etc: Being an ex-smoker, I happened to have a can of Zep Smoke Eliminator on hand. It did wonders for neutralizing the stench in the house. It also neutralized the odors on the doggy bed. Just beware that pets shouldn't be around when you spray it, as the mist can act as an irritant (it's pretty strong). (09/10/2008) By Ingo RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House I woke up at 6:00 a.m. to let my minature poodle out and all of a sudden I saw him streaking across the yard and I couldn't see what he was after. I heard a horrific squeal (thinking my dog attacked a rabbit) and so I started frantically hollering for him. After a short while he came to the house following something, which I soon came to realize was a skunk. As it was dark outside I couldn't tell it wa a skunk until it was right at my doorstep. I woke my husband up who proceed to wash the dog with tomato sauce (as we had no tomato juice) and while he was doing that I went online to check for remedies to get rid of the smell. I found the hydrogen peroxide/baking soda/dish soap recipe to wash the dog with and made it, It seemed to work better than the tomato sauce. I then proceeded to follow other suggestions to de-smell the hosue and used baking soda and coffee grounds aorund the house along with many burning candles. I also put a pot of water boiling on the stove with coffee grounds in it and that seemed to work. We also opened all the windows and once the outside fresh air came in it really got rid of the smell. I tried boiling vinegar on the stove but that smell was almost worse (too strong) than the skunk smell. We will know for sure when our kids wake up if it still smells or not. (09/14/2008) By Judy RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House On Monday night, my dog, Jade, was sprayed by a skunk for the first time. I had no idea what to do until I came to this site! I tried pretty much EVERYTHING. I tried the tomato juice but it didn't work and made a huge mess. I tried that perioxide solution but it didn't get rid of all the odor. I ended up calling BioWorld and getting their BON-CC-41. It was recommended by someone a few comments down and I was pretty desperate. Although I had to pay for overnight shipping, it was well worth it! I bathed my dog once with the product and the smell was gone! I was also afraid that I would have to throw away my favorite jeans because they WREAKED of skunk but I washed them with the odor neutralizer they gave me and it did the trick! I would HIGHLY recommend this product to anyone who has skunk odor problems. http://www.adbio.com/pet/skunked.htm (09/18/2008) By Kendal RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House It's been a week now since my dog was skunked. All of the ideas here are a good way to make it through the first few horrible days. Here is what I know worked for sure. 1. Open the windows and turn the fans on. Keeping the air moving helps a lot. 2. Don't use Febreeze or Oust - it just makes a perfumed skunk smell. I purchased ZEB air freshener at Home Depot. It is for removing smoking odors so it worked really well. 3. Do not waste your money on Skunk-Off or any of those products. The perioxide/baking soda/soap mixture works. It worked on my dog, on my carpets and in the shower where I bathed her. I tried these other products and ended up using the peroxide mixture afterwards. It seems horrible at first, but it will get better in about a week. Good luck! (09/22/2008) By Diane RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House There is a revolutionary new technology called "Room Shocker" that facilitates the use of chlorine dioxide for home and car interiors. It"s the strongest biocide known to man. It will safely and easily eliminate any severe odor including Skunk, mold and mildew, bacteria, cigarette and cigar smoke, pet urine, vomit, soured milk, etc. It will also decontaminate the environment in the process by destroying dangers pathogens, spores, bacteria, fungi that can cause disease. You can get it on a website called Biocidesystems.com (09/22/2008) By fbender RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House So it is now 12:30 a.m. and you all know the story...dog goes out; dog is dumb; dog gets sprayed by skunk; owners are dumber; dog comes in the house. Our pugahuahua, Gypsy, is all of 8 pounds and gets sprayed in the face. Wow! Skunk smell is NASTY! I am gagging & feeling nauseated so thinking quickly I put Vick's vapor rub in my nose which helped tremendously! Even though the kids were sleeping I did the same for them. I call our emergency vet & get the ingredients to the magic shampoo. Off my hubby goes to Walgreen's to pick up the essentials; baking soda, peroxide & dawn detergent. Per the emergency vet, we also purchased saline solution (Gentle eyes) to clean out her eyes - better to be proactive. The solution worked great! She stinks around her eyes as we were careful not to get the homemade shampoo around her eyes, but the rest of her smells great! We let the shampoo set for 15 minutes; 15 minutes is a long time to be kneeling on the floor staring at your dog. We rinsed her and then shampooed her again this time letting it set for only about 5 minutes. She's quarantined to our bathroom. I can't let our baby sleep in the garage. We have all the windows open and all the fans on. Reading some of this feedback - which was great! - we did the boiling of vinegar along with apples & cinnamon. This is very important so please pay close attention. This works great only if you do the following: In a pot, pour vinegar, diced apples & cinnamon sticks & bring to a boil with the lid on the pot. Once it is boiled, then walk into each room chanting "Skunk smell be gone!" 3 times while opening the lid & walking in a clockwise circle. It is very important that you do the chant THREE times or it will not work. After you're done with the voodoo, open up a bottle of tequila & do a shot or two - amazingly the smell is almost gone! Good luck & God Bless! (09/23/2008) By Maria & Dave from Chicago RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Yuck! What a stink. My cat got sprayed and my husband let her in. Took her to the tub to be washed. What a show. She still stinks and my house is awful I tried all the suggestions and nothing is helping and we all smell now too. I am a teacher and my students are getting a kick out of it anyway. I have thrown everyting that was in the bathroom away. It helped a bit and got a product at the local hardware store called "skunk kleen" for pet and house. Not sure it is helping. The cat is hiding outside since I sprayed her down with it. My house may be a bit better. Good luck. Just remember you can not smell it after a while and YOU MAY SMELL TOO! (09/29/2008) By mainemom Report Spam or Abuse Request: Removing Skunk Smell From House Archived on 06/30/2008 My 2 labs were sprayed by a skunk 3 days ago and my entire house and everything in it smells like skunk. My father-in-law is coming for a visit in less than a week and I don't know how to get rid of this smell. Clothes, coats, purses, book bags. Are all of these things ruined? Shelly from Worden, Illinois Answers: RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Febreze works well in the house for skunk odor. It may need a repeat spraying. Wiping a pet's face with vinegar water helps remove skunk odor. (03/01/2008) By takelababy RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Skunk spray contains an oil which is why it clings so well to whatever it touches. Washing items in a combination of soap and vinegar wter usually does a good job, then air dried. (03/01/2008) By takelababy RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Thanks for the helpful hints. Two suggestions: The Hydorgen Peroxide-Dawn-baking soda works well; and also place bowls of coffee grounds - unused is better but used is ok. The coffee grounds absorb the smell. Better to have your house smell like Starbucks than skunk. (03/01/2008) By Louise RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House 4:00 this morning I awoke to a horrendous odor. A skunk must have sprayed outside my open bedroom window. I tried burning candles, but worried that if I fell aspleep again the house would burn down. And if you burn incense, make sure it isn't under a smoke alarm, or being tired and cranky will be the least of your problems. I have vinegar boiling on the stove, and a baking pan of coffee grounds in the oven. 5 minutes, all gone. And I used the yucky old flavored coffee that everyone gives me as gifts (that I abhor!) so it smells like Chocolate and Coffee. Yummy. (03/07/2008) By AuPouvoir RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House and dog This is the second time it's happened to us at 2-4:00 am and must I say, I never wanted to smell that awful, gag reflex smell again, and I'm sure neither did our Austrian Shepherd, Duke, although this time he wasn't just curious, he was doing his duty to protect us, and the bag of trash outside. This time wasn't as bad for him because he must have realized his error at the last second and turned, because this time instead of receiving the blessing in the eye, he got it on the tail end. Go figure. The skunk either had bad aim, or Duke's reflexes have improved. Anyway, my husband let him in unknowingly again, just like I did before, until he began rubbing himself on the carpet, just like last time right under my nose. Immediately we went into De-skunking mode. Duke ran to the tub, and my husband starting getting the supplies, the vinegar, the shampoo, and the baking soda. As I deskunked Duke, he worked with carpet supplies on the carpet, lit candles, and put vinegar and coffee grounds in EVERY ROOM. This does work although it does take up to a week depending on how bad your animal and house were penetrated. A COUPLE MORE TIPS-- I found the last time that using Hazelnut Popourri helps to highlight the coffee smell in a little more appealing way, as well as, using fabric sheets in your furnace heat vents. Every single one of them, will put off a wonderful fragrance when your furnace runs, and they are made for heat because you use them in the dryer. So if you have floor vents just pick your favorite fragrance, and put 1-2 between the floor and the vent, this definitely helps deodorize from the skunk, the coffee, and the vinegar. Because if your not careful, you'll go from skunk to that wonderful vinegar smell throughout your house in a week or so.. Just remember it does get better and will eventually go completely away until the next time. It makes me literally sick thinking about it. One more thing that helped me was chewing gum or a cough drop the night of, because after you've been that close to the natural oil of a skunk, you have it, in every pore, every sinus crevis, every taste bud, and it's there for a couple of days, unless you take action, and the action I took, was using a strong cough drop w/ vapors to help cleanse my sinuses, and mouth, as well as a strong flavored gum. Good Luck, and God Bless, (don't think I haven't questioned God on "Why Skunks anyway, Lord?") (03/15/2008) By Michele, OH RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House We had a a skunk attach last night and after reviewing all the web info we ended up using a mixture of mouthwash and laundry detergent. Threw in a bit of vinegar right on the spot where she was hit, used an oatmeal dog shampoo with a touch of my eucalyptus oil & dried her. Smelling the spot this a.m. you cannot tell there was ever an incident. (03/20/2008) By Nancy RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Thank God for this site! Just came home from a rare evening out with the hubby (3 have three little kids) and as soon as we pulled into the driveway I could smell it. Then came in the house and the smell was worse! The babysitter let the dog in after he got sprayed! His bed is in our room so of course that is the worst of the whole house. This happened one other time at our old house and it was miserable! Anyway, it is 1:17 am and I too am making a list of everything to buy tomorrow. Will spend the day cleaning everything I guess. I'll post again to let everyone know how it went. Someone else said it best - this is like a support group. It really does feel so much better to know that you all have felt this pain! (06/27/2008) By Shannon RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House The Peroxide/Baking Soda/Detergent recipe works great on dog, our family has been using it for over 10 years, BUT, after the last attack I am having difficulties getting the oil/smell out of the carpet. The smell in the house has lessened after putting baking soda on the carpet. Any ideas on how to extract the smell totally from the carpet? (06/27/2008) By Sharon RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Thank you all! This site just saved my sanity! It is 3:00am...four hours ago our dog took several steps outside and met a skunk head on. He was skunked full face...Riley was frothing at the mouth, eyes almost shut. We were able to grab him as he tried to barrel back into the house so he only got two feet into the back entry, but the skunk was directly under the kitchen and bedroom windows (all wide open of course) and the dog was left in the garage, so like many of you, I am dealing with the dog and the house...called Emergency Vet...she had us rinse his eyes with contact saline solution. She also suggested peroxide bath, it does work (thank goodness for 24 hour Walgreens)! The dog is in better shape than the house. Thank you for all your tips! The house at the moment, is bearable. I have vinegar and cinnamon, candles, cofee grounds all at work. Have also put out bowls of vinegar and baking soda. We will see what the morning brings! (06/27/2008) By deb RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Ok, I posted before and now I am again to say that the peroxide/baking soda/dishwashing detergent bath really works! I will say that if you have a bigger dog, do a double recipe. Our dog is 75+ lbs and it took 2 baths and then another dose right on the chest where he got hit and now he is happily back in the house with the family. Still working to get rid of the smell in the house by where the attack took place. (06/28/2008) By Shannon. Report Spam or Abuse Request: Removing Skunk Smell From House Archived on 02/25/2008 I need advice for ridding skunk odors in the home. Cinda from Clyde, Ohio Answers: RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Because this is so long, I'm reposting the Peroxide, Baking Soda, Dish Soap mixture: The only thing that really works is a quart of peroxide with a quarter cup of baking soda and a teaspoon of dish soap. Mix it up and use immediately on pet. Around the house this solution may bleach some things so be careful but walls and floors should be okay to wash. (02/27/2006) By Zoe(/quote) (06/27/2007) By ThriftyFun RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House To order over the Internet or by telephone, X-O ODOR NEUTRALIZER CALIFORNIA VETERINARY SUPPLY www.calvetsupply.com 1800-366-3047 (06/27/2007) By BABBIE RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Put some vinegar in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Then go all through the house with the pan. This works pretty good for me. Joanie (06/29/2007) By Joanie RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Seems like the best way to get the whole-house benefit of using coffee would be to roast some. When my Mom roasts her coffee, she buys green coffee beans and then roasts them for a (couple hours?) and it fills the house with heavenly coffee smell. You could buy lightly-roasted pale coffee and roast it to dark. I don't even drink coffee, but I keep the grounds on hand and put some in a dry pan, to roast on the stovetop for a few minutes, just because I totally love the aroma! Sorry to hear all the really painful stories, I had no idea what that was like! God bless every poor dog and owner out there! (06/29/2007) By Kim Ch RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Our yorkie attacked a skunk at three in the morning. I previously heard that cinnamon mouthwash worked great for removing the smell. Well it worked wonders! My yorkie doesn't smell at all. We just washed him in the cinnamon mouth wash. (07/07/2007) By henry RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House I did the boil vinegar and walk around the house thing while making coffee... and burning candles.. so far so good! (07/23/2007) By cristina removing skunk smell The baking soda/peroxide/dawn mixture is the only way to go!! I work for an animal shelter and we recommend this all the time. You may also want to consider putting an eye ointment in to protect the eyes, not only from the skunk spray, but also from the bath. My lab/hound mix got hit right in the face, I applied the mixture very carefully by using a wash cloth so as not to get in his eyes. When I rinsed him I covered his eyes so it wouldn't run in. Unfortunately, he did get in the house so we are still working on that. The candles, incense and coffee grounds are doing the trick. As for myself, I had to bath with the mixture after I wrestled with my 80 lb. dog in the tub! Good Luck to everyone with this problem! (09/07/2007) By Annie Luczkow RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Our house got sprayed underneath the porch. The smell was so bad that we were forced to move out of the house for 3 weeks. This happened in early Feb. and was during an absolutely cold cold period. Windows were not an option. Vinegar in bowls with coffee grounds in each room was definitely the best solution. It took time but finally the house was rid of the smell. (09/30/2007) By Chili RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House MUST READ: What everyone says here absolutely works. My dogs got sprayed tonight and I immediately checked this page for ideas on how to get the smell out of my dogs and house. FOR DOGS: Use rubber gloves and get into some old clothes that you don't mind getting the smell on. Get a metal bowl (large) or any other container to mix the ingredients in. Use hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and dish soap. I also threw in a tiny bit of vinegar. You dont necessarily have to measure out parts of the ingredients, i just threw in enough stuff to be sure it covered my dog. I slowly poured it over the back of the neck of my dog and going down his spine using all the ingredients in the bowl. By the way if you have someone to help you it will go easier. Then I scrubbed the dog for around 5-10 minutes. I then washed off my dog with warm water. Then I did the above step all over again. After rinsing the second time I used some dog shampoo, gave a good scrubbing and rinse and VOILA! The smell was gone! I will check again tomorrow for smell on them and if so I will repeat one more time and that should surely get rid of the smell. I couldn't believe how effective and quick this worked! It was really unbelievable. FOR HOUSE: Set oven at 250 and keep open the door just a crack. Use a metal cookie sheet and put cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger all over sheet and let roast in oven. Soon your house will smell great! I don't know yet how the house will smell tomorrow (if there will be skunk or cinnamon smell) but this is definetely a quick and easy fix. ALSO -- boil some vinegar in a pot and throw in some cinnamon and apples and this helps out a ton as well. Again, I couldn't believe how quick and fast and effective this worked in getting the smell out of my house. Tomorrow will be the true test on both of these, but all signs are that they work great and I HIGHLY recommend these methods in getting skunk smell out of your house and off your dogs! The good thing about these methods are that they are inexpensive, quick, easy, and most houses already have the ingredients in them! Take care and good luck everyone! (10/19/2007) By Coopa20 RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Holy goodness that worked great! Cinnamon and coffee grounds baked at 250. Boiling cider vinegar with a cinnamon stick. And don't forget to walk the steaming pot around the house to release the vapors everywhere. I'm gonna do this more often! even when a skunk hasn't sprayed. It smells so good. (10/25/2007) By Kristen RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House My geriatric, arthritic dog was sprayed in the face during a 2 am bathroom break. I was not about to bathe her (temperature in he 30's, and she was already stressed). I rinsed her eyes and mouth with cool water, wiped her with a wet towel, and worked Nature's Miracle enzyme solution well into her coat, wiping it off with a dry towel repeatedly -- spray, massage, rub with a dry towel. Most of the smell and all of the visible skunk spray was removed, and I repeated the process the next morning. I just lived with the mild residual smell until she could be washed comfortably (that is, with no stress, and with proper drying conditions). Nature's Miracle is a great product to keep on hand and is a much more humane way to deal with a middle-of-the-night skunk attack than harsh hydrogen peroxide (incidentally, per the earlier posting, there is absolutely no scientific basis for adding vinegar to the peroxide/baking soda/soap mix...that mix exists as such for a chemically based reason). I lit incense and sprayed natural air freshener, stripped off all clothing that got near the dog and gathered all towels and washed them in hot water with Oxy Clean -- which removed the odor completely. I get upset hearing people going on about how awful it it is have a dog skunked, and then they go on about how they ran around and did this and that to the dog and the house...and I feel horrible for the poor animal feeling that they are the object of all that stress and anger. My advice is to calmly deal with it in as noninvasive a way as possible (Nature's Miracle), then go back to bed, tuck in your dog, and address the bathing and washing in the morning when you aren't angry at your beloved pet. It's just a smell. It goes away. (01/25/2008) By Consider the dog! RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House My hound dog Dylan was sprayed by a skunk a week ago today. After cleaning the carpets and airing out the house for nearly a week. My kitchen still smelled really bad when I opened a cabinet door. It finally dawned on me that my shelf paper was odor absorbent. OMG - when I started peeling up the contact paper, I just about passed out! I had to remove all the dishes, pots & pans & everything from the drawers too. I pulled up that paper from everywhere and then scrubbed the wooden cabinets with XO odor removal. It still smells a bit but so much better. Now I'm washing all the dishtowels and pot holders. The odor is clinging to my wooden rolling pin and wooden bowls too. They are airing out in the front yard along with all the bedding from the "doggie den". My neighbors thought I was having a yard sale. I've tried the cinnamon and coffee and citrus candles. I think this odor will take a really long time to go away, but it's getting better. As far as my dog, he got the tomato juice bath right away but his nose and ears still smell and his breath is horrible. He is eating and drinking his water and seems to have plenty of energy so I guess time will help him smell better too. (02/25/2008) By Pat in Texas Report Spam or Abuse Request: Removing Skunk Smell From House Archived on 06/27/2007 My children got sprayed by a skunk. we used the peroxide solution and they don't smell, but the garage, car, and bathroom do. How do I get rid of the odor? June from Middle Island, NY Answers: RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House We set out bowls of baking soda and apple cider vinegar in every room. We also used citrus scented candles. Be sure to change your air filter so the old one doesn't keep recycling the bad smelling air. It takes awhile. Just keep renewing the soda, etc. If you can open the windows and get fresh air, that helps so much. Good luck. It isn't an easy problem to solve! I wish you the best. By Glenda RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Well, my dog has been sprayed 3 times in the last two years. Twice, he was sprayed very badly, and once, just got it a bit. So, I have learned all about skunk remedies. The peroxide mix is a blessing. Thank God for something that actually works!! By the way, when you buy large quantities of peroxide at Walmart, the cashier will look at you funny! As for the house smell, fresh air, and time are your best bets, though I will definitely keep the vinegar and coffee solutions in mind next time! As for the smell on yourself, it's usually not as bad as you think - we swore that we stunk, but the smell was actually just burned into our noses. For sleeping purposes, Vicks vapour rub rubbed around your nose helps to block out the smell so you can sleep. By Bugly RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Absolutely Positively do everything in your power to keep the dogs from entering your house once they get sprayed. Not even the garage! My St. Bernard just killed a skunk last night and he stunk to high heaven. Even though it was 11 at night, we put him on a tie out outside, got rid of the skunk, and then began washing with vinegar, then tomato juice/puree/paste mixture I concocted, then normal shampoo.. it is best to try to clean them up as best as possible before letting them in. The house task is much larger than cleaning the dog! By Steph RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Oh my goodness!!!! Early this morning my husband and I smelled skunk in our bedroom. He said that he hoped our dog Charlie did not get sprayed. About that time Charlie scratched to be let in. I opened the door and literally had to push him back out after smelling that horendous smell. He took a direct hit in the face, right where I was pushing. I had it on my hands and bathrobe. I used my husbands Orange Pumice Hand Cleaner and washed my hands right away. It really helped, the smell was gone. However, for Charlie, I have not seem him yet but I am going to take everyones advice and try the peroxide/baking soda/dish soap remedy. The smell was so strong on my hand that I have a very sickening taste in my mouth from it. Wish me luck. By Paula from Montana RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Thanks, you all. You saved us after our first skunking ever. My son let the dog back in the house and sneaked back to bed after a 1:30 AM spraying! After the peroxide/baking soda/dish liquid, my husband bought a skunk shampoo from the vet and washed the dog again. Now he smells worse! It really was a "skunk shampoo!" Back to the peroxide. We are still ridding the house of the odor after a week. We did the apple cider bowls and the fresh ground coffee. I'm off to Wal-mart for Ozium Spray. It was just a few minutes but I don't know everywhere the dog may have rubbed against until I got him out. Is there a skunk odor detector out there? By Lilycat Report Spam or Abuse Request: Removing Skunk Smell From House Archived on 06/10/2007 In July '06 a skunk sprayed under our house. The house still smells 5 months later. I am at my wits end. Can anyone help me? I have boarded up the holes where the skunk came in. They could not survive this long. Is it possible they are dead? The smell is not from rotting vermin. It is a fresh smell, sometimes stronger than other times. Nuala from San Francisco, CA Answers: RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Thanks for the help! Our dog was sprayed for the third time last night in 4 years. We immediately did the peroxide bath but she had already been inside the house rubiing in the den and bathroom. I have never experienced as severe a smell as we have now. Everyhting in the house reeks including us at work! We put out some coffee before we left for work today. We also purchased the Nature's Miracle Skunk Odor Remover and ordered some of the ZO (too bad no stores carry it!). It hasn't worked too well on my hands but hopefully it will do better on my dog. Going to try some of the remedies listed here tonight in the house...I'm hopeful the stench will start to fade tonight. (02/15/2007) By Tracy RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Thanks for this website. A house that we use for a shop was sprayed and I was frantic as I have customers coming in and out. I poured a bowl of apple cider vinegar and left it over night. I also sprayed with a citrus spray. The skunk smell is gone. I have a vinegar smell but the skunk smell is gone. I think in a day or two the air will be clear of the vinegar. I can endure the citrus and vinegar smells. Thanks again for a great site. (02/26/2007) By Martha RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Another tip is to Burn Candles. The fire burns the skunk smell. (03/01/2007) By Conor RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Use Ozium for the house. You can pick it up at Wal-mart. The odor is gone in seconds. Literally! My neighbor brought over a 1/2 a can and a one second spray in each room knocked out the skunk odor right away. So now my house smells like... air. (03/07/2007) By Tim RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House My girl got sprayed so bad her white fur was yellow! The peroxide-baking soda-dish soap mixture really worked on her. We rubbed it into her skin and let is soak for about 10 minutes. We put cereal sized bowls of apple cider vinegar and some baking soda in every room to get rid of the smell and after only 2 hours, the smell is really neutralizing! Hope this works for anyone else! (03/12/2007) By h8thestink! RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House The vinegar and coffee is working. It is an odd smell, but way better than the skunk. (03/25/2007) By Terri RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!! Whoever first posted the use of coffee grounds to deodorize the house... I love you! We were fortunate enough that the dog didn't come in when he was first sprayed, but the smell inside has still been just horrible. I placed saucers of coffee around the rooms, along with dishes of cider vinegar. Within minutes I was able to breath again! I even ground a bit of vanilla coffee to make the smell even more pleasant. The dog however is another story. I have used tomato juice, "skunk off" product from the pet store, the peroxide and baking soda solution, even fresh lemons rubbed into his ruff. Everything seems to work, for a while. after four baths, the smell is mostly gone. I tend to think anything will work if you bath them at least four times! Poor baby is really wiped out. I am having a problem because he was sprayed in the mouth, and you really can't use most products on their faces. I did use a wash cloth and washed his face carefully several times with the peroxide solution. We are doing much better now. So take heart if you are just at the start of this situation!! It will get better. Thanks everyone. (04/18/2007) By Jet~ RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Oh thank you for the coffee advice. it worked within minutes to get the smell out of the house! (05/15/2007) By Billy RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House A few weeks ago we woke up in the middle of the night choking from the most foul wretched smell of burning rubber. It was so intense we called the fire department. Turns out a skunk had sprayed the front of our house and every square inch of the inside of our house reeked with skunk odor. It was so intense it was hard to breath. I went to this website and tried every tip: Skunk Off, cider vinegar in bowls all over the house and washed the house down with the peroxide mixture. Nothing worked. I called animal control and they gave me the best advice: to immediately open the house, open every window and door possible and air out the house. Then we bought Fabreze plug ins to mask the odor. It didn't eliminate it but it did a good job of masking it. After 2 weeks, the odor has dissipated (though it's not completely gone) and animal control has set up traps to try and catch the skunk. So my tips are 1. Open the house and air it out. 2. Change the filters on your furnace (you don't want to recycle the skunk air throughout your house). 3. Call animal control to trap this animal dead or alive!! (05/16/2007) By Leslie RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House I don't know about removing a skunk smell, but if the skunk is still under your house, call your local ASPCA and they'll check it out and remove the animal for you. I think you may have to contact your homeowner's insurance agent and see if there's a professional cleaning service that deals with that level of industrial strength stink. (05/21/2007) By sylviecyn RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House I am now a member of the skunked club. Last night our dog katie managed to acquaint herself with a local polecat, I awoke to ask my husband what the stinky oder was, he told me what had happened and thankfully had not let Katie in the house, but that did not stop our cozy home from becoming a stink pod of horror. After lighting overpriced yankee candles and running a tub of bleach in the bathroom, i tried to go back to sleep with my nose next to a box of fabric softener sheets. i was so nauseated, so finally I got up and found this site. I have now placed all my little trays of apple cider vinegar and coffee grounds here and there, thanks for all of you stinkers out there who have nosed around before me and posted these solutions. I am going to remember this experience a long time. i really feel for those of you who had the misfortune to let the dog into the house after it was sprayed. Katie looks so pitiful, she is out under the shade tree, after my husband bathed her, she still is a stinker. i bet she can't even smell herself, lucky her. (05/30/2007) By Stinky aka Rebeka RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House About that homeowner's insurance claim... A CAUTION! These days insurance companies are looking for any reason to refuse homeowner's insurance. We made a $2,000 claim to our company and, when we sold our home several months later, we found they would not insure our new home. For two years, we had to purchase high-cost insurance from the state in order to cover our new home. They can't cancel your insurance while you are in the same home you originally insured, but if you plan to move anytime soon, beware of cancellation as soon as you try to get the new home insured. It may be cheaper to suck up the cost of skunk odor removal. (06/06/2007) By Susie Report Spam or Abuse Request: Removing Skunk Smell From House Archived on 01/16/2007 How do you remove skunk smell from inside a house? Karen from Farmington, Maine Answers: Thanks What a God-send this site has been! Thanks so much to "La La" for your description of the direct hit smell. When our St. Bernard entered the house this morning at 4am after barking furiously, an overwhelming, choking smell of burnt rubber and garlic filled the entire downstairs. We had no idea it was skunk because it didn't smell like it! Now we know. We have bowls of vinegar all over the house, and it seems to be helping. Now we'll try the peroxide/baking soda/soap bath. Thanks so much to everyone for your help. (09/08/2006) By Chris from Montana Coffee COFFEE! I used the vinegar first to fight the skunk smell; then the vinegar smelled so bad I had to lysol my house, I used both neutra air and a scented one. Next, I went thru and saged the whole place- every nook and cranny! I finished it off with a wonderful grapefruit essential oil! I finally felt fresh!! Until a friend walked into the door and scream, "EU It smells like Skunk!" I have since added baking soda on little paper plates all over the house. But I believe it is the fresh ground coffee I tucked underneath my cabinets that has made a world of difference! I knew coffee worked to cure bad refrigerator smells, but I think it works wonders for Skunk too! GOOD LUCK! (09/14/2006) By shaszc Lemon Juice Removing skunk odor from a room: I don't know why it works but, simmer some lemon juice right in the room for about an hour. I use my crock pot without the lid on and it works like magic. Also, a great thing to get the smell out of a pet is a product called TKO. It's a orange citrus cleaning product. (09/18/2006) By Peggy Coffee Thank you so much, I came home from work and walked into the house, a skunk had climbed under my mobile home and sprayed. I read all the entries, and didn't have any of the other ingredients, except coffee and lots of it. I dusted my entire house with coffee and in seconds the smell was almost gone. At least I can breath. I would rather clean up coffee from the floor than live with that smell. (09/25/2006) By Kelly Day One Oh my goodness! We got skunked last night! My husband let the dog out and she no sooner got outside when he saw the skunk. My husband called the dog in, but too late. Poor little Misty! Poor little house! The skunk sprayed right by the BBQ grill on the patio. Misty ran in and straight to me. I bathed her in Scope (which I had heard to do) and it helped a little. My house is another story. We barely got any sleep last night because of the smell. I have Misty on the sunporch while I'm at work, so at least she won't spread the smell that remains on her. I took a shower this AM, but I still smell awful! I had to take my jacket out to the car as it was stinking up the office. I can barely stand myself. My husband said he isn't smelling too much better, and I have a feeling my kids stink too. I didn't notice this morning cuz everything stunk. I am going to try the vinegar in bowls when I get home. Any idea how to get the smell out of the clothes? I think every single item of clothing and bedding must stink! I think I'm going to just take everything I can fit in the car to the Laundromat and do it all there at one time. Just fill up every washer. I just hope I don't stink up the washers for everyone else. But, I could never do that much at home. We've had problems before, but nothing like this. I opened the windows before I left the house this morning, and it's only around 50 degrees. I can just imagine the heating bill I'll have. We're so busy at work that I can't take off to get home and take care of this. Help! (10/17/2006) By Lori Thank You THANK YOU for this site! I feel like I just joined a club I never wanted to become a member of. 2 days ago one our dogs (thankfully only one) got sprayed in the face by a skunk. He came barreling through the door and before we knew what happened, he flopped down and wiped himself all over our carpet, throw rugs, etc. Once we realized what happened, we immediately ran for paper towels and wiped the dogs eyes in case any of the spray got in them. Then (still in panic mode) my brother ran to the market and bought large quantities of tomato juice, dog shampoo and dawn dish soap (he called a friend on the way for a recommendation). Meanwhile, recovering from bronchitis, I stood outside in the freezing cold with the dog because I couldn't take the smell in the house nor did I want him to spread anymore of the "wealth" (ugh!!) After several large cans of tomato juice, dawn and shampoo we got the bulk of the smell out of the dog, but not the house!! (No one ever mentioned the house odor when I've heard dog-skunk tales). Late into the night we steam cleaned the carpets, washed clothes and blankets and despite our best efforts, the house still smelled AWFUL. Yesterday we found this site and I set off to the market and bought gallons of cider vinegar, baking soda, carpet freshener with baking soda, peroxide, etc. The vinegar bowls seem to help (I still have them out), I'm not thrilled by that smell either, but it beats that burnt tire/skunk smell that permeated nearly every room of our house. The carpet freshener with the baking soda (I used at least 6 of them over the course of several hours yesterday) also seems to help, though I think it's important to clean the oils out of the carpet first. Now that the lab has had a day to recover from the skunk and bathing traumas, we're going to try the remedies mentioned on this site to get rid of the faint smell that remains on his muzzle. I think I've done at least 12 or 13 loads of laundry since this whole ordeal began. I used bleach on the whites and though it's risky, I poured a small amount of bleach into the cap from the clorox container (a little less than full) on the dark loads (it was a risk I was more than willing to take). I also used 2 fabric softener sheets for each dryer load. Everything came out smelling great and my darks were not damaged at all, but again, it is risky to put bleach on darks. I waited until the water was filling in the washer before adding the cap full of bleach. Thanks to all for sharing their stories and remedies. It really does help to know how others dealt with this horrible experience. Whoever said "If it hasn't happened to you, it's impossible to convey the horror!" was right on the money. Good luck to anyone else who is unfortunate enough to go through this experience. (10/17/2006) By Sandy Day Two A day has gone by and things are getting better. I'm no longer in panic mode. I'm feeling much more optimistic. My husband rented a couple of electronic room deodorizers. They produce ozone. They weren't terribly expensive (38.00 each per day) and they helped a lot. We put one each on the first and second floors - the basement wasn't too bad, so we just put vinegar bowls out and some carpet deodorizer on the area rug we have there. One tip on the electronic air cleaners - DO NOT turn it up to "high" unless you plan on getting out for the night. We were warned about that by the rental company. The air cleaners can give you some grief if you are prone to headaches or sinus trouble. We kept it low enough that we were OK. But, do be careful if you use one. Vinegar helped so much too. I was sure glad to read that tip. We put bowls out everywhere. I also wiped down the counters and sinks and my purse and other objects that picked up the smell with it. It became my new best friend - that and baking soda for the couches and chairs. Just sprinkle on, wait about 15 minutes and vacuum. Also, another product that helped is Downy Febreze fabric softener. We have many afghans and throws so using that in the rinse cycle sure helped get those smelling better. It's also great for sheets, towels, etc. I sure am glad I saw the tips about the peroxide, baking soda and dish soap for Misty, our dog. I was doubtful so I tried some expensive stuff I picked up from the vet first. It barely helped. The inexpensive method seems to have worked much better. Another product that helped is Carpet Fresh No Vacuum Foam Carpet Refresher. But, use sparingly - it has a strong smell. The best advice I can give to anyone who is going through this is that it will get better. You can get the smell out. It's no fun, and I wouldn't wish getting skunked on my worst enemy, but it can be done. Also, unless you can afford it, don't bother calling one of those professional cleaners. My husband called one and they wanted $1,200.00 to get the smell out of our house. We could have put it through our insurance, but still, it would be way too much. With the help of this website we're just about odor free around here. This website is wonderful! It sure helped to know that others had gone through this and survived. Thank you so much to everyone who has posted here. (10/18/2006) By Lori Vinegar We had just moved into our new home and did not have a fence up yet. Your two dogs had gotten sprayed by a skunk. We panic'd and brought the dogs into the house and put them in the basement. Before we knew it our whole house smelled. I put bowls of vinegar everywhere and that seemed to work. I also took a pot (you can throw out) and put coffee grounds in it. Do not added water or any liquid. Cook the grounds on the stove until it starts to give off a smoky scent. Then take the pot into every room and let the room take in the incense. (10/20/2006) By Gia It Happened Again I don't believe this! It happened again! You know what they say, "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me." Well shame on me. I thought what happened a few days ago would never happen again, but it did. The skunk seemed to have left. We had no sightings or trouble, so I didn't think too much of it when I let Misty out the back porch door again. She was begging to go out and since it was a little after 9PM, I thought I'd better let her out one more time for the night. I let her out and then saw her look towards the BBQ grill and as soon as I realized the skunk must be there, it was too late. Here we go again. This time I did not let her into the house. I have her on the back sunporch. I immediately put out vinegar and some coffee in every room. We are doing better this time I think. Unfortunately though, my vacuum cleaner is out on the porch as I was vacuuming it when Misty wanted out. I think the vacuum cleaner is toast. It's plastic and probably really absorbed the stink. I called Misty in and immediately closed the door to the porch so she didn't get in the house. But then my son was worried that she could die of skunk smell, and I started to worry too, so I went out there and opened a few windows for her and sprayed Odor Off around. It seems to be getting a bit worse in here after that, even though I was so careful to open the door just enough for me to get on the porch to open the windows. Maybe I just got such a strong whiff of it, that I notice it more. I did change clothes since I went out there. On Monday we will make phone calls to see if there is a humane way to trap the skunk, or at least keep him or her out of our yard. I may try putting moth balls around. I don't understand why it's hanging around the BBQ grill. Tomorrow morning I am going to have to make up some of the stuff to bathe her in and bathe her outside. At least this time I do have a plan of action. Does anyone know of some skunk-free place where we can all pack up and move to? Maybe a no-skunk zone somewhere? (10/21/2006) By Lori Keep Peroxide Out of Eyes Do not allow Hydrogen Peroxide in your animals eyes, nor your own for that matter. It is toxic and quite painful. (I am an Ophthalmologist.) Our dogs get sprayed from time to time, the little boneheads never learn! It always happens late at night on that that last trip outside, doesn't it!? You're really tired and ready for bed and it's 30 or 40 or 50 degrees outside. Now the house smells like holy hell, you open all the windows, freeze your a.. off, can't sleep, the dog is rolling all that stink into the rug, or worse your couch or bed, what a nightmare! You can't decide whether to put him back out and maybe get sprayed again or keep him in. You can't win! Stay up half the night shampooing the dog and trying to de-stink the house, or just roll over in bed and suffer. After so many times, we just go to sleep and worry about it the next day. (10/24/2006) By Michael Guerra Happened to Me Too Second times a charm. Dog came in stinking to high heaven and rolled around on the carpet. Of course it's late at night. Came here after trying incense, house sprays, baking soda, essential oils. What really seems to remove the odor from the house is the dishes of vinegar and sprinkling coffee all over the house. Now my house smells like a coffee shop instead of a skunk house!! Much, much better. Wonder what the husband will think in the morning seeing ground coffee all over the carpet. And that's the way you use it, just sprinkle ground coffee all over areas that smell. And my heart goes out to all that are reading these hints. Welcome to the club. (11/01/2006) By Jocelyn My Experience My cockapoo got skunked yesterday morning. Like many others, I didn't know until I let her in and got blasted by the smell when she ran past me through the house. I put her in the garage while I searched for the cure, not remembering my car was in the garage! My dog, my house, and my car smelled like skunk! Fortunately, it wasn't too cold and I opened doors & windows to "air out" the house some. I bathed the dog first in the dishsoap, peroxide, baking soda mix and it helped some. Next I went to the petstore and got Natures Way and rubbed it into her face as best as I could and gave her bath #2. Still smelling in her face, I doused her head in vinegar. She still smells a bit, I admit I'm not great at bathing her. We had to go to a hotel and take the dog to the kennel @ our vets office. Today, our carpets were cleaned and it is quite a bit better but still smells some in the house. (11/07/2006) By Melissa Peroxide Solution Our Westie got sprayed by a skunk last night. Her whole side was a bullseye for that skunk spray! I was in a panic. I immediately got on the internet to find a solution. No way could I wait till morning with that smell! I found this site and the peroxide solution worked wonders. No more smell at all on her. It was after midnight and I had to get up for work at 3:30 am. The odor was still in my house and it made it impossible to sleep. I put vinegar in bowls and somehow managed to get a couple of hours sleep. When I woke up the smell was mostly gone. Thank You so much for this site! (11/26/2006) By Debbee My Experience Our boston terrier got into it with a skunk the night before last. I hollered and stamped my feet like crazy but I couldn't stop that tail from going up and ruining my holidays. I picked her up and put her in the laundry tub but this was after she ran by me, into the house and rubbed her muzzle all over the living room. We contacted the vet about this and after examine the dog the vet reported the incident to the Disease Control Center. Ripping through the records it showed her rabies vaccination had lapsed. We were told the animal had to be quarantined for 6 months in house with only 1 person to be in contact with her throughout. We're in the process of building a barrier to confine her to one room as per the directions given. The one year we forget and this happens. Back to the house, we have bowls of cider vinegar out and it seems to be working. It's 5ºC outside and we have all the windows wide open. Our 1year old son is staying with his grandparents. Everything smells like skunk butt. Things I have learned: Tomato juice to cure skunk smell is a myth. Hydrogen Peroxide and baking soda with dish soap WORK 100%. White vinegar isn't as amazing as cider vinegar. Fresh air is the only cure for a skunky house. Vaccinations must be kept up to date. I love my dog. My advise to anyone who goes through this. When your pet gets sprayed don't let it in the house. The hydrogen solution will fix the smell right way, of course if you're reading this it's probably too late.. OMG TIME TO PANIC! No just get anything it touched out of the house !RIGHT NOW! If you know your pet isn't vaccinated try to capture the skunk. I know this sounds dangerous but going through what I am now,(the prospect of quarantine), I would throw a blanket over the skunk and wrap him up in a jiffy. Rabies can only be ascertained through examination of the suspected animals brain matter. Animals don't live through this so it's either Spot or the damned skunk. Unless you like confining your pet for months on end... When you prepare the hydrogen solution try to make it in a container that you can handle easily like a water bottle. We used a tupperware bowl and it was kinda messy, had we made it in a bottle it would have been easier to administer. Don't do it in a sealed container as there is a chemical reaction (FIZZES!) when you make it. Have cotton balls or a small washcloth on hand to work on your pet's face. This solution will harm your pet if it travels into eyes or mouth. If your pet was bugging the skunk it is more than likely the spray is on the muzzle. And I'm not sure on this but it seems synthetic fabrics are holding the smell more than others. We have a coat rack and some coats stink and others don't. My wife is on the phone with the whole world right now asking about cleaning solutions for everything.. I think it's safe to say we won't be participation in any new years parties this year. (12/29/2006) By Paulo Note About Peroxide Bath One note on the peroxide bath: if you or your scruffy little pal has any cuts or open sores and the peroxide, baking soda and dishsoap mix hits it, it will sting a lot. Something to keep in mind. (01/08/2007) By Steve My Experience My white dog, Maya, took it right between the eyes at close range last night. By the time I got out to the back yard to investigate, my other dog Auggie was chasing the skunk around the yard and got it cornered about 5 feet from the door. There it stood, tail raised and aimed right at me and Auggie. Luckily for us (and unluckily for Maya), it must have been out of "ammo", and amazingly we all got inside without further incident. Although Maya was squinting, she didn't appear to be blinded. However her beautiful white fur was badly soiled with the yellow substance. I called the emergency vet and got the hydrogen peroxide recipe. Unfortunately I didn't have any HO in the house so I had to go out and find an open store that sold it. It was close to midnight, and it took me a couple of tries. (I will now keep the supplies for skunk odor removal on hand for future late night incidents...). I was actually glad to escape the house and the smell for a while, despite the late hour, but I was rather self conscious in the stores of my perceived "aroma". When I got home I bathed Maya three times with the solution and the odor was reduced. The problem is that she has a lot of the oil around her eyes. I was afraid to get too close to her eyes with the hydrogen peroxide, so the smell is still very bad in that area. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to treat that very sensitive area? I dread going home tonight because I'm sure the house still reeks, but I'm going to pick up gallons of cider vinegar on my way home. It was very entertaining to read the other stories - especially so many that closely resemble our experience. Thanks for the camaraderie! (01/10/2007) By Lisa M Report Spam or Abuse Request: Removing Skunk Smell From House Archived on 09/05/2006 My dog got sprayed by a skunk, then ran into the house. My whole house, upstairs and down, smell so horrible. How can I get rid of the odor? Connie777 from Coventry, RI Answers: Tomato Juice The age old cure is tomato juice add it to the laundry 2 cups a load wash in cold water no soap then wash again with your soap no more smell to get it out of rugs and carpet spray with two parts water and one part tomato juice in a fine mist over rugs and furniture then wait 5 minutes to remove any tomato stains just wipe with cold water let dry no more smell or stains. (02/26/2006) By barbaglia This Works The only thing that really works is a quart of peroxide with a quarter cup of baking soda and a teaspoon of dish soap. Mix it up and use immediately on pet. Around the house this solution may bleach some things so be careful but walls and floors should be okay to wash. (02/27/2006) By Zoe Call Your Insurance Call your insurance company. It may be a good claim. I have a friend that had a skunk get in their car and the company totaled it--the car, not the skunk! At the very least, you may be able to hire a cleaning service. Good luck. (03/01/2006) By sylviecyn House Insurance Our home was sprayed by skunk(s) in Oct. Since that time I have tried everything and anything anyone has recommended. I have smelled just about every air freshener on the market. We even rented an ozone generator. The smell is still present, not as strong but still very noticeable. I would like to have a company come in to treat but it is very expensive. My insurance company states skunks are rodents and therefore not covered under my policy. The company I want to hire states skunks are not rodents and it is an act of God which would make it covered under my homeowners insurance. Have any of you tried using your insurance for this? If so how did you convince them. Thank you for your input. (03/26/2006) By Francine Not Rodents If your insurance company says skunks are rodents they are 100% wrong. Skunks are not even closely related to rodents. They are more closely related to ferrets, lions and bears than any rodent. Skunks are actually in the order Carnivora and family Mephitidae or Mustelidae depending on which classification you're using. So look at your insurance policy carefully and see if this makes a difference. Hopefully them not being classified as rodents may make a difference. Good luck! (03/28/2006) By Michelle Zero Odor I have this wonderful little cat named Jack AKA, Jacky Legs and the Jackal, depending on his mood. Jack went out at 2 am to play with the pretty kitty and from his pattern of smell he pounced him from behind. When the assault happen it was as though he had been shot thru the pet door, sitting in my bed wondering what happened to him to cause him to behave so frantically it hit me. Driving by skunk smell is not what skunk smells like up close and personal in your bed room. Jack rolled and wiped himself on everything in site before being confined in the bathroom. I used all of the home remedies I could find that night and the next day all of the pet store products, nothing helped and every time he got wet it was as strong as the first night. Long story short, Zero Odor. I had ordered it for a spraying problem one of our cats had and thought I would try it on everything that Jack had rolled on. Within an hour the house smell was gone. Understand that Zero Odor does not state to use this on a pet but something had to give (it is a natural product). I covered his head and went to town, after treatment I rolled him in a towel until he dried so he wouldn't lick himself and no more smell. I use ZO for everything in my home and recommend it highly, it will take the smell out of anything. However, I don't recommend it to put it on your pet, it didn't hurt Jack at all but you would have to decide how bad it is and what you would do to remedy the problem. You can only find it on the internet, ZOpet.com or ZeroOdorstore.com I think or just google it. (03/30/2006) By scooby Skunk Deterrent To the person who is living in the rented trailer: I am a wildlife rehabilitator, and the thing we always recommend to people who have skunks, foxes, or raccoons nesting under their homes or decks is to: 1) take a small rag and soak it in ammonia and place it near the opening where you think the skunks are gaining access under the trailer. They hate the smell, and this will make them leave during the night (they're nocturnal). 2) get a small radio and set it next to the opening and play it. if you can find a talk radio station on AM, play that. After putting up with the smell and noise for a day, the skunks will leave during the night. Then be sure to seal up the entrance to their den so they or another family of critters can't move back in. Good luck! (05/01/2006) IT'S A MIRACLE Well, my Jack Russell Terrier and her buddy, my Black Lab, decided to corner a skunk last night outside of our house. The smell was unbearable! My husband and I IMMEDIALEY washed the dogs using Vinegar and Tomato Juice... it worked on the Jack Russell, but the Lab bore the brunt of the spray on his face and chest, so it did NOTHING for him. This morning I went out and spent fifty bucks on various "Skunk" odor products at the pet store, used them and he STILL smelled horrible. I decided to check the Internet for alternatives. I just bathed my Lab using a mixture of peroxide (about 20 ounces), baking soda (3/4 cup) and a good squirt of Joy Dishwashing soap--mixed into a bowl with warm water. I spent about 10 minutes carefully bathing him with a wash cloth, avoiding his eyes and mouth, but making sure to get his face. The SMELL IS GONE! It is a MIRACLE in my opinion. Because the scent was in his nose and mouth as well, I mixed some vinegar and water into a spray bottle and covered his eyes while spraying it into his nose and mouth--he sneezed a little, but after I gave him a dog treat he was fine. The scent also seems to be gone from his breath now too!!! Subsequently, I also got some skunk smell throughout the house, though I think it was only the scent that transferred from the dogs. I am trying the "Vinegar in bowls" around my house as I type and it seems to be cutting the smell a bit already. (06/23/2006) By Sarah Vinegar, Peroxide and Baking Soda If you have a pet and live where skunks are around, I would make sure to have vinegar, peroxide and baking soda on hand before your potential disaster. My dog got sprayed at 12:00 this morning and of course the stores are not open at that time. I would highly recommend this formula, it works!! (Forget the messy and more expensive tomato juice.) The vinegar in bowls in every room of the house works too. And by the way a previous comment that skunk smell does not smell the way it does when you are driving down the highway. When it is a direct hit, and I'm not kidding you here, it smells like the combination of burnt rubber, burnt garlic bread and a skunk smell. Its horrible, so be prepared ahead of time is the best bet. Also for their eyes the vet said you can use contact saline solution to rinse as they get red and irritated. Good Luck! (odor ban from walmart works well on the curtains and other fabrics and carpet.) (06/25/2006) By La La Vinegar The vinegar trick worked like a champ for me today! My wife and I were sleeping and around 4:30 am we were awoken by a terrible stench. It turns out that we forgot to bring in the dog food from outside so a skunk came along and decided to help itself; however, something must have also wanted the food as the skunk sprayed (the dog food was right next to our sliding glass door and to make things worse we had the fan going all night). We still are not sure what it sprayed as none of our dogs or cats smell. Now around 5:00 am we ran to the store and purchased some Neutra air (from Lysol) but that did not seem to work that well so like so many others I jumped on the internet and came across this site (Thanks to everyone here!!!) and after reading all of the posts I tried the vinegar thing to get that terrible smell out of the house. Thanks everyone! By Michael Messuri I May Sleep Tonight Well it's 9:45 PM on a Sunday and our Black Lab just got sprayed. The peroxide-baking soda-soap worked much better than the tomato juice we tried in "panic mode". We even had some apple cider vinegar which seems to be getting rid of the stench in the house . I may even get some sleep tonight! (07/16/2006) By Dave In Manchester CT For the Dogs 3 dogs killed a skunk in the backyard. Mixed the 16 0z Hydrogen Peroxide (all I could scrape up at 10 p.m.), 1/8 cup baking soda, and good squeeze Dawn disk liquid. Put it in a bottled water bottle and cut a hole in the cap. This allowed me to limit how much poured out. Worked like a charm and almost instantly. Still had an issue around the noses. Tried a cotton ball soaked in the mix, uneven results. Now, to figure out how to get it out of the area rug. (08/01/2006) By Bob N. Vinegar Thanks to all for the ideas for the peroxide mixture and the cider vinegar. So far the smell on the dog is pretty much gone, but the house is still kind of funky. The dog got sprayed after running the yard for a bit. When we started back to the house and the skunk was between us and the door. Before I knew what it was the dog was gone. The rest is just normal smelly stuff. (08/04/2006) By Brandon Christy Vinegar I tried the vinegar in bowl, and it worked wonders just overnight! I'm impressed and amazed! As far as the dog goes, the little stinker gets a bath with the peroxide, baking soda, dish-soap today! (08/17/2006) By Andrea My Story i was about to give my son a bath and i heard my two dogs bark, I heard my husband tell them to get inside, then I started to smell it. At first, I thought it was just something in my sons room but then i heard my husband run outside screaming F***! So I went in the kitchen and asked him what the heck the smell was and he said that the skunk had sprayed our dogs. He let them in the house when he went outside looking for it so OF COURSE the house smelled HORRIBLE! My clothes smelled, my son smelled, everything stunk... people noticed it when I was at work so I had to tell them the disgusting story, so i asked my co-workers and they all had different things to suggest. So... I went online and found this website, I decided to buy everything that everyone mentioned on here. I came home and i washed down my dishes, my clothes, my counters, cupboards etc. I also put bowls of vinegar around my house and within a few hours, it started to smell a little better. i just hope i don't smell like skunk tomorrow at work... its embarrassing! The peroxide, baking soda, and palmolive works WONDERS! Who ever came up with that mix is a GENIUS! (08/21/2006) By Sel Recipe for Your Dog My dog just got into it with a skunk Tuesday night and I called the emergency vet and they gave me a recipe for taking the smell out of the dog. You just have to be careful not to get it into their eyes. Mix 1 quart of hydrogen peroxide, 1/4 cup of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of liquid dish-soap any kind as long as it's liquid. Pour it on them let it sit for 15 min. then rinse. I had to do this twice to my dog just because I didn't get enough on her head & snout. But for the rest of her body it worked on the 1st try. This was a life saver now if I can just get the smell out of my porch she ran into after getting sprayed. I hope this helps everyone. (08/24/2006) By Renee Thank You First of all, I want to say thank you. What I have read here has given me hope and I don't feel so alone. I can't believe how bad this whole experience is! If it hasn't happened to you, it's impossible to convey the horror! Our corgi got loose last night at 9pm and got sprayed right in the face. We immediately went on the web and found this site. After washing the dog with the peroxide, baking soda dish soap remedy 2 or 3 times, (lost track thru the tears and wailing - mine) he smells fine. The house is still really bad after almost 24 hours. We have sprayed the whole place with the stuff from the vet, Skunk Off, but there are things that the odor won't budge from, mostly synthetic materials. We have called a cleaning service (the kind you call after a fire or flood!) and they can't come till Monday, but I think we will still need them at this rate. The vinegar in the bowls might be helping, but I really hate that smell too and so the combination is really gross. We are sleeping at a friend's house tonight and did last night too. Luckily they are very close friends! Our new name is "The Stinkies"! Again, Thank You!(quote) (08/25/2006) By Julia from Vermont My House Stinks! My house stinks! It is midnight and I went to let my chocolate lab out one more time before I turned in, and I thought my cat was outside the front door. I open up my door, then the screen and looked down and my cat is inside, so yeah, it was a skunk. The dog went out side, but she went out after it sprayed, the door i think hit it right in the rear, so my house stinks, bad. It is the first day of school, all the kids are asleep upstairs, but I went to this web site. The dog does not smell, but, my house is another story. I don't have cider vinegar but i do have white vinegar, so I put it in bowls around the house. I pray it works, awesome website. I printed the mixture up for the dog, just in case I need it. Thanks again. (08/29/2006) By Stephanie Report Spam or Abuse Request: Removing Skunk Smell From House Archived on 01/30/2005 Request: A skunk sprayed our neighbor's dog right outside our living room window. Now that entire side of the house smells of skunk still, now almost a week after the event. I smell it in the living room, bedroom, closets on that side of the house, etc. It seems to be in everything... linens, mattress, clothing, curtains, you name it. What can I do to rid of this awful smell once and for all? It's freezing and I've been leaving all the windows and doors open but it's not getting better. Thanks so much for any advice. Arianne Answers: RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House leslie (Guest Post) OK folks I tried all the stuff mentioned below and some other stuff too. The Dog got skunked right in the face and we left her in the garage over night then to the vet for a skunk bath. The dog got skunked right in the mouth and her breath smelled too. If you have that problem get some Listerine strips that dissolve in your mouth! The house stunk as well as the attached garage. After trying the vinegar in a bowl, Ammonia in a bowl, fabreeze, air fresheners, candles, and airing out the house for 2 days I still had plenty of skunk odor. I had to wash any clothing that was out in the house (not in drawers or closets) and all curtains. We used downy with fabreeze and that seemed to work on the clothing. Here's what worked best for us for the odor in the house: Get some "PURE CITRUS ORANGE AIR FRESHENER ELIMINATES ODORS NATURALLY" by North American. It's on the shelf at the grocery with the Air freshener stuff. Also the Odor absorber containers, orange scented, with charcoal in them, a new product, also in the air freshener isle of the grocery helps. The orange spray took the smell out immediately. The orange charcoal container helps. Then get an ionizer to be sure the smell is completely gone! Good luck and god bless you. I know what your going through! RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Meg (Guest Post) I wish I had known about this mixture of peroxide, dishwashing liquid, and baking soda a few years ago! Skunks were under our house mating when they sprayed. We got rid of them that night, but our house smelled for 2 weeks! Absolutely nothing we tried worked except for time. We were embarrassed to go anywhere because everyone could smell us! It was absolutely awful! RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Becky (Guest Post) I tried the Cider Vinegar in bowls and set them around the house & it took the smell out of the house within 4 hours. For my dog, he went to the vet and they gave him a bath with SOS (Skunk odor Shampoo). You can also get Skunk Off from your local vet. RE: Removing Skunk Smell From Cat and House Ev (Guest Post) My cat was sprayed by a skunk at 3:00 am. No vets were opened so I called the emergency animal hotline. They told me not to put the cat in the car (smell transfers) and it wouldn't matter anyway, because they don't treat skunk smells. They don't want the animal to infect their "emergency" establishment. Most vets if any do not treat skunk sprays due to the same reason. So, they told me to use this recipe. 1/4 cup baking soda, 2 tbls. of Dawn dish soap and a qt. of hydrogen peroxide (very cheap). Since I first used tomato juice (yucky mess) and then shampooed him after that, he still smelled the same, awful. I tripled the recipe and put it in a small tupperware container, then placed my cat into it and slowly shampooed him. He hated it, especially the rinsing part. My son put the "recipe" into a spray bottle and slowly did it that way, he was much calmer. This recipe worked in just one shampoo. He looks better today than before. His coat is shiny, smooth and he smells great! As for the house smelling, I use scented candles and jars of standing vinegar to absorb odor and put some on the furnace filter too. I can hardly smell it today and it just happened last night. The recipe worked after applying just once. Careful around the eyes, peroxide is for external use only. RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House John Whitmmore D.V.M. (Guest Post) use 1 u.s. court hydrogen peroxide 1/4 cup baking soda 1 teaspoon of dish soap Mix lightly and apply to animal areas while foaming, leave on for 10 to 15 minutes rinse! And it really works Removing Skunk Odors You will need to break down or dissolve the oil in skunk scent. Inside house: 1. wash affected wall, floor, etc. areas with water containing either chlorine bleach or vinegar (acetic acid) or 2. Use a commercial odor-removing compound such as: 1) "Skunk-off" aerosol; get through Vet Clinic, or catalog of dog supplies through dog kennel or pet shop. 2) "Nil-Odor" made by Dow Chemical; follow directions and put couple drops in water, and put on furnace filter to circulate air through; can put on dogs as directed. 3) "Odor-Away" either liquid (use few drops) or aerosol. 4) Rexall "C-D Deodorant" aerosol, can spray furnishings, drapes, etc. These odor-removers act to break down the oil and so remove the odor or neutralize it. 3. Spraying with aerosol or putting drops around will neutralize odor in air generally; may still smell for awhile as you put nose right down in drapes, carpets, etc. but will gradually dissipate. Outside house, on bare wood, concrete, soil: Get chlorinated lime water at drug store, or mix 1 cup agricultural lime in 1 gallon chlorine bleach and put on areas. BE VERY CAREFUL TO FOLLOW DIRECTIONS - don't get on skin, clothing, etc. as it will burn (is a caustic solution), and will also burn grass or other vegetation. On clothes: Launder in cool or barely lukewarm water with lots of heavy, built laundry detergent, plus a degreaser and some water conditioner (like Calgon) if water is hard. Don't use very warm or hot water as oil will be released in steam and odor will come up out of tub. This article was written by Anne Field, Extension Specialist, Emeritus, with references from Mary Ellen Delsipee, and Isabel Jones, previous Extension specialists. Source: MSU Extension RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Kathleen (Guest Post) A skunk just the other night sprayed our dog, someone suggested and it worked: Spread small bowls of "Apple Cider Vinegar" around your house, within an hour it absorbs the odor. Good Luck RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Rabbithorns (Guest Post) I had a skunk living under a bedroom I rented in a house once. It had been an old porch and several nights in a row it had some kind of fight with another animal which always ended in a 3 am stinky surprise for me. It was so bad my eyes watered and I couldn't sleep at all. I got a sage smudge, a wrapped bunch of burnable sage, and smoked the room with it for a couple of days. You light the end and then when it's flamed up for a couple of seconds, you blow it out (like incense) and then it produces a thick smoke. Your nosy neighbors may think it's marijuana because it's a bit similar, but it's not harmful or addictive or anything. The natives used to smoke it instead of tobacco. But it is actually soothing to the lungs and bronchial tubes. (if you can say smoking anything is good for those areas) I never even smelled the skunk smell when I moved out, and I am VERY sensitive to smells. RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House (Guest Post) believe it or not --i read on the computer to use douche cleanser to bath your dog so why not make a solution and spray it on your house.after put moth balls all around the house. it really does work i did it. no more skunks in my yard- RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Post by shanswife99 well one thing that I found that works is too put tomato juice into small jars in your house. Mostly where you smell it the most and the juice smell absorbs it. Hope it works for you:) Jamie RE: Removing Skunk Smell From House Michele (Guest Post) This happened to my sister. The lil skunks had a nest and babies. They sprayed and it all came thru the air conditioning. So the whole house was affected. She washed her walls, curtains, bedding etc. in vinegar several times before the smell ever came out. The mattress she sprayed with a vinegar/water combo and let it air dry. She went to my moms to let everything air dry and her purse was just as smelly. She had to wash it with the vinegar also. Good luck to you. Report Spam or Abuse