Yesterday evening after my husband had been watching a show about California’s green energy program a show about Skunks came on PBS. It was part of their Nature series.
I’ve always been kind of fascinated by skunks. There were several in my hometown neighborhood in Ottawa, and now that we have our own house here in Toronto I’ve noticed that we have a number of skunks around here too.
I’ve never had a problem with skunks. If I see one I stay away from it and try not to startle it. Plus I know that they don’t climb, so our yard being solidly fenced all the way around (in the back) it’s unlikely that we’ll have any skunks in our backyard unless they dig under the fence.
Now that we have a dog I’m a little more cautious about skunks. Midnight, our Labrador Retriever (18 months old) thinks every animal or person she comes across is a potential friend. Typical of the breed I believe.
We always walk her on leash in our neighborhood. In part because it’s the law around here and secondly because she’s so excitable I’m afraid she’d run out in front of a car if we didn’t!
There are some nice off leash areas here in Toronto, but the only one that worries me as an area where she might disturb a skunk is the off leash area in Taylor Creek park. It has a large wooded area, trails and of course that pond that she likes to take a dip in every time we go there.
One great tip that I picked up from the “Skunk” show was how to easily remove that skunk smell if you or your dog gets sprayed by a skunk.
Get rid of that skunk spray smell
Go outside with a bucket and the following three ingredients:
- 1. 1 quart of 3% hydrogen peroxide (you can get that in your local drug store)
- 2. 1/4 cup Baking Soda
- 3. 1 teaspoon liquid detergent
Mix the three ingredients together in the bucket. I think it will fizz up, so use it while it’s fresh.
If it’s your dog that’s been sprayed by a skunk use a pitcher or measuring cup to gently pore the solution over your dogs fur. Be careful not to get it in your dogs eyes. Let the solution sit on your dogs fur for about five minutes and then rinse with clean water.
I know the old cure is to bath your dog or yourself in tomato juice but they said on the show that that just covers up or masks the smell for a while … the real cure is the solution I listed above.
One other thing that I learned while I was watching the show was that it seems that where feral cats are located in cities there are often a lot of skunks. In one town discussed on the show the cats and skunks were actually hanging out together. Since there were so many skunks in town they were becoming a problem for the residents so once the towns people discovered the correlation between the feral cats and skunks people stopped leaving food out for the free roaming cats and the skunk population went down!
Most of the years we’ve lived here I’ve seen a few free roaming cats regularly visiting my garden during the day and night. I didn’t see them very often last year, but I think that might be because of the dog. Anyway … that got me thinking that we might have more skunks running around this area because of the free roaming cats too. If you’ve noticed the same in your area encourage your neighbors not to leave food out for the cats and other opportunistic animals and maybe you’ll notice a drop in skunks in your general area too.
I saw most of that show! It was fascinating and I couldn’t believe I was watching it. The funniest thing was when the narrator explained that skunks don’t know when they’re “packing stink.” So they will use every other method to protect themselves from predators before pointing their butts at someone or something. What a surprisingly interesting program. I’m glad I caught it.
I always thought it was tomato juice….
We had a dog get sprayed by a skunk once and I can tell you from experience it is absolutely one of the worst smells a pet owner will ever have to deal with!
Hello! Great blog, I drop on it often! I started a Ring for dedicated Entrecard bloggers who are dedicated bloggers. Consider joining? 🙂 http://www.ringsurf.com/ring/nr2856/
I hate skunks. They scare me. Once when I was camping, we were sitting outside and all of the sudden a skunk comes up to our camp. I wasn’t gonna have any of that. I quickly got up and hastily made my way to our car. I got in and the skunk just wandered around. The rest of my family wasn’t that afraid of the skunk so they stayed outside. I would never do that. The skunk eventually went away without any smell from it. Thanks for sharing the cure for skunk smell though.
I went camping once and albino skunks raided our trash the entire trip. Thankfully, none of us got sprayed.
By the way, I have listed this blog as a dofollow blog and send a few readers your way. I’ve linked to the page above.
I’m in the process of updating the rankings and providing a bit of information about each site. Updates should be up by Wednesday. Let me know if you’d like to change yours.
Warmly,
Linda P. Morton
thanks for the great tip! In our country we don’t have skunks!!! haha!
“Gong Xi Fa Cai” to you! Hope you can understand that! Drop by to let U know that my new blog is now at http://www.jangbokjae.com Thanks and have a wonderful start to the Year of The Golden Ox!
Midnight is way too trusting if he things everybody is his friend!
We don’t have problems with skunks and our dog since we keep him in our backyard and take him to dog parks that are enclosed. But if our dog ever gets sprayed by a skunk, we’ll remember this tip.
Thanks for you article first.
I have a Old English Sheepdog——Charlie.it will be a big problem if my dog has been sprayed by a skunk,for its long, thick, shaggy grey and white coat.
Yes, that is definitely the best recipe for getting skunk stink off your dog. I was a Veterinary Nurse for 15 years and that is the exact recipe we would give to clients that called looking for a solution.
I know it has personally worked for me. Tomato juice did not work for me!
Tomato juice is what most people use; though I know it doesn’t work 100%. I know there’s a special spray you can get from vets that helps; but it too isn’t 100%. I will note this and let my brother and neighbor know. Their dogs get sprayed several times a year by skunks. It makes sense to me. Baking soda is a good cleaning item.
I didn’t know about the wild cats and skunks though and wish people in general would stop encouraging the cats by feeding them. It only makes many problems worse. They truly can overrun a neighborhood, and they keep producing more.
Sandy
I have used this recipe on both a freshly sprayed cat and dog. It works. Thanks!
I dont think iv ever seen a skunk in real life. I mean outside of a zoo, but if i ever get sprayed I will be sure to try out your recipe.
Nice blog by the way.
I had my dog in my back yard kennel and he got blasted by a skunk! I tried your stink removal and it worked like a charm! Me and my lab coco thank you!
i have two greyhounds and a black and white cat named kricket.
this cat rules the house, the dogs will not go near her. kricket looks like a skunk, therefore i am not worried about the dogs messing with a skunk in the backyard.
before i had these pets, a skunk walked into my house and hid under my bed for several days before i realized it was there. i started smelling something weird, not skunk spray, and looked under my bed. i have never run so fast when i saw that skunk lol.
my brother got it out without it spraying. he made a trail of popcorn or something and the skunk followed it to the front door and out!
tony
I can tell you from experience that this formula works. When my Jack Russells got sprayed the first time and I did not find out the formula til the next day, and my whole house stunk for 6 months, and I got sent home from work even though I showered. They got sprayed again in Sept. and I had formula whipped up quick, and my house did not stink! A little knowledge can go a long way!
That mix sounds pretty harsh but considering what it’s up against I guess it has to be. Glad I’ve never encountered a skunk and hope I never do.
I washed my dog with peanut butter and that did the trick! 😛 Thanks for the article.
This is really interesting and helpful information. My wife and I recently moved and our home backs up practically to a mountain and the area is very forest like and filled with animals. We’ve seen many different wild life, not skunks yet..but I’m sure they are out there. Our lab sounds a lot like yours…she’s very friendly with animals and pretty inquisitive. I could see her getting sprayed by a skunk. Now I know what to do if this happens!
Thanks!
My dog wouldn’t go near a skunk. Or other dogs for that matter. She’s a major wuss!
Well Tim, I’m glad to hear that, but you just never know. I’m not sure where you live, but it’s possible that you could let your dog into your backyard or walk out your front door with her and encounter a skunk … so I figured it’s good to know how to get rid of that awful smell just in case your dog gets sprayed. People get sprayed too .. I’m pretty sure this formula would work on us as well.
I live in the city but we do have some skunks around. I brought up the example above because I have seen a skunk beside my neighbors porch (10 feet away from my own) upon exiting my house with my dog late at night … luckily I pulled my dog back inside the house before she even had a chance to see the skunk!
I found your blog in a google search because my brother’s German Shepherd got sprayed by a skunk today! He used tomato juice and the dog still smells pretty bad. I’m going to get him to try out your ingredients to get rid of that horrible smell and hopefully that does the trick.
My dog got sprayed by a skunk one month ago and tomato juice didn’t work at all. We had to get rid of all the carpets in the house. Though it’s one month now, there’s still a remnant of this horrible smell on my dog… I’m going to try your recipe.
My dogs and cat have been sprayed by skunks once in a while. We had this stuff from Walgreens that didn’t do the trick at all. Gonna try your “recipe” the next time. Thanks for sharing.
Great post! I am really glad that I was able to find this article…I had a similar incident before where my dear Shadow and I got sprayed by a skunk! Gosh, it was really terrible…We both bathe in tomato juice, but it seemed like the smell was still there even after a few days! It was horrible! Anyway, thanks again for sharing this great post 🙂
Thanks for clarifying the stories about tomato juice baths. I’ve had a dog with porcupine quills in his nose before. Fortunately I’ve never had a dog sprayed by a skunk.