Oh Boy - do I need a remedy for this one!!!

[Boogity]

It's about 4:45 AM and I have not been to bed yet . . . our two Golden Retrievers tangled with a skunk at 11:30 last night. I was their last trip outside for the night and the skunk was only about 30 ft. from the back door. That thick, long hair is impossible to deal with. At around 1:00 am I wanted to kill both of them. Last summer the vet gave us a recipe for a solution to use and it works OK but you have to apply several times in the first 12 hours. I just finished application #3 and I'm almost ready to vomit. The male ran into the house and immediately rubbed all over the living room carpet before I could stop him. His neck was wringing wet with the skunk spray. We're afraid the carpet is ruined. The carpet is not new but new carpet simply does not fit into the budget at all! I'll call a carpet cleaner first thing on Saturday (I think that's today) to see what they think. I just made a pot of coffee but now I don't want it. My eyes are still watering. Boo Hoo!

Any suggestions on how to get the smell out of the house? The carpet? We have a pretty good recipe for a solution for the dogs and I have made three applications throughout the night. Please don't tell me about tomato juice as we have never had any success with it over the years and the vet told us several years ago that that's an old wives tale. One time I spent $25 on tomato juice and it accomplished absolutely nothing.

 

[freemotion]

What about one of those enzyme treatments, the ones sold for urine stains? I've heard they work for skunk. But don't get one that has strong perfumes or stinky scents in it on the dogs.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

did you use the one for the dogs as such??:

1 quart 3% hydrogen peroxide
1/4 cup baking soda
1 tsp dawn liquid soap

mix together

this worked in one application for our dogs and they got a direct hit. we tried to tomato juice thing too and wow a white dog + my imported canned tomatoes made for an angry scene

as for the house - the only thing that worked for us was opening all the windows.

sorry!

 

[MorelCabin]

We had a skunk spray our dog right outside the patio door that had a fan blowing the cool evening air into the house
It was AWFUL!
We got the smell out of the house by burning brown sugar on the stove. Just put dry brown sugar in an old pot and burn it...it works!

 

[i_am2bz]

Wow, Boogity, I'm sorry I don't have a solution (skunks don't grow in this area of NC, thank the Lord ), but just wanted to give you my sympathies & wish you luck...I remember "Mythbusters" did an episode on skunk-smell but don't remember now what they came up with. Please post your recipe if you find something that works. :/

 

[Wifezilla]

I looked up the Myth Busters episode and the baking soda/peroxide/liquid soap is supposed to work the best.

"* One quart of 3% hydrogen peroxide
* one quarter cup of baking soda
* one teaspoon of liquid hand soap (not detergent)"
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Removal_of_Skunk_Odor/Removing_Odor

 

[FarmerChick]

OMG to that level I would be at the store getting a new, if even super cheap, carpet LOL yikes I feel for ya....dog you can throw out of the house, that carpet, yikes again LOL

 

[Boogity]

. . .
1 quart 3% hydrogen peroxide
1/4 cup baking soda
1 tsp dawn liquid soap

Yes that's the one. Since my original post I have washed the male dog two more times and the female once. Actually in my desperation I massaged an entire box of new baking soda into his fur and allowed it to remain there for an hour. Most of the skunk spray was concentrated on his face and neck. Then I washed the baking soda out of his fur with the peroxide and dawn soap. This formula works pretty good. The dogs have a very slight odor of skunk. Ode-de-cologne was a skunk wasn't he? Our dogs have never been so clean. Our male dog has a very white face and this will probable make it ever whiter.

I was a little hesitant to use the same formula on the carpet. I tested it on a hidden corner and there did not seem to be any "bleaching" of the carpet by the peroxide. I used a hair dryer to dry the test site and it seemed to be OK. Sooooooo I dove right into the big spot on the carpet with the mixture. It seems to be working very well. there was a slight residue of the baking soda that gave me a shock as I thought it was the peroxide bleaching the carped. But after we used the hair dryer we were able to remove the white places with a carpet sweeper. Whew!

I also slept for three hours right after the testing and carpet treatment was completed. Our entire house wreaks of skunk odor but it is 100 times better than it was at 4:00 AM this morning. It's too darned cold to open the doors and air the place out but we have done some limited airing. I'll be hitting the sack early tonight. the dogs are very tired too.

 

[FarmerChick]

I guess all that odor will get into your clothes also???

 

[dragonlaurel]

I would take the carpet outside to air it and see if you can crash at a friends tonight. Just to make sure you catch up on the rest. Good luck.