My rising 4 year old decided to check out the cute furry black and white critter to see if it was friendly. Her brand new Rhino turnout blanket now stinks. Any suggestions for de-skunking a turnout blanket without ruining the waterproofing?
I have been through this 2 X last year. Apparently my guys thinks he is a skunk whisper. The only thing that helped mine was the odor neutralizer you get at Home Depot or Lowes.
This stuff.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Anti-Icky-Poo-1-Gal-Original-Enzyme-Odor-Remover-AIP-OR-G/205959510
1 Like
Isn’t canned tomato what you use on dogs when they interact with skunks? So shouldn’t it work on rugs?
I’m glad we don’t have skunks in the South. I’ve driven over dead skunks on roads out west, and the smell came into the cars with the AC on.
Tomato juice really doesn’t do anything other than mask the smell. The go-to for dogs is a mix of Dawn dish detergent (de-greaser), hydrogen peroxide (oxidizes the compounds into less noxious versions), and baking soda (sodium bicarbonate, which probably converts the thiols into salts that are less volatile). There are recipes online.
For a blanket it might be worth seeing what, if anything, the hydrogen peroxide does to it on a small sample before dunking the whole thing. But the peroxide shouldn’t bleach at the concentrations in the first aid type stuff. I might worry more about the Dawn doing something to the water proofing. Maybe replace that with something that supposed to not destroy the water proofing.
2 Likes
I agree about not using tomato juice. It’s not effective, even on dogs, so I can’t imagine it will do anything to a blanket but make a mess.
I also agree with Peggy about the recipe…I would be more wiling to use straight Dawn than include the peroxide. I think it’s likely that you will need to re-waterproof the blanket no matter what you use. Skunk scent is very oily. It’s not going to come off easily without breaking down the oils, which might do a number on the waterproofing.
Hard to know until you try, though.
I have had a lot of luck on dogs with vinegar and water Massengil douche. It must be the vinegar and must be brand name, it comes in a 4 pack. The generic did not work as well. I normally soak the dog in it and towel dry, no rinsing. They smell like a salad for a bit but that is better than skunk. Even when the dog got wet later there was no skunk smell.
If you can figure out the PH on Massengil you may be able to use the right ratio of white vinegar or apple cider vinegar and water to soak the blanket and then let dry. Or just buy a lot of 4 packs of Massengil at Walmart.
I have no idea what vinegar would do to the waterproofing.
WRT tomatoes.
One of my father’s (white) Samoyeds was sprayed by a skunk. He decided to try the ketchup cure. Since it was “just” for deskunking the dog, he bought the cheapest brand of ketchup, which turned out to be more red food coloring and less tomato.
He ended up with a PINK skunky dog
2 Likes
