Posted on July 23, 2017 by Animal Capture

Was your dog sprayed by a skunk? Acting quickly to remove skunk smell is imperative to successfully removing the smell without the odor lingering. In fact, if dog skunk smell isn’t properly and entirely removed from the dog’s coat and skin, the odor can linger for up to a year. To help avoid another incident where a skunk sprays your dog, keeping the dog’s outside play area well-lit helps to deter skunks. Better yet, contacting a professional wildlife removal service to safely remove the skunks will be your best bet in avoiding an incident like this in the future and will help give you peace of mind.

How to Get Skunk Smell Off a Dog

There are several safe methods to remove that stubborn dog skunk smell. Depending on the severity of the skunk spray, you will likely need to repeat the following methods more than once. Once you can no longer smell the odor on your dog, it would be wise to repeat one of these cleaning methods once or twice more, just to be safe.

3 Ways to Get Skunk Smell Off a Dog

1. Hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and dish soap

Mix:

• 1 quart of 3% hydrogen peroxide
• ¼ cup baking soda
• 1 tsp. of liquid dishwashing soap

Instructions:

Perform this as soon as possible. With rubber gloves on, put mixture on your dog’s coat, while avoiding their eyes. Allow to sit for 20 minutes; then thoroughly rinse your dog. Wash dog with normal pet shampoo, ensuring that you rinse well. Repeat as necessary.

*DO NOT: Make this mixture beforehand. It could explode in the storage container.

2. Tomato juice

This method is simple. Lather your dog using regular pet shampoo. Dry your dog off; then cover him in tomato juice. Make sure your dog’s coat is completely and thoroughly saturated. Let this sit on your dog for 10–20 minutes and follow it with another shampoo.

Note: This method may temporarily stain the fur.

3. Skunk-removing shampoos, sprays or soaks for pets

There are products that are specifically formulated to remove skunk smells from dog, which you can typically get from your veterinarian or a pet store. If your dog has just been sprayed by a skunk, running to the vet or store may not be the best option, since time is of the essence. It would be a good idea to have one of these products already on hand, in case of emergencies.

Before using one of these products, wipe off as much skunk odor as you can and then proceed with the bottle’s instructions.

Avoiding Skunk Sprays in the Future

There are several methods to deter skunks from your yard and prevent another skunk spraying dog, though none of these are foolproof. To help avoid this in the future, having professionals remove the skunk or skunks in a safe manner remains the most effective way to completely remove skunks.