Readers Respond: Skunked: Curious-pet-meets-skunk often ends up as a smelly situation

I have read some accounts of people who needed to vacate their home for a few days to deal with the odor. Some funny accounts too, although not at the time, I assume.

Post-skunk first aid should be attended to, and thankfully we have ways to remove the odor.

Annoying, frustrating...what's your skunk story? Share your story

fur color change?

our poodle was sprayed heavily by a skunk a couple of months ago and ever since, his fur turned black where he was sprayed. i thought it would grow out and go back to normal, but no such luck. I wondered if anyone has ever heard of this and if there was anything one could do.

—Guest Kristin

Twice in a year

Like many, I have been noticing an unusual amount of skunks this year. As in WAY TOO MANY: and it really stinks. Well my dog has gotten sprayed twice this year :(((. Within a month of each other. It really isn't nice. So here I am sitting at 11:30 pm cleaning skunk smell out of my dog

—Guest Peter

Skunked-First and Better be LAST time!

My rat terriers had been barking at the shed for a solid week, and I figured they found some mice. This morning at 5:30 am, one of my ratties, Zipper, found the skunk. He came tearing back into the house, and smeared that smell all over EVERYTHING. My carpets, the kids room, kids' clothes.... Tomato juice, tomato paste, vinegar, baking soda, nothing worked and it was time to go to school/work. Twin daughters were sent home from school...LOL. I had to leave work early. I just baking soda & Peroxide-d him, so I hope this works!!! Thanks for the recipies friends!! :D P.S. I found the skunk dead behind the shed....lol.

—Guest Janine

Smelly Tails

We seem to alternate between skunk years and raccoon years at my house. This is a skunk year, for some reason our highly intelligent lab Sophie can't figure out how to avoid skunks. My dumb-as-a-post pit-mix Belle, on the other hand, not just avoids skunks, but also Sophia after she gets sprayed yet again. It used to be worse, when we first moved in we had 3 large dogs who ALL got sprayed repeatedly. I use the peroxide & baking soda remedy with great success, but I also add a step by washing the dog once or twice first with the Dawn and then using the solution on her twice - rinsing in-between applications.

—Mmstegenga

One learns more with each skunking

This is the third time for our dog, and every time we've used the baking soda / peroxide mix. This time, however, I spent a few hours trying to find the stink smell where there should have been none. The lesson learned: rubber and plastics absorb the smell. My rubber gloves, plastic parts on the collar and a rubber or vinyl identification tag all stank up the bathroom until I figured it out.

—Guest skunkedagain

13 year Jack Russell loves tomato paste

My JR just got skunked for the first time tonight. I heard the yelp, and saw her shaking (which I thought was a seizure as she is epileptic)...so of course she's shaking her head, I think she's having a seizure, I let her in the house and then the smell hits me like a 2 x 4 to the head. She was sprayed right in the face, whimpering...and she immediately ran under the dining room table. I frantically searched for a way to grab her without contaminating myself, found a nearby towel and finally captured her. Cleo seemed to enjoy her tomato paste bath, between shaking her head repeatedly and covering the entire bathroom in red spray, she was EATING the tomato paste and clearly enjoying her accomplishments. I felt bad for her for all of 2 seconds and in-between holding back my own vomit and gags I was laughing at my white dog who looks like she just rolled in a bloody corpse. I've been told that tomorrow at work I'm going to be the one stinking up the place. Thanks Cleo.

—Guest Cleo's mom

spray and spray again!

My 7 yr. old mixed dog, Maggie came running in the house and immediately starting rubbing all over the floor. I smelled skunk! We put her and our pup, Sugar Britches outside and I ran to the local market to pick up some peroxide, gloves, and baking soda.

—Guest Pam

Welcome to the neighborhood

Moved to a new home three weeks ago, and dodged the Winter of 2011 in Chicago by three days . Got settled in and my son saw two big skunks running around the back yard. Got on the web, and yep, late Feb is mating season for skunks. Nice. Next day Maggie(3 year old Jack) wakes me at 4am hysterical at the patio windows. No I did not let her out, but she kept it up for hours. At 7:30 I let her out, and sure enough the skunks were out again, but one fell in our area well to the basement. I called a traper and for $150.00 they come get the skunk and take it away. But they do not relocate. They euthanize them. So I rig a ramp to save the $150., and the skunk and in three hours it's gone. Tonight Maggie goes out at 10:30 and gets sprayed right away. Not good at all. The wife did the tomato juice thing but she still stinks. Maggie that is. Surprisingly the wife smells pretty good. Anyway, the trapper is coming in the morning. Welcome to the neighborhood.

—Guest Mike

Suzy vs. the skunk

We were visiting our friend in Ohio and our last night there, our dog, Suzy found the skunk in Tom's back yard. She got sprayed and we washed her in tomatoe juice and mild soap. The ride back home was smelly and my husband put his after- shave on a towel and then rubbed her down. She hated the smell of that aftershave, but worse we'd say "Suzy, where's the skunk?" and she'd run around trying to hide from the skunk! Tom never saw that skunk around his house the rest of the summer.

—laumb

Bit off more than he could chew

My doberman Higgins found a skunk in the field behind our house and made the mistake of discovering it wasn't one of his stuffed animals. Unfortunately he got drenched in skunk spray while doing it. I immediately took him to the bath tub and doused him in mouthwash since it was all I had at the time. I got rid of some of the smell but he was still pretty foul. I then went to the pet store and bought some natures remedy skunk remover. Its $12 but it really works. I rinsed him down and then covered him in this stuff and then rinsed him again. I did this process 2 days in a row and there is no trace of skunk on him at all now. Having your dog covered in skunk spray ranks right up there with the most frustrating things I've ever encountered. I would recommend keeping a bottle of the skunk remover on hand at all times.

—Guest Dobermanguy

peeeeyou

This is the second time my dog has been sprayed by a skunk. The first one was a big skunk and he killed it. This time he played around with it pushing it around with his nose and barking at it. He finally he killed the skunk, and boy did he smell afterwards.

—Guest shannonberhaupt

Jack Russell vs. monster skunk

OUr 12 yr old J.R. Terrier found a monster-sized skunk in our fenced back yard. After an hour of battle, a draw was called and Whiz retrned with nearly 5 sprays from his new friend. Peroxide/baking soda worked, but spray was shot into his eye socket. It oozed for days, stinking just as it did the first day. My neighbor's homes for two houses in every direction were polluted. (Tips: Don't let the skunk spray dry! Use the peroxide/bakng soda formula.) Skunk spray is NOT water soluble, but saline washes helped our dog open his eyes and gave some relief. He smelled great until you smelled his eyeball! He could clear a room in 5 minutes. I was sure he'd leave skunks alone after that...so wrong. The skunk he'd tangled with was the size of a large house cat, and nearly all white with only two slim black stripes down his side. This mutant skunk returned to our yard 2 weeks later and sat in front of our door for half an hour. Dog and skunk locked eyes through a window for an hour.

—Guest karen

skunk encounter!

When my Dalmation was alive, she more than encountered a skunk she left no trace of it so hopefully it got away!. She was out and about in the back yard & no one knew the skunk had gotten under our fence. We were going on a short vacation that morning and had to board her at her favorite location. Well all of a sudden skunk attack & she got skunked! She luckily did not eat it but she reeked. It was the most awful smell ever. We tomato juiced her did just everything to rid her of the horrible smell. Well in leaving the next morning we did tell the wonderful place of her encounter & they had no problem with taking her even though she still smelled not well! I was happy though that she did not get sick or anything because I do know she ate whatever the skunk left behind GROSS! But so after that gee never again did she have any skunk encounters! It was awful for us and I really cannot imagine what went on in her mind! Good "ole Sparky! Miss her!

—doggylover1

How Many Till the Lesson is Learned?

So far, my blue merle Aussie has been skunked twice. Certainly, it doesn't take wild animals this long to "get it"! I use the baking soda, hydrogen peroxide and dish soap recipe. It worked, but a diminished odor returns for months. After two treatments, her fur bleached to a red merle color! Her head and shoulders were red merle, and the rest was blue merle! YIKES! I decided to try to darken it with shades of black and grey hair dye! Disaster! She looked like Elvis Presley by the time I was finished. The top of her head looked like a black mullet! Furthermore, out in the sunshine, it reflected a blue hue! She looked ridiculous! I had to repeat the skunk treatment to bleach out my botch-up. Fortunately, it actually turned out looking like normal blue merle fur again, with a few blotches of blue-black here and there. At least it was better than the red/blue coat pattern. I sure hope she does not find another skunk any time soon. Why can't domestic dogs get it after one spray?

—Guest lhnatin