Dog sprayed by a skunk

[Danielle]

My dog was sprayed in the face by a skunk. Everyone knows you just use tomato juice to neutralize the odour. Which sounds easy but until it happens to you. My dog (a 7lb, 8 year old poodle) was sprayed in the face by a skunk. He ran in the house and the smell was horrible. We wrestled him out and sprayed him off. Bathed him with tomato juice(we had to go to the store for). He had to sleep in the basement. The next day I bought "skunked" shampoo. It helped but he still smelled. Then his eyes which were sprayed were very irrated. Later in the day he started bleeding from his bum. It smelt like skunk, maybe he inhaled the spray. It was very scaring and upsetting for the dog. He's still very sick. It was very hard to get any info, without going to the vet. Please tell me any home remedies or advice on dealing with skunk spray. Know I'm scared of skunks, I had no clue what they smelled like up close.


Danielle Feit

[marielayne]

1 Quart of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide (fresh and unopened). 1/4 cup of Baking Soda. 1 teaspoon of Liquid Soap. Wash while mixture is bubbling. Rinse with water and repeat if necessary. Double the quantities for a medium dog, triple for a large dog. I have heard to suggest putting warm olive oil in the dog's eyes as soon as possible after being sprayed because it causes them a lot of pain from the spraying. I would try eyewash solution. Try to keep the peroxide mixture out of the dog's eyes, though. If your dog is bleeding from his bum or appears to have been bitten, consult a vet! Skunks may carry rabies. If your dog is vaccinated, it is safe from the rabies virus. But you are not. Tomato juice is said to not work. Although the acid in them absorbs, it isn't enough.

http://granicus.if.org/~firmiss/m-d/skunk-clean.txt
http://dan.yosemite.ca.us/holly/skunk.html
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/skunk.htm

Marie

[bohemian]

Wow,
thanks for the tip Marielayne good to know!!!

Boh

[wuffable]

Hi,
My dog was skunked! She is fine now and after many tomato juice and Crest toothpaste rub downs, she is almost smell free. But, I have no idea how to get the smell out of her leather collar. Any helpful hints would be greatly appreciated.

[SnowDancer]

The original post is several years old - but I would like to add to Today's post that Tomato juice is not recommended - the baking soda and peroxide with shampoo is the method of choice - OR - "Skunked" - but if you are going to you the Skunked spray it is recommended that you do this BEFORE trying the baking soda/peroxide method. When I took my pup to socialization the other there - held at his groomer's - they were knee deep in deskunking a very hairy dog. They told me that Skunked is great but then the order of application. Plan A of course would be to hope Groomer was open when dog got sprayed and head straight there. RE the collar - forget it, smell is likely in there forever - especially leather. If you did get the smell out, the collar would probably be ruined. I am planning on this happening to my Eskimo - a skunk lives next door and every night I smell the spray. My supplies are ready, just in case. I have had to resort to hiding the bottles of hydrogen peroxide though because my husband keeps opening them despite my warnings that it will render product useless.

[Msteffen]

Originally Posted by Danielle

My dog was sprayed in the face by a skunk. Everyone knows you just use tomato juice to neutralize the odour. Which sounds easy but until it happens to you. My dog (a 7lb, 8 year old poodle) was sprayed in the face by a skunk. He ran in the house and the smell was horrible. We wrestled him out and sprayed him off. Bathed him with tomato juice(we had to go to the store for). He had to sleep in the basement. The next day I bought "skunked" shampoo. It helped but he still smelled. Then his eyes which were sprayed were very irrated. Later in the day he started bleeding from his bum. It smelt like skunk, maybe he inhaled the spray. It was very scaring and upsetting for the dog. He's still very sick. It was very hard to get any info, without going to the vet. Please tell me any home remedies or advice on dealing with skunk spray. Know I'm scared of skunks, I had no clue what they smelled like up close.


Danielle Feit

Hi, we were camping once and our big girl Kacey was sprayed (our first experience also). All we had was my husbands Selson Blue shampoo. We went into the public shower with her and scrubbed her good. There was still a faint smell but nothing unbearable. Maria