More About Skunks

The Hydrogen Peroxide-Sodium Bicarbonate formula will be more effective with the addition of a small amount liquid dish soap. (voice of experience) A couple years ago a skunk set up housekeeping under our deck. It was succesfully persuaided to relocate by the application of an aeromatic concoction of gasoline and mint oil. This is not recommended near potential sources of ignition.

I have been refered to as Mr. Stinky.

From what I understand, rabies only live outside the body for a few seconds at most. You should be safe from any chance of external infection. How did the Heineken work out? I'm glad to see I can still sign in, hopefully I didn't offend anyone too bad last night, I was on a roll.

If you still have access to the dead skunk, it wouldn't hurt to get it tested. I think it's usually free, especially if rabies is prevalent in your area.

I understand tomato juice will remove skunk odor.

In my own experience tomato juice only lessens the odor.

My dog has been skunked 5 times in 2 years and I have caught 6 skunks in live traps in the same time period.

First, about the smell. I have had good results using a mixture of 8 oz of 2% hydrogen peroxide, 8 oz club soda, 1/4 cup of baking soda, and 1 teaspoon of no tears shampoo to wash the dog. Wet the dog with warn water, rub the shampoo mixture into the hair, let stand 10 minutes, and rinse with warm water. Repeat the process. Generally, 2 shampoos are enough, but on a long haired dog it may take three. This mixture will burn the dog's eyes and could cause lasting damage so be very careful around the face and eyes. If you should get any in the dogs eyes, rinse the eyes with clear water for not less than 15 minutes and seek advice from your vet

Do not waste your money on a commercial skunk odor remover. They are expensive, they often smell as bad as the skunk, and they do not work any better than the buffered peroxide solution.

Rabies virus can live outside the body for a time, but I do not know exactly how long, but it is longer than a few seconds. You might be able to find out on the web, but do you really trust information from the web enough to take a chance on getting rabies.

Do not touch the dead skunk with your bare hand.

The hydrogen peroxide you buy in the store is 2%, much too weak to effectively kill the rabies virus with certainty. Burn the skunk body, or bury it deep enough that other animals will not dig it up, or use a garden tool to put into a secure trash bag and take it for testing.

Today's canine rabies inoculations are generally effective for 2 years, but most state and local laws require inoculations every year. As long as your dog is current there is little to no chance of the dog getting rabies.

You on the other hand are not protected at all. The human inoculations are not as bad as they were 50 years ago, but they are still not something you want to experience first hand. Do not take any chances by handling the skunk body with bare hands and dispose of any gloves that come in contact with the skunk by burning.

Hope this helps.

As a teenager, I got sprayed. We used tomato juice to bath in. It worked reaonably well.

Most county health departments will check the skunk for rabies

Call you vet.

PEbobimm

I bought some skunk urine for blocking human scent while deer hunting.The unopened bottle it came in had no smell whatsoever, but once opened,I could never get it to seal without an odor.My dog sniffed one of the tampons treated with the urine I had placed on a low hanging bush and returned home, snorting,coughing, and hacking the whole way.

I washed the bottle in every combination of chemicals and household remedies known to mankind.I put it in a zip lock bag, it would leak the odor thru the bag.I put the bag in a new Mason jar(glass) with a new seal, and activated the seal with a heat gun.Still it made my shop unbearable.I finally laid it to rest in a landfill, and on some hot humid days, when the wind is right, I can still detect a faint odor of skunk urine in the air about my shop.And my dog digs a hole in the yard and puts his nose in it.

And I know I did not spill any.It has been over 3 years now, and the smell still lingers.

In this case, I think the urine must be worse than the musk itself.

Oh yeah, my dog will not hunt deer anymore. If I put the rifle with scope in the truck, he will not get in.If I pack a shotgun for duck, he goes right along easily.

Lesson learned by man and his best friend.

Oh yea, about the rabies:Watch your dog for 10 days.If he has no symptoms, you are ok.

Just give the dog a warm water bath with some laundry detergent.

Some years ago I cut myself while skinning a (freshly road-killed fox. Concerned about rabies, I called a leading rabes researcher at Johns Hopkins Hospital. [Harvey_______(alas, my memory)]

He said rabies lives less than two hours outside a living animal.

Harvey Goolsby, Glenwood Maryland

All mammals can carry rabies. In my experience (20+years) trapping vermin and varmints around the farm, I have never seen any animals showing any signs of rabies.

However, in a class I took, it was explained that there was no external treatment to yourself other than impermeable clothes that can remove the risk of exposure to it.

In this class, ticks were focused on as the worst carrier of diseases from animals to humans.

When handling the animals, I wear puncture resistant NITRILE gloves under my leather work gloves even when handling dead ones just to reduce the possibility of one having rabies and transmitting the disease to me.

Just checked rabies in the textbook: transmission is through a break in the skin: you can get it from saliva of the infected animal on abraded skin. To prevent any risk of rabies from handling an exposed animal, wear gloves for all that skunk washing work! You never know when you might have a small scratch on your hand anywhere (or might get one in the process).

If you have any concerns about a possible transmission, the vaccine is effective within two days of the infection. It is horrible itself, but well worth it when you consider that once symptoms appear you are as good as dead and will suffer horribly in the process of dying. Since the treatment is nasty, the best first step is to have the suspected rabid animal tested, if it is available.

Most areas that have a prevalence of rabies are now targeted with vaccine baits to immunize the fox or skunk carriers. I don't know if such was done where you live. I am in Eastern Ontario where rabies was a real issue and was baited with the vaccine. Usually dropped by aircraft in the form of meatballs as the vaccine can be delivered orally. This baiting was also done in conjunction with northern New York and has an efficacy rate of near 100%. Check with your local vets, health units, or natural resource people and they should know if you should worry about rabies. You would need to submit the brain of the effected animal to be sure. This vaccine program has been around for about 20 years or so and some jurisdictions are declared as rabies free.

Rabies can be transmitted orally so even if the dog contacted the animal chances are he would lick himself and also become infected. I would ask the vet to start treatment just to be sure and especially if you are in an area where no active rabies program exists.