Help! My Dog Got Skunked!

As soon as possible, you want to do the following because the longer you wait, the more you reduce the chance of getting the smell out. Within 15-30 minutes is ideal. If you let the skunk oil sit overnight, the chance of removing it will be extremely slim. The oil will enter the hair shaft and stay in the coat until that coat is shed. Ideally, you will use pet shampoo and conditioner. If you do not, and it is late at night, and you cannot get any, use what shampoo and conditioner you have on hand. 

1. Never wet the pet until you have applied cornstarch or baking soda all over the skunked area. (Do not get in eyes, ears, or mouth) Brush this out of the coat after it adheres to the skunk oil. Apply it again. Brush it out again. 

2. You next want to wet it with very warm water (warm water helps break up the oil, cold water will not) and apply conditioner all over the skunked area. You see, oil attracts oil, and conditioner is basically a bunch of oils. So rub that in for 5 minutes. Rinse. 

3. Now you're going to wash, do not use dish detergent. You will mix shampoo, hydrogen peroxide, and baking soda or cornstarch and apply that all over the skunked area. Rub it in, and let it sit for 5 minutes by massaging your pet. Rinse. Rinse again.  (dish detergent is far too stripping for a pet's skin, it will remove all of the sebaceous oil, leaving the nerve endings which reside on the surface of the skin in dogs exposed.)

4. Now, you're going to condition the pet again. Rub that in all over and continue rubbing it in for 5 minutes. Rinse. Rinse again. 

5. Dry.  Drying the pet will help ensure their comfort and reduce the chances of bacterial infection. 

6. Do not apply the following: Tomato paste, tomato juice, tomato sauce, and or dish detergent. 

7. If you do this, you will remove 98-99% of the smell.

8. For the smell in the house, boil water on the stove, let simmer and add vanilla extract to remove the smell. You can also add cinnamon sticks. Simmer on low, or if you're going to bed, turn off the stove and let it stand in the boiling water as it cools. 

9. If the smell is in the pet's mouth (which is common) and you cannot brush the pet's teeth, try a water additive from a pet store.

This method keeps in mind the important sebaceous layer of the pet, ensures that you do not strip it, exposing the nerve endings (which in a dog are on the skin surface and under the sebaceous layer), and will eliminate the smell. We hope you never need these instructions, but if you do, we feel you should know the best way to handle this issue, as there's lots of misinformation on the internet.