HELP! My dog got skunked!

[Peggy C.]

Ok here it is, DBF (oh it means dumb in this case) fell asleep with poor Otis outside and he got it and I mean good! His body seems ok, but his big ole face still stinks! (he hasn't been eating as much and I think it's because his own aroma is making him sick)

I tried the peroxide/baking soda/soap thing and also douche, neither seemed to work. I'm hesitant to try tomato on his face, I'm afraid it might burn his eyes.

Any veterans out there?

[aggie94]

Oh, poor Otis! (And poor you, for having to put up with his stinkiness!). I don't have any suggestions, but have you called your vet? They might be able to give you a surefire remedy over the phone.

[Molli526]

Peggy-

Maybe a squirt bottle with the tomato juice will help for the face area.

My parents dog gets skunked and my mom uses the peroxide mixture- although there is usually some residue of the skunk.

Put a guilt trip on the BF- you deserve dinner out after this mess.

Molli

[Peggy C.]

Aggie thanks for the suggestion about the vet, I don't know why I didn't think of that first. They suggested a product called skunk-off has anyone heard of this?

Molli, good idea! Now where should I get him to take me?

[KristaMB]

They should sell Skunk Off at your local pet store. I've purchased it at Petco before.

[sneezles]

Peggy,
Living in the country does have its drawbacks. One of our dogs use to get skunked all the time. She would crawl under the house to find them. You would think that after getting sprayed she stay away from the skunks...not so! I did do the tomato juice one time and sponged it one her face, really didn't do much good. Hopefully the Skunk Off will work for you. Keep us posted! Roxi's not with us anymore but the new guy Chuck is showing the same tendencies! Really bad news when they get skunked under the house because it permeates the entire house!

[phantomcg]

When my dog got skunked a while back, my vet's office told me to try Febreze on him. It worked! Except that my poor dog had also gotten sprayed in his mouth. There was nothing to do about that but wait it out. The vet said that the Febreze really wasn't toxic to dogs like I'd heard.

Cheryl

[Molli526]

I have also used Febreeze on my dog. For his face, I squirted it in my hands then applied. I am glad to know it is safe :rolleyes:

[Peggy C.]

Ok, I didn't try the skunk off yet, I was afraid to see what PetSmart charged for it, so I'll give the Febreeze a try tonight. I thought about that, but wasn't sure.

Sneezles, the scary part is I live in the city! If I walk 10 minutes I'm in Cleveland! But I do have another question for you, since this is the first dog I've had since I was little girl. Our dog has destroyed the lattice work under our back steps and lays under there. I try to discourage it, because I don't know what the heck is under there. In a month or so we were going to re-build it and lay pavers down and let him use it as a dog house (even though he is primarily an inside dog). I thought about other animals inhabiting it but my DBF (yes the same one that let him get skunked in the first place) says they won't once his odor is there.....any opinions, should I insist we block it off? Also this porch doesn't go under the house simply beside it. TIA!

[sneezles]

Peggy,
Skunks are creatures of habit (can't believe I know stuff about skunks!). They are not put off by the scent of a dog, Roxi was skunked at least 10 times in the 2 years she lived out here, not too clever! We seem to have skunk season...mating and nesting times are when they are usually under the house. The new guy, Chuck, goes under the house every day! He does it mostly to get out of the heat and to practice his singing. The skunk for some reason sprayed two nights ago but the dogs are not out at night so I'm not sure why. Although the cat is out at night but he's pretty much a chicken and sleeps on the couch on the porch.

Long story short, I would block the area! Our new house has lattice backed with a very small mesh wire. Hopefully that will keep out the critters!

[Peggy C.]

Thanks again, you've been most helpful.

[Lrimerman]

I am resurrecting this old thread because my DH let the dog out and left him out tonight for a short while, and because DH had failed to put the garbage in the can (I had set it out back and asked him to put it in the can in garage, it had raw chicken in it.) the dog got skunked bad in the face. We did the peroxide/baking soda/soap concoction the vet recommended, but it hasn't helped much. We left the dog out in the garage in his cage (he is really an inside dog, but we can't let him in when he smells this bad, I would love to send DH out with him, but don't think he would go.) Does anyone have any other suggestions (I am going to try the febreze tomorrow).

How long does it usually take for the smell to dissapate from the dog and from outside (we can still smell it in the house it was so strong and close to the house)?

Thanks for any help you can give, DH is leaving on a week long business trip and leaving me with the smelly dog and two kids as well as the fact that we sold our house and the appraiser is coming on Monday morning to appraise it for the buyers, I hope bad smells don't lower the value.

I really can't wait to move now. It makes me want to get rid of dog even more, but the kids love him and I feel heartless just giving him away because he is a pain in the you know what.

Lisa

[sneezles]

Lisa,
I would burn tons of scented candles to rid the smell inside the house. I'd say the smell outside the house should dissipate in 24 hours. As for the poor dog? If the Febreeze, works then it should be a done deal as soon as it dries.

[Peggy C.]

Lisa, boy this happened to me just a year ago. Let's hope history doesn't repeat itself.

The febreeze did work on Otis. I used a new kitchen sponge sprayed with the febreeze and rubbed it on his face let it dry and repeated it a couple of times.

[LaraW]

Lisa, could you use the febreeze in your house as well? Would that help?

Good luck!

[Lrimerman]

Well we used the concoction with the peroxide the vet recommended three times and the febreeze, it helped, but he still smells. We have kept him in the basement. He is sick from it though, so I have had to clean up runny piles every day. Now the basement reeks from the mess on the floor and the skunk. DH is out of town, wish he had taken the dog too!!

Thanks for all the advice.