Skunk Advice

[beowulf]

I know this was not your question, but I can tell you what not to do with a dead skunk. Our dog Sam killed a skunk and deposited it at our back door to show us how proud he was. I grabbed a shovel and took the dead skunk a considerable distance from the house where, accompanied by the dog, I dug a nice hole, deposited the skunk in the hole and buried it. I cleaned the shovel and returned it to a shed, washed up in the barn sink and went back to the house.

There, at the house, at the back door I found the skunk. I thought I was teaching the dog where a dead skunk belongs - buried under ground. But the dog thought I was playing "hide the skunk from the dog" and thought I was not very good at that game.

I reburied the skunk farther away and this time went alone to do that.

 

[EddieWalker]

Thank you for all the advice. It sounds like making your own formula works the best. I'll be buying some Hydrogen Peroxide and baking soda this evening and keeping it on the shelf, un opened. We have plenty of dawn, so that's not an issue. I book marked the link to "removing skunk odor" and will print it out too.

As for trapping and killing them, I have had some success at that, but just like coyotes and racoons, I know that there are always more out there and it's a never ending battle. Because of keeping our dogs separate when our female is in heat, we are adding several rows of hot wire to their fence this weekend. One row will be added to the outside of the fence to keep out unwanted critters. It's a cheap and effective way to make the fence a lot more effective. I hate it when our dogs get zapped, but know it's worth it to keep them safe and away from the fence.

Now if I can only find out how to keep snakes out of the yard!!!!

 

[Bird]

I think I was 13 when I had an 11 year old buddy who lived about a quarter mile up the road from us northeast of Healdton, OK. His collie got excited about something in a hollow log on the ground, and the boy thought it was going to be a raccoon, so he reached in and drug it out by the tail. The dog killed it. And it was a good thing it was summer, school was out, etc. because his mother threw him some clothes, told him to bury the ones he had on, to wash in their stock pond, and to sleep outside, staying out of the house 24/7 for several days.:laughing:

The first three and a half years my wife & I were married, we were assistant managers of a 104 unit apartment complex; 4 apartments to each building; two upstairs, two downstairs. The downstairs apartments each had a fenced concrete patio just outside the rear sliding door. And in the middle of one night, I got a call because an elderly female resident had a little dog that started barking at the back door and she went and opened the door without looking out first, and the little dog charged right out into a skunk. The old lady was so concerned about her dog that she did not promptly close the door. What a mess??? We had to temporarily move her into a vacant apartment and have her apartment fumigated by professionals. Of course that night she was concerned that her little dog was going to die since he was puking. I assured her the dog wasn't going to die.

 

[oosik]

Around here it makes absolutely no difference what I do with a dead skunk. The coyotes will find it and if required, dig it up, and eat it. I make it easy for all concerned. There is a special place on the far west end on my property where all animals that die, end up. The coyotes check the location periodically and clean up the mess.

 

[k0ua]

Around here it makes absolutely no difference what I do with a dead skunk. The coyotes will find it and if required, dig it up, and eat it. I make it easy for all concerned. There is a special place on the far west end on my property where all animals that die, end up. The coyotes check the location periodically and clean up the mess.

Now, that is symbiosis. You and the 'yotes have come to an understanding.

 

[k0ua]

I know this was not your question, but I can tell you what not to do with a dead skunk. Our dog Sam killed a skunk and deposited it at our back door to show us how proud he was. I grabbed a shovel and took the dead skunk a considerable distance from the house where, accompanied by the dog, I dug a nice hole, deposited the skunk in the hole and buried it. I cleaned the shovel and returned it to a shed, washed up in the barn sink and went back to the house.

There, at the house, at the back door I found the skunk. I thought I was teaching the dog where a dead skunk belongs - buried under ground. But the dog thought I was playing "hide the skunk from the dog" and thought I was not very good at that game.

I reburied the skunk farther away and this time went alone to do that.

I am sure your doggie enjoyed your little "bury the skunk" game! And HE won!

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Rabies can only be transmitted with direct contact of blood or saliva from the infected animal to your blood or saliva or eyes, etc... the virus itself dies in air. So, yes, I suppose if you shot a rabid animal and its blood splattered back into your open mouth, open eye, or open cut, you could get rabies. But the virus itself won't transfer through the air. It has to remain in blood or saliva droplets. At least, that's the way I understand it.

I think that is correct, for the most part. I did read of one case where some spelunkers were exploring a cave that was full of bats; they later came down with rabies. Turns out the air in the cave was thick with bat urine which was able to carry enough of the virus to infect them. Rare, for sure, but not impossible.

 

[forgeblast]

My dogs birthday, as I was driving down our road I swerved to miss a skunk. Though thats strange its daylight out. Got home let the dog out and smelled that she was nuked. I finished eating since I knew I was in for a long night. Well I go out to wash her, and my wife and daughter come home. My daughter is banging on the window (thought it was to let me know she was home) and I looked up and shes yelling SKUNK!, thing came back and almost sprayed me. The dog went in close and got sprayed two more times. I ran the other way. Went into the house got the .22 and no more skunk. It was a close one. Had to use that mix, and took her to the groomer who cleaned her and trimmed her but it took another 3 months to get her skunk free. Did I mention she ran into the house when I went to get the .22 and ran under the table and wouldnt get back outside....it was a great day lol

 

[MossRoad]

I think that is correct, for the most part. I did read of one case where some spelunkers were exploring a cave that was full of bats; they later came down with rabies. Turns out the air in the cave was thick with bat urine which was able to carry enough of the virus to infect them. Rare, for sure, but not impossible.

I'd be surprised if they got it though the air. More likely, they got urine, feces, saliva, etc... in their mouth, tear ducts or open cuts, or sucked in actual droplets. Either way, if they got rabies, they died.

 

[KYErik]

I second the marshmallow idea- I've had good luck trapping pest raccoons with the miniature size marshmallows. I make a little trail of them leading into the trap and then place another 5-6 inside the trap.

 

[PJSprog]

The peroxide/baking soda/dish soap stuff worked best for us. Wife used to have an older Sheltie that got herself sprayed twice in as many weeks. She tried everything, and eventually found the peroxide mix. We could still smell it a bit for a long time if we got our noses down into her fur, but other than that, it worked very well.

Another thing to consider if your dog gets a direct to the face spray (as hers did), is to get the dog's teeth cleaned. Her Sheltie eventually lost all her teeth to gum disease, and her hearing to the same infection. Vet told us it's fairly common after a skunk spray in the face. The oil in that spray stays put on the teeth, and between the bacteria it brings and the bacteria it attracts, infections can sometimes even be fatal.

 

[PJSprog]

We'd remarked recently that we haven't seen any skunks around our place over the last couple of years. Before that, we were killing probably a dozen a year.

 

[jbrumberg]

We use the peroxide/baking soda/dish soap mix as well.

Skunks should be making their presence known around here soon :wink: We have not seen many the past few years around here either. Mange/distemper/rabies decimated the skunk population here.

PJS- Thanks for the face spray advise. Sorry about the learning experience.

 

[ning]

From https://wildlife.unl.edu/pdfs/removing-skunk-odor.pdf

This works wonders.
Don't expect the dog to be odor-free after, but it's definitely tolerable.
Our last skunking, the dog ran up to us and rolled around on the front porch before we got her to GTFO, so even after cleaning the dog we had 2 weeks of skunk right in front of the house!