Apple Cider Vinegar To Remove Skunk Smells
85Well, I had not planned on writing anymore hubs about Apple Cider Vinegar however, Malachi and Shiloh blessed me Mother's Day morning with getting sprayed by a skunk. My worst nightmare came alive and of course on a morning when I had 1001 things to do. Of course I do not keep tomato sauce in my home as the story goes to use tomato sauce but even if I did, from everything I've read, tomato sauce masks the smell and doesn't eliminate it. Plus, tomato sauce on white fur........hmmmmm, I don't know how I feel about that idea.
How My Mother's Day Began
We have a morning routine that is almost always constant. Malachi and Shiloh generally wake me up between 6 and 6:30 am. At this time, I generally go pee and feed the cat and by the time I get back to the door, Shiloh is there waiting to come back in and snuggle with me for an hour till it's time to get up while Malachi stays outside and checks the grounds for anything new and exciting.
Well, I went back to the door and Shiloh was not there waiting to come in so, fine, I figured there must be something very exciting outside this morning so I went and laid on the couch so I would hear her if she came to the door. So, I just fell asleep and I must have been sleeping maybe 10 minutes but it was one of those sleeps where you wake up and you feel like you've been sleeping forever and you're kind of disoriented.
I hear Shiloh knock at the door so I jump up to let her in and I smell this scent that, in my half-asleep state, smelled like something burning. So, in a panic I'm going from room to room, sniffing appliances, looking for smoke, this unbearable smell....where in the world was it coming from. Of course, Shiloh is following me wagging her tail. I open the door to the basement and go down to scope out things in the dungeon, closing the door behind me. Funny, fresh air in the basement? OK...so the smell is definitely coming from upstairs so I must find out what is burning. As I open the door to go back upstairs, i have one of those wonderful "a-ha" moments where I realize that this vial smell is coming from dear princess Shiloh. Of course, by now I am more awake, alert and my brain is functioning and I now know that she has been sprayed by a skunk.
The best part about Shiloh getting sprayed by a skunk? Well, I already knew if she got sprayed, then I was quite positive that Malachi must have gotten sprayed as well so I got dressed and went outside to look for my prince charming. Yes, I am genius, I already knew the smell would be found on him as well.
Shiloh was sprayed on the back part of her body and Malachi got it in the face and chest, I knew as soon as I saw yellow spot on his face and chest. This only makes sense because Shiloh is faster than Malachi but he is gets more power behind him when he runs so Shiloh must have been already turning to run from the skunk while Malachi was just arriving and couldn't stop on a dime like he probably wished that he could.
So now what? I have two dogs sprayed with skunks, its Mother's Day morning and I have to go to my mom's for a family lunch and take the dogs with me, after all they are her grandchildren. So, what do I do?
The Dogs Were Sprayed by a Skunk
Apple Cider Vinegar
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Here Is Where The Apple Cider Vinegar Comes In
Apple Cider Vinegar is literally my hero now. Of course, I have written endless Apple Cider Vinegar hubs about the great benefits it has for your hair, teeth, diabetes and health benefits but the fact that it can kill skunk smells is premium knowledge.
So, I took the dogs in the basement by the sump pump because it was too cold to wash them outside and Malachi just doesn't fit in the bathtub so I attached then to their leashes by the sump pump and hooked my indoor hose up to my laundry sink. I took my jug of Apple Cider Vinegar in the basement with a few doggy towels and I was just getting the towel soaked with Apple Cider Vinegar and scrubbing away with them. There are some sites online that recommend mixing Apple Cider Vinegar with peroxide and baking soda but I didn't. I just used it straight. So, the smell is coming clean, I am excited but what about this oily residue on them? The doggy shampoo didn't really seem to be working so I grabbed my Dawn dish soap since they use it to clean wild life of careless oil spills, surely I can use it on my dogs so squirted a little on and scrub scrub scrub and sprayed them off with the hose.
I cannot even say how relieved I was. My dogs smelled fabulous! Of course, when this first started in the morning and I was going from room to room looking for the fire, Shiloh jumped on my bed and the couch (luckily it was covered in a blanket) so I threw my blankets in the washing machine with a bit of Apple Cider Vinegar and it killed the smell on those too.
It is skunk season so i advise anyone with a dog to keep Apple cider Vinegar on hand in case your dog gets sprayed with a skunk!
Other Uses For Apple Cider Vinegar
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Egyptians are known to be the first users of Apple Cider Vinegar for a natural treatment of ailments. It can increase blood circulation and houses ample vitamins and minerals that serve various important... - Apple Cider Vinegar For Healthy Teeth
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Apple cider vinegar is a fabulous cleaning agent for your hair because it provides a proper pH balance to promote hair growth and leave you with a healthy scalp. It removes old nasty skin cells from your...
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lol....I went and picked up a big jug to be "safe". I anticipate another spraying I'm sure!! Thanks for reading!!
Well ACV it will be. What a marvelous natural product. It does absolutely everything - and I use it for everything and thanks for all these links - you are showing me that there is even more I can do with ACV.
I shall be moving to my farm soon and no doubt there will be skunks and spraying and everything - and I will be prepared. Oooh rated up of course, and I can even rate this useful. For sure I will share it.
Big thanks! (Such great photos!)
Oh yes!! I hope to have my farm soon too and yes you know there will be plenty of skunks scurrying around I'm sure! I'm glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the rating!! OH...do you notice the flowers are all flattened out from the dogs laying in the beds? lol
Bet that was a smelly situation and I didn't know the apple cider vinegar would help to rid the smell. Somebody ran over a big old skunk on the road near my home and just glad it wasn't me. Great hub and will keep this just in case I have a run in with Odie O Cologne.
I knew that apple cider vinegar was effective in hundreds of ways but this is a new one to me. I live in an urban area so don';t expect to encounter many skunks - of the 4-legged kind - but I'll remember this antidote if I do.
Thanks for a very informative hub.
You are very clever! I would not have known what to do. A great hub that says a lot about your love of animals as well as cider vinegar. I assume no skunks got hurt?
Putz - It was a horrific smell! especially first thing in the morning! I just know I'm going to be the one getting sprayed one night when I have to take my flashlight out to the yard to find the dogs to bring them in on nights they want to stay out and play. I'm seriously predicting it. lol
drbj - You have no skunks in your area? How bizarre...lol...I don't know why I just had it set in my mind that everyone had skunks. I've learned something new!!
earnesthub - Oh yes...I love my dogs more than anything in the world. As for the skunk....the dog's mouths did not smell so I am assuming they did not eat the skunk. I'm sure they were trying to eat it but hopefully they have learned the difference between squirrels and skunks. It would be nice if they wouldn't kill anything but as much as I try, I can't stop them.
thank you for hub I will try to see if it works I am keeping you informed
Yep - been there! The vinegar definitely helps!
soumailaadamou - Oh my gosh! do you pets that got sprayed? It really is the season right now!! Totally let me know how you do!!
habee - This is the first time any pets I've ever had have gotten sprayed and of course I get a double dose. lol
Great dogs. We don't have skunks here but my dogs get pongy at times. I will have to try this
Love your dogs; good advice about the apple vinegar.
ethel smith - Wow...five stars for the "pongy" word!! That is one of those great words that you just forget about sometimes! lol I'm going to make a point to use it in conversation tomorrow!
chasingcars - Thanks....I love my dogs too!! Thanks for reading!
I have a remedy too - thanks to Kodi (years past now) and Denaya being sprayed - after they were missing for 14-16 hours and we are in the heart of 'shoot em before they kill the livestock' area. OMG - Kodi had chewed off ONE board in the fence and out they went into the wetlands. We had everyone out in town and all the locals looking for them. Kodi finally appeared at 4:00 a.m. on my back porch and he had taken 'the hit' but they were both sprayed. Since there was a hole in the fence and a new car in the garage, I had no choice but to let them in the house....oy vey. The natural remedy really works - except that Kodi got it full on in the face so we added a cocoa butter with fragrance so we could tolerate him! Oy vey again - we burned fragrance candles for TWO weeks - all their collars, their dog tags - trashed. Can't say that that was the best experience ever but then mals are notorious for going where they'd be better off NOT going! Like the gal at the humane society said to me - it could have been porcupines - I was rather grateful! That remedy though does work - it is just about as much fun though as when your kid comes home and has lice....except lice don't smell!
Ooooh cocoa butter...I didn't think of that! lol yeah you know farmers are allowed to shoot dogs chasing life stock. Dang! I am so sure I am going to get sprayed by a skunk now when I go out to drag them in some nights. It is inevitable. That will be another hub! I was waiting for a comment from you....I was sure that you had to have had a skunk experience too!!
Great hub, I had my two chows while living in Taos, we moved into a home that had been empty to long, and the skunk decided it was his home. Every day he would spay my dogs and some time when the windows were open he spay one of us in the house, what a nightmare, where were you then? LOL Great hub, loved it...
Darlene - OMG...lol...how did you survive?? That needs to be a movie or something!! I can just imagine. I should not laugh...I could be jinxing myself right now. Too funny!!
Wow, that sounds like a heck of a way to start a day. Now I know the skunk smell is far worse, but wet dogs aren't exactly perfume to my nose either ;) They are gorgeous dogs though!
lol...luckily Malamutes don't really have much of a "wet dog" smell. They are virtually odor free dogs....well aside from skunkiness.
Big awesome from me because 1. your dogs are just stunning looking and 2. I just loved reading that, I just love getting an insight into someones life and I enjoyed that, nice one ; )
lol...thanks...just an average fun filled day with these two! It is never boring...that is for sure! Thanks for reading!! :)
Great hub and informational! I'm sure Malachi and Shiloh herbivores too! They've never seen a vegetarian they didn't like!? Great hub again theherbivorehippi!
lol...Malachi and Shiloh are about 90% vegetarian. lol I actually had them completely vegetarian for awhile but Malachi's mood really changed severely, he was very snappy and his mouth was watering when he looked at the cat. Plus, they kill so many squirrels and birds it is impossible to keep them from eating meat. So, they eat vegetarian kibble and tofu, vegetables and fruit and my mom buys them meat kibble to mix in and bones.
HerbHippi, don't deprive natural carnivores from their one true joy of eating things that bleed! Torture your self all you like with weird shit like tofu! but the creator of those dogs made them natural predators. Let me know if you see them stalking a potato or tomato, and I'll consider it. My dogs like brownies with weed mixed in them but then they start eying me licking their chops, I'm probably looking like a ham or what ever they saw in old cartoons out in the desert. If I let them out I loose chickens. So dogs get the munchies too and they want meat! not tater chips and cake! Elk, deer, fish and chicken! that makes a meal around here with occasional rattle snake that messes up and lets me near I snatch them up and in a bag in the freezer they go. Froze to death hide rattle and head, bring 50 bucks at the folks who supply gift shops, but the meat we eat and it makes a, well ok I'll leave that part out but it's good and it don't taste like chicken and those that say it do, probably either never had chicken or are straight up full of tofu! Peace 50
50 - lol my dogs LOVE tofu and vegetables. They eat everything I eat. When they want meat they can go out and kill one of the squirrels or birds in the yard. lol oh...they do not eat chips or cake because I DON'T eat chips or cake! lol I eat vegetables, fruit, whole grains, nuts, etc. I have no reason to support killing or the abuse of an animal to eat, clothe myself or anything else. I don't believe that my dogs would choose meat over vegetables because they love these foods and even have their favorites.
THH, I hope you know I'm kidding you about being a vegomatic? I believe in free choice, not to mention "less donkeys more corn". It really keeps demand down for those who pay for their meat. I get personal with mine and as humanely as possible I handle the dirty work myself and after seeing the animals and mass production torture of them, I think meat eaters should have to do the work up them selves. It would create more Tofu eaters and maybe a few Tofu fast food joints. I had something called "Slug burgers" in Tennessee on a funeral run. They were 5 for $2, so I was with locals and they said mmm mmm good, I said what the hell are these things? Soy bean burgers, oh no! If tofu tastes like that I'm down for clogged arteries!LOL but, the reason I catch my fish, raise my chickens, and a lamb once a year and take Deer,Elk,rabbits and snakes is to cut out my monetary support of the cruelty and lean low cholesterol eats. The herd management of animals that have suffered great loss to habitats by man is vital to breeds such as deer who have a fawn and the next year have two and the next up to three soon over take the food supply and starve to death in winter wonderlands. That part is sad, when one thinks about starving to death in the snow. My Rotty's will steal a potato and a tomato, given the chance, they are eternally hungry, and food is not safe around them what ever it is, I've seen them eat corn, cob and all. Peace, 50
Oh 50....of course I know you're joking. lol Soy bean burgers huh? so funny! Oh my gosh...be careful about your dogs eating the corn cob...it can cause intestinal blockage. My dogs love corn on the cob though so i have to hold the cob and let them eat the corn..of course they try to take the cob so I have to keep a firm grip. lol thanks for coming back and commenting again though...you're so sweet. I could never be mad at you...you're one of my favorites!
Oh....I have been here! Apple cider vinegar definitely does wonders! Your dogs are gorgeous!
Thanks! I'm glad someone else has been in this situation besides me! lol
After reading this hub I am very happy that we don't have skunks here in England. It seems that apple cider vinegar has many uses. That is one use I never want to experience.
I sympathize with you.
You don't have skunks in England? lol Why do I just assume that everyone in the world has these fragrant little creatures? Well....I certainly don't wish this experience on anyone...I have a feeling it may happen again before summer is done for some reason.
Keeping this info in the old vault now, thanks! YOu cannot image the number of skunks around here, wow. Poor dogs!
lol...this is GOLD information! For anyone that smells that rancid smell can appreciate this remedy.
Oh we are infested with skunks this year, a young skunk wondered into our fenced in back yard last night about 2am and my chow decided he needed to take it on... WHEW needless to say I had to revisit this hub for the straight dope on using apple cider vinegar to remove the stunk smell. Thanks your a life saver...
Oh my gosh! I'm glad I am not the only one! No offense....but better you than me! lol Isn't it such a vial smell? ugh!!
Raw, organic apple cider vinegar is almost like a natural "fix-all" drug. Well, maybe not quite everything. My husband takes a teaspoon in 8 oz. of water each day and it keeps his gout problems away. I burned myself cooking the other day and I put my hand under cold water, but it still hurt. I poured apple cider vinegar on it and the pain instantly went away and didn't come back - no redness either. I think it's also great for kidneys and urinary tract problems. Who knows what else - I bet a lot.
It definitely is good for everything. I am one of those annoying Apple Cider Vinegar people that uses it for everything and tells every one that they need to also...lol
You know, theherbivorhippi, I'm thinking vinegar will be excellent for all the smelly animals I have known and loved. Such a great hub - great information. I can no longer live without ACV - it does everything. It's like liquid gold to me now.
Thanks for you great collection of vinegar hubs. I keep bookmarking. And thanks for those super-great puppy photos. Adorable!
Rated up and more!
oh you and me both! I use it for absolutely everything! If I am ever stranded on a deserted island....I must have apple cider vinegar! lol
Came back to read this just in case! We've had a goofy summer so far - but so far so good....my daughter ran into a rattlesnake hiking and glad we did not have the Griffin up there! Skunks I can deal with but not the snakes.
a rattlesnake?! Yikes! We have seen a couple tiny snakes out on the trails but they are tiny and fast. I do not want to run into a rattlesnake! lol
Oh this is priceless information! I may need this in the future!
katiem2 2 years ago
herbivorhippi, I'm so glad to know this, we had two incidents last summer where one of our dogs was sprayed, ew.... what a stinky mess and tomatoe juice didn't work. I always have apple cider vinegar. I'll get a special gallon just for the dogs... Peace :) BTW love the dogs good souls!