Eliminating Skunk Scent
Did you or your pet have a run in with a skunk? And let me guess….now you’re not sure how to get rid of the smell? Last week my dog decided he wanted to make friends with a skunk but the skunk was not as interested in being friends. My husband saw what was happening and ran over to grab our dog but it was too late. Herbie had been sprayed by a skunk.
A few hours later when I woke up to a skunk smell I desperately searched the internet and didn’t find a lot of first hand experience on getting rid of the smell. My hope in writing this blog is to turn our few days of skunk smells into a learning experience for you!
What To Do If You or Your Pet Has Been Sprayed By a Skunk
1) Stay outside if at all possible! I can’t stress this enough! You don’t want secondary contamination in your home. The first mistake we made was bringing our dog back into the house. For about three days, our house smelled of skunk and it could have been preventable if we had left our dog outside instead of bringing him in for a bath.
2) Bathe your dog or yourself using dish soap. Skunk smell has oil in it and therefore requires a degreaser to cut through it. If possible, run inside, grab your dishwasher detergent and bathe your dog with the outside water hose. You may have to repeat the process a few times.
Note - be sure to put the soap on your dog before using water. Using water first will make the smell linger longer!
If you’re the one that was sprayed, try to clean yourself outside too. Maybe ask a family member to bring you a swimsuit to change into in your garage. If you must go into your home, I suggest taking off as many clothes as possible before you enter your home and then run straight for the kitchen to grab your soap and then the bathroom.
Don’t go near furniture or anyone else in the family. And even avoid carpet if you can!
Be sure to use dishwasher soap in the shower. The degreaser will help remove the smell from your skin. Both my husband and I used Dawn dish soap and it worked perfectly.
3) If your dog still has a skunky smell on them after an outdoor bath (which will probably happen), I suggest using a skunk shampoo. This is the next step we had to take! This is the skunk shampoo we used that really helped. In the two weeks after Herbie was sprayed, we probably bathed him 4 times with this specialized shampoo. Each time it helped a little more.
Skunk Smell in Your Home
If you or your dog ends up in the house then it will smell up your entire home pretty quickly. Our dog came into our house after being sprayed by a skunk and within an hour our entire 4,000 sq.ft. home smelled horrible. I was sleeping when the skunk spraying happened and I could smell it in my sleep. Needless to say it woke me up pretty quick.
Here’s What You Should Do
Once the smell gets into your home, it will take several days for it to leave. But there are some things you should do immediately to help speed up the airing out process.
Turn on all your ceiling fans. High power y’all!
Open as many windows and doors as you can. Getting air to circulate quickly is crucial.
Light all the candles! The scented candles won’t get rid of the smell but it will help mask it. After a few hours you may start to feel nauseated by the skunk smell. At least that’s what happened to me!
If candles aren’t your thing, try baking! I finally decided to make my dogs sweet potato treats (baked slices of sweet potatoes with cinnamon) and it filled our house with a much more favorable scent!
Sunlight is also good for smell removal. Move furniture outside (small items) or closer to a bright window.
Put one scoop of Oxy Clean Odor Blaster and fill your bathtub with warm water about a quarter of the way. This will help eliminate odors from the bathrooms and their adjoining bedrooms.
A friend also gave me this one - pour baking soda into bowls and place them around the house to help soak up the smell
Skunk Smell and Your Clothes/Fabrics
Our clothes and towels (from bathing) also smelled of skunk. The dog beds and blankets also smelled bad since the smell came from my dog! In order to get rid of the smell, I first put everything out on our back porch for 2 days. Then, when the majority of the smell was gone (fresh air and sunlight works like magic), I washed everything.
My washing machine detergent “concoction” that got all the skunk smells out of our clothes, blankets, towels and sheets was:
1 Large scoop of Oxy Clean Odor Blaster, half cup baking soda diluted by mixing with a bowl of water, laundry detergent, laundry sanitizer, and fabric softener.
Dump everything in the washing machine before your fabrics
Be sure to select the “hot water” and “heavy soil” options
I followed this method with thick dog blankets that smelled terrible and all the loads came out smelling good. When your washing load is done, smell the clothes to be sure they’re clean. Once I knew the smell was gone, I put them in the dryer.
If the smell is still there, you can air dry outside in the sun and then repeat the process again.
Avoid putting smelly clothes in the dryer because the smell will just carry over and affect your clean clothes!
Conclusion
Overall, the skunk smell in our home took about 3 days to fully air out. But it was a different case for our dog. He was sprayed full on by a skunk in his neck/chest area so the smell lingered for quite some time before leaving entirely. Despite several baths (8+) and several days laying out in the fresh air and sun it took about 3 weeks for the smell to be completely removed from his fur.
I really hope my dog has learned his lesson but honestly, he’s so friendly I think he would try to befriend another skunk if he had the chance! Good thing we’ve already been through this and are ready for any skunk smells!
Let me know in the comments if you found this helpful. And if you’re dealing with a skunk smell now, hang in there. It will dissipate - it may just take time. Good luck!
