The stench! I knew what occurred as quickly as I changed into my driveway. The foul odor made me gag earlier than I even opened the automobile door.
“Not one other skunk,” I moaned, seeing my retriever, Bravo, fortunately wagging his tail inside his kennel as he watched me strategy. However the scent was a giveaway. There had been one other customer.
The smelly scenario was changing into predictable. I depart city for an evening. Our neighbor slides Bravo’s kibble and water inside his kennel. Whereas Bravo snoozes inside his doghouse, a skunk sneaks below the fence after darkish and begins consuming the leftovers. Bravo nails the skunk, however not earlier than the little stinker lifts its tail.
Many canine house owners face this case.
The Secret of the Scent
A skunk shops its pungent spray, its primary technique of protection, in two nipple-shaped glands alongside its anus, which is why it lifts its tail to do its smelly deed.
If the skunk sees the intruder, it may direct the spray with pinpoint accuracy. In any other case, it sends out a nasty 10-foot cloud, hoping the purported predator runs into it.
Quickly, the stink wafts a lot additional than that, as much as a few miles, which you’ve most likely observed whereas driving your automobile. When a skunk sprays close to a freeway or turns into roadkill, squishing out its offensive spray, you would possibly see it then scent it, or vice versa, relying on the wind path.
The spray itself is an oily liquid made up of sulfurous compounds referred to as thiols. A skunk can spray thiols from start, however except it’s shocked, it often provides a warning, reminiscent of stamping its ft, hissing or flicking its tail, as a result of it’s solely acquired one large shot.
After spraying, a skunk must recharge for just a few days earlier than it squirts once more, so any spray has to rely.
One creature proof against a skunk’s blast is the nice horned owl, which has an underdeveloped sense of scent and preys on skunks from above reasonably than from behind.
Canine will not be proof against the scent however typically it may appear that means. Bravo can by some means defend his meals regardless of a direct hit each time.
Overlook the Tomato Juice
On the intense facet, skunk spray gained’t trigger any lasting harm to a canine, although an in depth hit to its face may cause short-term blindness. Nonetheless, nothing stinks like a pet that has discovered the again finish of a skunk. The trick to eliminating the sickening stench is neutralizing the oily thiols.
Throwing your canine within the closest pond makes it worse for a similar cause that the odor can come again months later when your canine will get moist. Thiols are a sulfur-based compound which reactivate with water.
It’s folklore that washing your canine with tomato juice eliminates pungent pong. It doesn’t. The carotenoids and lycopene within the juice, which mix with sulfur, and in idea, neutralize skunk scent, aren’t current is nice sufficient portions to interrupt down the thiols.
At finest, you briefly masks the icky odor with one thing that sniffs of rotten eggs garnished with tomatoes.
Beer and oatmeal, two different frequent house cures, don’t lower it both, as a result of the one technique to neutralize the thiols is to chemically change them.
Right here’s A Recipe That Works:
- 1 qt. 3% hydrogen peroxide
- ¼ c. Baking soda
- 1 t. Dish detergent
Combine all three elements collectively then, sporting rubber gloves, shampoo the combination into your pet’s fur and round its claws. Let it sit for under 5 minutes. Rinse your canine with faucet water. The hydrogen peroxide and baking soda eliminate the scent. The dish detergent removes the oil. Be aware: The combination gained’t maintain, so make it solely while you want it. Afterward, shampoo your canine usually so it smells like its outdated self once more.
In case your canine will get sprayed within the eyes, rinse its eyes with distilled water, or ask your veterinarian for dog-friendly eye wash.
A skunk’s offensive odor is technically referred to as musk. Different animals, together with weasels, muskrats, polecats and badgers, spray musk for self-defense and to mark territory, however these smells are tame in comparison with a skunk’s.
Or possibly you’re the fortunate one in a thousand whose nostril doesn’t decide up musk. I’m not, however I now not concern returning house to search out my canine doused in it once more. As a result of now, I take him with me. If he occurs to satisfy one other little stinker, I do know what to do.
