Soon after you start petting a cute little puppy, it grows into a healthy and mannered adult dog with all your attention and care. Your dog becomes part of your family within months of adoption or purchasing. As you consider your dog your family member, you would never want them to get stuck in undesired and unfavorable situations.
However, sometimes, despite all the care from you, your dog still gets tangled in weird scenarios, and understandably you would do anything that you can. For example, you may have seen your dog chasing skunks. Well, it is a pretty common situation. Consequently, the skunk usually sprays back at your dog, which is a horrible scenario to witness and deal with.
If your dog has got sprayed by a skunk, fear not! Although it is an awful situation to handle, this article provides you with quick tips to help your dog get rid of the offensive skunk’s spray smell.
Skunks and their offensive spray
Skunks are mammals that dogs usually love to chase. Your dog is unpredictable; however, it is natural. For example, you might take your dog outside for an evening walk, and while you get busy chit-chatting with your neighbor, your dog may see a skunk and wants to catch it. However, your dog may not know that skunks are very smart. They know how to protect themselves from getting preyed on.
The anal glands of a skunk produce a secretion referred to as ‘skunk spray.’ The spray is a type of oil that possesses a highly offensive and unbearable smell, both to dogs and humans. The skunk spray consists of sulfur-containing elements like thiols or thioacetates, both responsible for the stubborn filthy odor that refuses to go away.
Skunks require weeks to synthesize their anal spray. Therefore, they do not tend to waste it casually. The spray is the only kind of ‘armor’ they have to protect themselves. However, if any dog comes close to a skunk and has a bad feeling about it, they will only use their skunk spray.
What to do if your dog gets sprayed by a skunk?
Dogs getting sprayed by a skunk is a pretty common situation; however, absolutely an awful one! If a skunk has also sprayed your dog, you must know what you must do immediately. Let’s have a light on the tips that you may take to remove the skunk’s spray smell from your dog and how to deal with this situation;
1. Keep your dog outside
If you have sensed that your dog has got sprayed by a skunk, it would be best if you keep your dog outside the house. However, we suggest you not take your dog inside because the extremely offensive skunk’s spray smell will not leave your house premises very quickly.
2. Inspect your dog thoroughly
Skunks spray their anal oils over the face of dogs. Therefore, if you have observed that any skunk has sprayed at your dog, the first task you have to do is to inspect your dog thoroughly while you keep it outside the house. Please check your dog’s eyes, nose, and mouth very closely to look for signs of irritation.
3. Keep the water away
The most crucial point that you have to keep in mind is that you cannot wash your skunk-sprayed dog with water right away. If you ever pour water on your dog who has got sprayed by a skunk, it will become more stinky, and the unbearable odor will not leave quickly.
However, if you see that your dog’s eyes have irritation as they seem red, you can rinse the eyes with clean water or eye solutions. Please remember, you cannot wash your dog with water thoroughly when it has received skunk spray.
4. Try a mixture of baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, and dish soap
After you have inspected your dog’s eyes and mouth and treated their irritation issues next, you can make a mixture of baking soda, 3% hydrogen peroxide, and a tiny amount of dish soap. Several dog owners tried and tested the mixture recipe, which helped their dogs get rid of the offensive skunk spray smell.
It would be best if you wear latex gloves before applying the mixture to your dog. You can cover all the body parts of your dog with the mixture, except for its eyes. Once you have spread it evenly, please leave it on your dog for 20-30 minutes and then wash it away using your dog’s regular shampoo. You may need to repeat the procedure twice or thrice.
The mixture tends to catch fire. Therefore, please do not use match sticks or cigarette lighter nearby.
5. Apply tomato paste on your dog
Another tried and tested method to help your dog get rid of the displeasing smell of the skunk spray is the application of tomato paste/juice on your dog. Once you have washed your dog with its shampoo, please let its body dry! Then, start applying the tomato paste on its entire body and coat it thoroughly.
You have to wait for 20-30 minutes before rinsing your dog again with its regular shampoo. So nearly, no matter what method you opt for, you may need to repeat the process twice or thrice since the smell of skunk spray does not go away at once.
6. Use any human hygiene product for a nice smell
As long as you want to use any human-specific product for dogs for external use only, it would not harm your dog in any way. However, it would be best to consult a professional vet and discuss any side effects of the product you have chosen.
Many dog owners use any female hygiene products externally on their dogs to remove the skunk spray smell. The reason for using a female hygiene product is most of these products contain delightful odors. However, it would be best to find out before if the product may prove inadequate for your dog’s skin or furs.
7. Use de-skunking shampoos and sprays
You can quickly get skunk spray removing shampoos and sprays from a vet clinic or nearby pet shops. Besides, the availability of these shampoos and sprays depends on the area where you live. For example, if your area has too many skunks, the nearby shops would indeed have the de-skunking shampoos and sprays.
You have to make sure that you remove all the skunk spray from your dog’s coat and then apply the skunk spray-specific shampoo on your dog as per the directions present on the product.
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In conclusion
Undoubtedly, helping your dog get rid of the unpleasant skunk spray smell is a challenging task, but it is only you who has to do it! So, if your dog has got skunk sprayed, please do not worry! In this article, we have tried our best to provide you with simple methods to take to deodorize the skunk spray smell from your dog. However, you may need to repeat all the mentioned methods a few times to get the best results.
Hopefully, the information provided will prove helpful!
