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
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)
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
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 Torry
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).
By Tricia
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.By aggie
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
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
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 JB
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
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
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
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)
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
"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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
It seems horrible at first, but it will get better in about a week. Good luck! (09/22/2008)
By Diane
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)
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
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
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