Late last night, Gordon steps out of the shower and opens the door. I am parked on the chair in the corner of the bathroom.
Gordon, big smile: Hey there. Were you waiting for me?
Me: Hmm. Can you walk into the bedroom, please?
Gordon, in a towel, walking to the bedroom: Sure. What am I… Why does it smell so bad in here? Dear Lord. Oh wow.
Sookie got sprayed by a skunk. We don’t know how her stupid butt managed to surprise a skunk. She is huge, she is slow, unless she is charging, and she’s barks like a fog horn. You’d think the skunk would see her coming a mile away and take off. Oh, it is awful. And I am, apparently, one of the small percentage of people who cannot handle it. I never knew this, but I literally couldn’t get close to that dog. It’s like rotten garlic and decomposed citrus rolled into one. Kid 1 couldn’t do it either.
We didn’t have any peroxide, and it was too late to buy it, so Sookie spent the night in the garage. Somehow I managed to pass out in the still noxious bedroom. I was exhausted. This morning Sookie still smells, so we will be doing the washing as soon as peroxide arrives.
Yes, I know about tomato juice, but it doesn’t work as well as peroxide and soda.
Oh the stench. The stench.
Update: it’s 12:27 pm. I am finally done deskunking. Peroxide and baking soda works, but it takes multiple applications. There is still a faint whiff of perfume de skunk, but we can deal. Cleaning the floor where she flopped yesterday really sucked.
Ehh, it has an earthy musk that is not altogether unpleasant.
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/2d785a38-3a30-469e-b5ba-968b54a5cbbc
Oh God I’m so sorry, but you guys made me laugh with this.
Hope poor baby can smell nice again soon.
????????????
I’m so sorry for y’alls poor noses. May you win the battle of the stench this morning!
We don’t have skunks in Aus so I did a little googling because I was curious. From wikipedia;
“A skunk’s spray is powerful enough to ward off bears and other potential attackers.”
But not Sookies or Gordon’s apparently. Haa.
Or me, lmao. I love the smell of skunk. ????♀️????♀️????♀️
Been there at least once a year????. I sympathize…truly!
My daughter thinks they smell faintly of burnt toast.
I am happy to be able to tell her that she is not the only one 🙂
She became a wildlife conflict specialist with the local wildlife rescue center.
I literally went to Walmart a few months back and walked in and went….”I wonder if someone had been smoking pot, or got hit by a skunk….you can never know in Montana” LOL
Oh. So glad to read this – around here it is pot but I think it really smells like skunk – just a little greener. Awful!
99.9% of the time in NYC it is pot. However, a feral cat colony that I helped out with – TNR – also had an old skunk. It would hang back about 10 feet and then come and eat some food after I moved away. Never had a problem with Skunky Skunk. ????
When we lived in Idaho we had a family of skunks under our barn but they never sprayed us or our dog. Lucky us
I grew up in Montana so I know what you mean. One night I got up to let our miniature poodle out. A few minutes later, he scratched at the door to come back in. When I opened it, he whizzed in like his tail was on fire. Blasted beast dashed into the bedroom, hopped on the bed and rolled on all the bedding. We were up the rest of the night washing the dog and doing laundry.
I’m one of those strange people that finds it pleasant — from a distance. Up close, it’s overwhelming, but I don’t find it awful. Maybe because as I was growing up, the faint smell of skunk on the breeze was one of the first signs of spring.
But since there are other odors that consistently make me barf, I feel for you.
Same here! Skunks mean spring!
Hahahahaha! I shared a room with my sister growing up and one night she came in after being out late with friends and was sprayed by a skunk that was hiding in the bushes by our front door. She thought she would just come sleep in the room with me. The stench woke me up out of a deep sleep. I told her to go sleep in the garage. She cried.
Growing up in Northern California, our dog got skunked often. We found apple cider vinegar worked pretty well.
Ok, I was a Vet Tech for nine years, and I don’t like sharing my recipes but I love you guys to will do. First of all let her soak covered in tomato juice for 10 min.
Skunk Descenting Solution
Quart Hydrogen Peroxide
Table spoon Blue Dawn Dish Soap(must be blue Dawn, no substitutes)
1/4 Cup Baking soda
1 gal water
Mix altogether and lather up for 5 minutes, then wash with warm water.
Hope this helps, the skunk smell is interesting. Also hopefully the dog has been through a series of Rabies shots, otherwise a young dog should have a booster within 24 hours; because some stuff you don’t mess with. I have loads of horror stories that I won’t share unless you ask.
I also was going to say to add dish soap to the baking soda and peroxide. Maybe it helps release the oils holding the smells. We were told this recipe where our lab thought rolling in dead deer was fun. ????
We Keep what we call our Skunk Kit with all these ingredients ready to go after our dog was sprayed 2 times in 3 nights! It’s a life saver! Or make that a Nose saver!
Yep, this is the one!!! Also works well on fox urine, eagle poo (If your dog has a magical way of rolling in all things foul.) and that sour milk/rotten wet towel smell if you have a water obsessed dog that reeks after a few days of never drying out. You do need to let it sit for that 10 minutes. It can add some surprisingly lovely highlights that have people asking if you take you dog in to a specialty groomer that does dye jobs. I have multiple costco sized bottles of peroxide on hand just for this reason year round.
You will want to burn her collar. Dad’s deer hound partied with a skunk. 20 years later the dog’s collar could STILL make my Dad throw up from the smell.
LOL…
I’m so sorry.
LMAO …. *breath*
hahahaha my second love skunk scratch and sniff!
We had a cat that did the same thing. He came in through the cat door and went to sleep on my parents bed in the middle of the night. My brother and I were woken up at 4am and the whole family searched the house looking for the burning rubber /plastic. 45 min after the cat left the house we realized what the smell was!!!!
Was coming home from work and had a suicidal skunk leap in front of my car. Needless to say I swerved to miss him and blasted thing hari-kari’d Again. In hindsight, it must have been bio ic????.
Trying to not breathe thru nose or mouth was futile. And as I’m experiencing this, Rev. Joel Olsten ‘s sermon about not letting others steal your happiness was running thru my head.
As I was thinking what joy could come from this….had a random thought that made me smile.
And I sent a text to youngest brother to see what would get smell off car
Maybe you can use the vet’s skunk solution above?
We used feminine wash on our poor skunked dog; it worked marvelously! Just keep it away from eyes, nose and mouth! (Not sure what that says about intimate feminine hygiene…)
Not to scare you, but I’m related to a dog who seeks out and enjoys an occasional spritzing of skunk. Some dogs roll in rotten fish. I guess my nephew dog is an overachiever.
Nature’s miracle https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000NJJKCM?tag=duckduckgo-d-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1 Their products have enzymes that break down the source of whatever noxious odor you have. Also made for dog and cat urine, etc. I keep a gallon on hand.
Yeah, my mom and I both find the smell kind of appealing from sufficient distance (not up close!). Must be genetic.
Next time use Nature’s Miracle de skunking shampoo. Has to do it a few weeks ago for mine… she got it right in the face ugh. But the shampoo worked pretty well only had to wash her twice with it and it has a lavender scent to it.
Vinegar and water dilution, about 1:4, works also. Caution around the eyes. For future reference.
Nope, tomato juice does nothing. Peroxide and Dawn dish washing liquid I think it was worked the best. I’m so sorry. They must have both surprised each other. I hope it gets better soon. That smell and it gets into EVERYTHING. oiy
I was going to say the same thing. My big goofy Weimaraner got sprayed once and went back in for round two immediately. So I did dawn, peroxide and baking soda. It didn’t completely get rid of the smell but you couldn’t smell her unless you were close enough to pet. Good luck!
I completely agree with the statement that tomato juice does nothing. Our dog Circe loved tormenting the skunks (I lived in Colorado mountains at that time). I tried tomato juice many many times and it didn’t do anything.
In answer to the How? question; skunks simply recognize no threat to themselves and acknowledge no higher authority. They know they are carrying the heaviest of weaponry, and everything from elephant to shrew will move out of their way, if they know what is good for them.
There’s reports, perhaps apocryphal, of skunks being hit in the road because they stood their ground and sprayed the onrushing vehicle.
Your small, furry, non-skunk-savvy tank probably expected the skunk to behave like any self-respecting squirrel or rabbit and turn tail and flee before her righteous rath. Unfortunately, a skunks’ idea of turning tail is entirely different ????!
The honey badger is found is Africa, SE Asia and India. It is also black with a white strap but the tail is not cute and puffy. The smell from the anal pouch is suffocating and can be used to “calm” i.e. makes bees pass out which helps when the raid beehives. They will attack much larger animals, up to and including hyenas, lions, horses and Cape buffaloes. I’m thinking skunks on steroids.
Semi random fact: honey badgers are so bad@$$ that cheetah cubs look like them.
Skunks are actually pretty slow and they have poor eyesight, so fleeing isn’t their best skill. They’re also not very good at climbing. They generally prefer to avoid confrontation, but it’s entirely possible that a bulldog was able to corner one. I don’t know how easily surprised they are, but they’ll usually give a warning before spraying — stamped feet, turn and lift the tail and wait; unfortunately, dogs and speeding cars don’t heed the warning.
Supposedly, however, skunks can be distracted from almost anything by a piece of good Brie cheese. I haven’t had the opportunity to try it out myself.
Sorry for you… but thankful for the laughter
So sorry for the stench!
Oh, there’s nothing worse than trying to get skunk stink off. Good luck!!!
Only thing worse than caring for a dog that tangled with a skunk is caring for a dog that went after a porcupine.
Messengil Douche used to work back in my dog owning days
This. My dad’s bird dog would get sprayed at least once a year when I was growing up. Massengill douche powder was they only thing he found that was truly affective.
Skunks have extremely poor eyesight. If the wind is in the wrong direction, they have no idea who or what is approaching. You really have to make some noise if you see them coming in your direction. Sometimes it has to be kind of a lot of noise before they hear it.
Furthermore, skunk-savvy animals know to stay out of their way, so they’re not used to stepping aside or giving way. That’s another reason they get hit by cars so frequently. As far as they’re concerned, the onus is on you to avoid them.
We just had the 3rd animal test positive for rabies here yesterday, 1 bat, 2 skunks! So there is that extra spice of, hey is everybody current on their vax? added into the mix. Doesn’t change the rank smell, though. Good luck with the peroxide/Dawn/tomato juice cocktail, wish I knew of something stronger for you!
Oh, gawd, I remember when my childhood dog got sprayed in the ’70s. 120lb German Shepherd in full winter coat. Fortunately, it was spring, so my dad ended up shaving his coat to 2″ and putting a heater in his dog house. A more pathetic, apologetic dog you have never seen. I felt so bad for him, I had to love on him, which meant *I* got the tomato juice scrub, too. Don’t think I’ve ever seen my mother so mad at me!
You’ll need to hold her about as you wash her, because the peroxide baking soda solution is like ipicac for dogs. Made that mistake once.????
Smell and our reactions to smells is a funny thing. My dog Holly growing up ALWAYS managed to find skunks. Eau de skunk was just part of how she smelled. Constantly. I really really loved that dog, so now I have positive associations with skunk smell. It’s homey! Put me in a room that smells like gasoline on the other hand, and I cannot function and will feel very sick.
You have my sympathies! I hope Sookie gets deodorized quickly. BTW, you can clear your nose by sniffing coffee beans. It won’t clear odor that is still in a room though.
Poor Sookie and I hope she smells better soon! I’ve been fortunate enough never to be THAT close to anything sprayed by a skunk, and I hope I never will.
Last summer my dogs got skunked a lot-3-4 times, way too many times. There is one traditional “eau de skunk“ we all know – but the one that kills me, smells like burnt tires and electrical Hazards + an overlay of gagable nasty. Anyway, we found coating our pooches in a paste of baking soda, peroxide & dawn, and letting it sit for 15-20 minutes, followed by shampooing helped. It was bad a couple of times when our Chloe caught it in the snout- can’t use the magic paste, think of how garlic can linger and exude through the skin for days, now think skunk for a month. I finally decided to try carbon treats, I think they helped. My sympathies to you & especially Gordon, no one else in my family can do the bathing, so that has been my late night chore on several occasions.
Bet that burst Gordon’s fantasy bubble
Hahaha! I totally thought that too!!
Bless you. Been there done that.
“She is huge, she is slow, unless she is charging, and she’s barks like a fog horn.”
????????????????????????
That is an awesome visual. Thank you. Also, full sympathies for you. That does sound truly awful. ????
We had this happen in February- it’s was super cold but we had to open all the Windows in the house. Placing fresh coffee from in bowls throughout the house, really helps. Change bowls every other day. Took us 8 days to not be overwhelmed with the oder. When it rains and the dog gets wet, you WILL smell the skunk! It took 2 months and 5 designing baths before our lab stopped smelling.
We had this happen in February- it’s was super cold but we had to open all the Windows in the house. Placing fresh coffee grounds in bowls throughout the house, really helps. Change bowls every other day. Took us 8 days to not be overwhelmed with the oder. When it rains and the dog gets wet, you WILL smell the skunk! It took 2 months and 5 de-skunking baths before our lab stopped smelling.
Poor Sookie! I feel for you. Having a stuffed up nose during allergy season is a good thing in these circumstances. I had those types of smells that almost made me throw up it was so bad. I remember saying “why can’t my nose stuff up now?!”
I understand the stench. Growing up in rural area we had skunks. Nothing is worse then accidentally hitting and running over one with a car. You’re trapped in a car with the smell. No escape. You pray to get out of the vehicle but you are miles from home and walking is out of the quesrion. It is torture. My brother was learning to drive and the rest of us siblings were in the back fighting to stay on the none stink side. Fun memories.
Tecnu poison oak and ivy cleanser works better than the peroxide/dish soap deskunking recipe that is online.
Country girl here. Growing up, skunk smell was a part of my life, like fresh manure and that chemical you put in natural gas. So skunk and manure- no problem. Kinda homey. But I have never adjusted to that chemical to this day. Still makes me nauseous almost immediately.
According to my mom, nothing got rid of the smell of a skunking, but we didn’t have the internet in those days!
Sorry about that. Most of us have been there, sadly.
Back when I was in high school, my big goofy cat, Nugget, got out and found a skunk. We bathed him in the sink and he merowled in misery until he tasted the tomato juice we were using. He liked that. So he licked at the tomato juice while my mom washed the stink out of him.
lol. that’s pretty cute. Didn’t know cats liked tomato sauce.
There isn’t anything that compares to freshly sprayed skunk. Even a year later, I think I can still smell it in the carpet
Our Shepard decided to charge a skunk while at the summer house. 4 gallons of tomato juice later the one bathroom was rendered near unusable from the stench. We took Boda to the vet to check for damage and he told me to get Massingil douche, mix it up and soak her. He said maybe once, probably twice. At the drug store I asked for the douche and was discreetly given a tiny box of packets. Boda being a monster the little packets were not going to do it. I apparently too loudly asked if they carried a big jar and that the little box was not enough. I got three of the largest jars and it worked.
Ughhh… I’ve been dreading this day at my house. My dog loves to chase critters, it’s only a matter of time. I’d be dying too.
I remember my vet mentioning once that he sold a shampoo for it. Not sure how effective it is, but maybe something to look into. Hope something works for you.
OMG ???? I really believed that something like that can happen only in book ???? (I am from Europe, we don’t have skunks) ????. Lol
Tomato juice doesn’t actually work. Stick with the peroxide. Poor dog. Poor everyone in the household.
I know it sounds strange, but Summer’s Eve feminine wash works well for any lingering smells after the peroxide dip.
Oh no!! I am so sorry. Happened to my dog last year. He is a terrier and apparently a skunk got in our fenced back yard. And the darn dog charged past me into the house before I realized what had happened. Days of airing out the house. I hope the peroxide helps! Your poor nose…
After the peroxide and soda (with a little dish soap mixed in for sudsing), wash with Selsum Blue shampoo. My vet recommends that to help them smell better. It really does work. Good luck!!
Oh dear Lord. Brings back the nightmare of having our 2 St.Bernards get sprayed years ago. That smell! Hubby piled them in the back of the truck and took them to the car wash. Then they got the peroxide and soda. I hope everyone will be ok.
I am picturing St. Bernards at the car wash. With them being so big, and given the water pressure at the car wash, that actually makes a lot of sense. But, oh what a sight that must have been for lookie-loos!
Haha that’s a really great idea!! And what a sight (and smell!) to behold!
yikes. Oh poor Sookie and poor you!!!! Hope relief comes soon! Gordon, “waiting for me” lol…..
Ha! The last snippet I read before bed. Hilarious (sorry), good night!
I had a toy poodle that managed to get sprayed through the very small gap between the gate and fence. Directly in her face. Best we can surmise is she was barking at a skunk passing in the field behind the house. I don’t remember what all my mom tried to get the smell out but the poodle still smelled like skunk years later whenever she got wet.
Smelled skunk before and gotten a migraine. I cannot blame you for this.
Oh no! I’m sorry!
This happened to our dog one January, when the weather was in single digit temperatures, at 10pm the day we came home from the hospital after having our 2nd baby. The dog was sprayed only a couple feet from the back door and ran straight back inside before the spray had time to settle. Our whole house felt like it had been chemical bombed. Our throats burned and our eyes watered. My husband washed the dog in the garage with dawn and peroxide and baking soda, while I scrubbed the kitchen (where she came inside). In the morning, the whole house was still throat searingly awful, and the dog still smelled, so we opened every window (to the 8 degree air), took the dog to a professional groomer (which made a difference!), and then we went and sat in the children’s section of Barnes and Noble with our 3 day old baby and our 3 year old. And boy did people give us a wide berth! ???? Even the poor baby smelled like a skunk.
We ended up having to call a restoration cleaning company to de-skunk our house. They used a hydroxyl generator to clean the air. It took a whole week of hauling it from room to room.
To add insult to injury, my husband had been getting ice cream out of the freezer when the dog ran in, and EVERYTHING in our freezer (including the 15 freezer meals I had made in preparation for the baby’s arrival) was contaminated with skunk stench. But we didn’t realize until a week later when we got out the ice cream again and found out exactly how awful Butter Pecan Skunk ice cream tastes.
At the time, with a brand new baby, it felt like the worst thing that had ever happened to us. Now it’s pretty funny. We ended up buying a knitted skunk hat from Etsy for the baby, for her newborn photos. ????
So hang in there! And call in professionals as needed!
Wow, just wow! You folks win! I never see skunks on our farm. They pretty much ninja about without disturbance. I saw more skunks when i lived in Philadelphia. We had a yard skunk we named Flower. Everyone pretty much ignored each other, though i always took care to never come around a corner of the house suddenly. Flower especially loved hunting for worms in the rain. Every once in a while, a waft of skunk would drift in, but thankfully i didnt have much of a reaction. I wonder if skunk smell reaction is like the taste of cilantro. Genetics play a part.
That’s what I’ve been told. My dad and I like the smell of skunk (to us it smells like bottled lemon juice) but my mom and brother find it horrendous. On the other hand, mom and I can handle artificial sweetener but dad and bro say it’s like licking a tin can. All of us think cilantro tastes like soap!
No. Skunk does not taste like cilantro to me. I have issues with sulfur medications which is genetic.
Oh, I really feel for you? That is the absolute worst. You are a good sport.
Ha! That is the best!
I feel for you. One of my foster dogs managed to get skunked. AFTER leaping over my fence because said skunk was in the middle of the road flaunting itself. Sigh. Life with dogs.
And I ditto your assessment of the baking soda, hydrogen peroxide & Dawn dishwashing soap remedy. Wayyyy better than tomato sauce.
I bet you will stock up on peroxide now.
Lol everytime I read about something Gordon does, I visually superimpose Curran on him in my mind automatically now.
oh no. that is the worst. someone told me to set bowls of baking soda out in the room and it would help absorb the odor. I still don’t know if it worked or just wore off… Good luck.
Also, watch Sookie REALLY closely because most people I know who have gone through this, have had the same dog do the same thing within a week of the first time. It’s uncanny.
Ha ha ha. De skunking the dog. Tomato juice worked on me but Memphis, the German shepherd, required hydrogen peroxide and baking soda. Then he went to vet for a medicated bath unrelated to being skunked.
Memphis was thirteen and got skunked because was he was the second dog in line and the first dog was agile enough to be missed.
Thank you, Ilona Andrews for the post. No not everyone can smell the real skunk Smell. Most people just smell the “skunk odor”. My vet says because it is a musk and everyone Musks smells differently. Makes sense as musk based perfumes for humans make my nose run.
I recently saw a very large skunk wander alongside a construction site and up along the path I had just taken. A minute later and Mr Skunk and I would likely have met with devastating results. Sorry about Sookie. The joy of having pets. My sister and her boyfriend at the time were camping with his German shepherd and the dog encountered a porcine and got a face full of quills. Hello emergency vet services.
Yeah, these cases of interspecies miscommunication are terrible. But what’s Sookie supposed to do? The skunk raised its tail, dog-etiquette demands that she sniffs its butt(!)
I do mind a slight whiff of skunk on the breeze, from far far away – it reminds me of wild places and creatures.
But up close? Holy creature of hell, I like to vomit. I’m impressed that you were able to sleep. I would not have been. The neighbor’s dog got skunked one summer when I was pregnant, and I had to shut every window in our non air conditioned house. It was horrible.
Unfortunately, skunks don’t run. I had to back my truck (3/4 ton diesel)up once when I came upon one crossing the road. I saw the sign and put it in reverse.
Poor Sookie, I hope the peroxide and soda works well.
50% white vinegar works well too. Wash with original Dawn to cut the oil, then rinse, followed by a leave in rinse of the vinegar. (Just be careful not to get it in the dogs eyes ). I had 3 Great Danes get sprayed all at the same time. Good times were had by all ????
All my sympathies! The peroxide, dish soap, and baking soda live in a bucket under our sink. Lucky Sookie is short haired, so you won’t need gallons, right?
When our Dog got hit by a skunk, Mom washed her in tomato juice and when that didn’t work as well as she like added my brother’s High Karate colon. The colon got rid of skunk smell but not use if the scent of the colon wasn’t worse. The works High Karate still bring a big laugh in our house.
I hope Sookie likes baths.
My housemate’s dog hates them like poison but any stinky bog he can jump into is just fine.
Peroxide and Dawn dish soap works wonders. The soap cuts thru the oils in the spray and gets it off the fur.
Grew up in Alaska. Every year the salmon would swim up a stream to spawn and then die. Our dog Speedy would delight in rolling in the stinky fish remains. I couldn’t handle it either. Wish I had known about peroxide and soda back then
Oh that’s even worse than skunk!
???????????? Gordon thought he was gonna get lucky, Instead he got skunky ???? . I’m sure that was a huge let down
So very sorry.
I was up close to that smell once (but inside a car and the offending object (not the car) was outside), and it was absolutely awful.
Here’s hoping peroxide arrives very soon now.
🙁
Probably a case of the dog walking around a corner and two beasts got surprised…but the skunk reacted faster! My sympathies!