On skunks, and the terrible spray.

Pantshandshake

My 8 year detente with the skunks has ended. One of them managed to slip past security into the fenced in dog area, and spraying ensued.

Nobody has any bites, and only 2 of the 6 dogs that were out there got sprayed. Lacking enough of the ingredients a quick google search told me about, I scrubbed the two down with Nature's Miracle (product placement, I love this stuff. It's fantastic. Anyone with a pet needs to buy it.) It seemed to lessen the stink coming off the dogs by quite a bit, but at this point my house smells like the spraying happened indoors, my beer tastes like skunk, and I hate everything.

So. Did it actually help? And how long will the residual stink remain, both on the dogs and in my home?

Great Scott

About two weeks. It's a myth that the smell never leaves items. It might be a good idea to try Febreeze or some other odor destroyer for your home; those weren't available back when I was sprayed.

Pantshandshake

It didn't even occur to me that the smell would never leave the items. Of course that's a myth, this isn't like... dark magic or something.

I opened the windows on the side of the house farthest from the spraying, and I turned my central heat/air fan to auto to promote air circulation. The downside being that it's currently 43 degrees here.

BahamutZERO

The smell and taste of skunk you're noticing might be small amounts of skunk oils that got into your nose while you were cleaning your dogs, via splashing or airborne or on hairs or dust or something. Either way it sounds like you've done everything you can do already other than waiting it out.

Creagan

Skunk oil is, like the name says, an oil. So it's tricky to clean. You can leave bowls of vinegar around the house to absorb some of the smell.

After the smell wears off, you're going to want to change all the air filters in your house to keep them from re-stinking your house.

Hahnsoo1

Mythbusters did an episode:
http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/mythbusters-database/skunk-smell.htm

Read the comments, as there are some warnings about what sort of container to put it in.

cookiekrush

Did you scrub them down with towels or what not? The skunk spray is an oil and it's pretty tough to get out of your animal's skin if it's not cleaned properly. If it's still on your towels, you might as well throw them out instead of throwing them in the wash again. Your washing machine might retain some of the oil in the drum.

At this point, airing out your place or using some air eliminators would be your best bet!

Pantshandshake

That mixture in the mythbusters article came up in my quick search, but I didn't have near enough of the ingredients to clean one, let alone 2, dogs.

The nature's miracle seems to have helped a lot. If one of them is right next to me, I can still smell a slight bit of skunk today, so once I get out and buy more, I'll give them another cleaning.

And, yes, I used towels. I think they're still outside, unless my wife cleaned them up.

The house either doesn't smell anymore, or I've gotten so used to it that I don't notice anymore.

In any case, with a couple of applications, I think we can add nature's miracle to the list of stuff that works reasonably well.

Myiagros

We used the peroxide mixture when our dog was sprayed last year and it worked great. Used paper towel to wipe off as much as possible to start which made the cleaning easier. The skunk also got shot right after it sprayed.

Pantshandshake

This skunk escaped under my porch after I managed to get all the dogs under control (note: My wife and I have 5 dogs of our own, 3 dogs that are owned by a rescue foundation but live with us full time, another 15-20 dogs at any time that are owned by the rescue foundation but are up for adoption, and anywhere between 3 and 7 boarded dogs.) Rest assured, you vanguards of nose freedom, that now that the 8 year peace treaty has been voided, I will be eliminating skunks near my house.