A Novel Method to De-Skunk a Dog
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Paul Auerbach, M.D.
Any of you who is a dog owner or who has ever personally been sprayed by a skunk knows how awful that can be for all involved. The odor is brutal, and permeates everything in the vicinity. There are lots of folk remedies for "de-skunking" an animal, such as a bath in tomato juice or scrubbing with medicinal hydrogen peroxide, but I have just learned of a new technique that sounds like it is the solution for which we have all been waiting.
Dr. Rebecca Smith-Coggins, an emergency physician and remarkable outdoorsperson, is one of the smartest people I have encountered. Last week we were pondering different vintages of Turley wines, when she revealed that she had discovered the solution to de-skunking her pet dog. I don't know why she thought of this in the middle of our conversation about wine, but perhaps it was related to the odor of the vegetable medley we were being served at the time.
According to Dr. Smith-Coggins, the surprisingly effective product to neutralize skunk spray odor is Summer's Eve douche, manufactured by C.B. Fleet Company, Inc. Rebecca used 7 bottles to de-odorize her 70 pound dog. The method is to apply it directly to the fur and work it into the deeper layers by hand. For the dog's face, she used a washcloth with the solution to apply the product. Rebecca has used this technique successfully 4 times on her dog, who apparently isn't smart enough to figure out how to avoid getting sprayed by skunks.
For those of you with pets or who will personally become laden with skunk stink, if you try this technique, let us know how it works. If you have other "pearls" like this to share, let us hear about them.
Tags: skunk, douche, Summer's Eve, medical, physician, health, wilderness medicine, outdoor medicine, healthline
Labels: skunk
5 Comments:
At Wed May 30, 06:22:00 AM 2007,
Anonymous said…
Fels Naptha soap (and I'm not sure that's how it's really spelled) works quite well on skunky dogs. Wet them with water and rub them down with the soap. Be sure to rinse them well. I'm told the soap breaks the chemical bond.
At Mon Jun 04, 08:34:00 PM 2007,
TC said…
Finally, a real use for those things!
At Mon Jun 04, 09:09:00 PM 2007,
N=1 said…
The definitive treatment is thus:
One box baking soda - slightly moisten and rub in fur thoroughly with gloved hands (of course)
One bottle of white vinegar - keeping vinegar far away from eyes, nose and mouth, pour it directly onto coat. The immediate and violent effervescence will lift the skunk oil out.
Spray rinse thoroughly after allowing for full interaction between baking soda and vinegar.
Usually, there is no need to repeat.
At Tue Jun 05, 02:16:00 PM 2007,
Kim said…
For a minute, I thought you were going to say to administer by the "usual" route and I wondered how it would work on "boy" dogs! LOL! This is good to know, in fact, all the remedies in the comments section are appreciated - only been through it once with our 89 pound dog and we went the tomato juice route...
At Wed Jun 06, 01:17:00 PM 2007,
AlisonH said…
But, but--the old-time home remedy--okay, I read an excerpt from the diary of someone in the 1800's. The remedy they talked about for an asthma attack was to keep skunk glands in a bottle, and every time you had an attack, uncork it, take a deep breath, and then you could breathe just fine. (They noted in their diary that their minister had just pulled that one one time too many, and she and the rest of the congregation had stood up and walked out on him. So, it works, but there might be side effects.)
Roadkill does just fine, too. And it works better than Albuterol, honest.
My next-door neighbor's dog, before it passed away, used to bark and bark, and then suddenly go dead silent. You knew what had just happened. Again. Open the windows, breathe deep, (be glad someone else is cleaning the dog), and my lungs would feel just wonderful.
I miss that dog.
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