skunked! | how to remove skunk smell from your dog
When we moved to our new, more established neighbourhood in south Burlington a few months ago, the first thing our neighbours told us, immediately following the meet and greet, was: beware of the skunks. Having moved from a new development, wildlife of any kind was sparse, and we never saw hide nor hair of a skunk in the four years living there. So, we thanked them for the advice, but didn’t really think much of it.
But shortly after, we smelled the skunk on a few occasions, usually on Chloe’s morning or evening walk. Then there was a skunk sighting – I saw a goofy looking black and white furball ambling across the street early one morning. So really, it should be no surprise that the inevitable happened: Chloe went out for her bedtime pee and got sprayed by the darn skunk! The crazy part is, it happened a few steps outside our door – she really had no chance.
So, at 10 p.m., total chaos broke out. My husband tried to shoo the skunk away so we could get Chloe back outside — she ran into the house right after getting sprayed and all it took was 10 seconds of her being inside to make the entire place REEK. Like, burning in your throat, eyes-watering STENCH. I frantically searched online to find out how to remove skunk smell from your dog.
There are several home remedies for deskunking: some people swear by using lemon juice, others use tomato juice. We went with the following:
- one quart 3% hydrogen peroxide
- 1/4 cup baking soda
- 1 teaspoon liquid soap
Mix and apply to the dog using a cloth or spray bottle, leave on for about 5 minutes, then rinse thoroughly. Keep the solution away from your dog’s eyes, ears, nose and mouth. Use this on a DRY dog — we hosed Chloe off first, which our groomer later told us was wrong, since the compounds in skunk spray are not water soluble, which is where the baking soda comes in.
For the house, we opened all the windows for ventilation and then set bowls of vinegar around the house to absorb the smell. We also tried coffee beans, which do the same thing. It seemed to do the trick, and after a few days and using a little Febreeze to mask the odour and make things more bearable, our house smelled normal again.
The next day Chloe smelled better, but we still took her into the groomers right away (a big shout out to the Pets N Groom, which took in stinky Chloe right away!). She spent five hours there, had four special de-skunking baths and a trim, and smelled much better. She was back to her usual hijinks in no time and I suspect she learned nothing from the experience!
After doing further research, I discovered that during the fall, skunk families will disband and are more likely to spray at this time of year to defend their den site.
So, a good tip is to have these ingredients on hand as an emergency deskunking kit in case your dog gets sprayed. It’s better than going to the drug store late at night and having people hold their noses while standing next to you in line …
