How to Remove Skunk Smell from Pets, Clothes, etc.

July 7, 2010 at 5:00 am Chad Upton 3 comments

When I was a teenager, I heard an awful noise in our backyard. It was a loud and fearful shriek, like nothing I had heard before; it was followed by the yelping of our yellow Labrador.

Our dog Trooper had just been sprayed by a skunk and he was not happy about it. Frankly, nobody on our block was happy that warm spring night. I could hear the neighbors disgust as they went from room to room and shut their windows.

My mom bathed the dog in the backyard and I went to buy tomato juice. We bathed him in Tomato juice for a while and it was mildly effective.

But, there are some better alternatives.

The home remedy is a foaming mixture:

1 Quart Hydrogen Peroxide (3%)
1/4 Cup Baking Soda
2 Tbsp Dish-washing Soap (not dishwasher detergent)

The baking soda and hydrogen peroxide will create oxygen bubbles that react with the thiols in skunk oil to neutralize the smell. Be sure to use the mixture right away, while it is foaming, before the bubbles dissolve. This was proven to be more effective than tomato juice by Myth Busters in episode 16. This potion can be used on clothing, people and animals.

If you you’re a planner or have a time to go to a local pharmacy, you can pickup a product called Tecnu — I found many internet users who claim it is more effective than the homemade brew while Myth Busters found the home brew concoction to be more effective than commercial products.

Regardless of which method you choose, you should use a proper eye cleaning solution for your pet’s eyes and put cotton balls in their ears to prevent these solutions from getting in their ears.

Broken Secrets | Chad Upton

Sources: eHow, Skunk Removal Recipe, Myth Busters

Entry filed under: Around The House. Tags: cat, clean, clothes, dog, removal, skunk, smell, spray, stink.

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3 Comments Add your own

1. Chris | July 19, 2010 at 8:05 am

That Mythbusters mixture effective on far more than skunk odor; it works by breaking down the fecal particles that make the stink.

One of our cats got trapped in the computer room overnight, by accident. Said cat had a diarrhea attack (luckily, all in one spot). “Rank” is a distinct understatement; “OH MY GOD humans-had-vomit-attacks” is closer. I’ll take skunk smell anyday; that’s how bad it was. You couldn’t go anywhere near the room.

That MB episode had just aired; we remembered the bit about “breaking down fecal matter”, and tried the mixture (after cleaning up as much of said mess as we could — but it had sunk into the carpet). ONE HOUR LATER — we were able to work on our computers without gagging, the smell was gone. We kept applying the mixture liberally to the area, just to be on the safe side. The next day, you couldn’t even tell where the attack had been…

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2. david ewing | March 7, 2011 at 5:14 pm

I had seen pros and cons of using this (peroxide) method and noticed that one person said that next time he would use straight Dawn or better the “goopy” type of hand cleaner that takes care of oil based substances (skunk oil) . I figured it couldn’t be as hard on the dogs hide (yellow lab) as a strong oxidizer like peroxide and the strong de-greaser like Dawn. I had some old goop that was starting to liquefy and bio-degrade so I rubbed a cup full into the affected areas well before any water. Then used about 7 gallons of warm rinse water and presto, no more Skunky dog! The lanolin from the cleaner (prevents dry-chapped hands) stayed and left her fur a little oily looking which was not bad and left the characteristic petroleum smell of the cleaner but she got to come back inside after a nite out in the cold! I was amazed no hint of skunk! Blessings! daveewing

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3. Paul | June 29, 2012 at 2:27 am

febreeze works great!

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