Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/08/01/scientists-discover-a-soil-fun.html
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“the nasal equivalent of staring at the sun”
That’s some pure scientist talk. I miss being able to saunter down to the lab and just ask dumb questions.
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Some unfortunate soul got sprayed in our back canyon last night, sure hope they stay up wind of me.
Oh, is it up wind or down wind? I’m lost, again…
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Honestly, I’m not disturbed by skunk odor. Same goes for durian. Like they don’t smell repulsive or bad to me. It’s just overwhelmingly strong. Like staring at the sun. The sun isn’t ugly. Just too bright.
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We had a skunk come through our cat door and get attacked by our dog. Well, really our dog was attacked by the skunk - straight up his nose, in his mouth, etc., all in our laundry room! He was foaming at the mouth and whimpering - a pit bull was whimpering!
Our noses felt/smelt like we’d been hit with a 2x4 made up of compressed burnt garlic with sewage thrown in for good measure.
A quick, frantic web search turned up the idea of a mix of baking soda and hydrogen peroxide.
I used that to scrub the dog. Took him out side and did a: Scrub, rinse, scrub, rinse… and you couldn’t tell he’d been skunked.
Used the same stuff to clean the room (thankfully, it was all hard surfaces that got nuked).
Then we boiled white vinegar in BIG pots on campstoves for a week to get the smell out of the carpets, drapes, etc.
All smell GONE from the house.
Still had to launder all of our clothes to get rid of the smell.
But, it was actually not THAT big of a deal.
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(Piling on here)
Yup. About a 1/4 cup baking soda, 1 quart of Hydrogen Peroxide (sorry, international neighbors for the Freedom Units, call it a palm-full and a liter), a bit of soap/shampoo (ideally, pet-safe variety) and some water to get it all dissolved/mixed. Wet the dog down, apply the mixture, scrub in, rinse. Repeat if it didn’t get it all.
I type from a position of some experience. I have a dog that got himself sprayed about a dozen times over four years when he was younger, and I’ve done two different cats (one mine, one neighbors - cats have less to wash, but are pointier). I got to keeping a stock of soda and peroxide on hand. I found it shockingly effective. 10 or 15 minutes of effort and you go from burning rubber/garlic smell to mostly just wet dog.
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Nothing seems worse than trying to get some fresh air on a warm night, only to be awakened by that horrible smell. 
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I guess that hydrogen peroxide in your recipe is diluted? From my experience even 35% hydrogen peroxide solution in water can give chemical burns on skin contact.
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But I think we can all agree that, smelly or mega-smelly, skunks are cute as the Dickens!
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Incorrect. The smell of a deer that died in the woods wafting through the window at night is worse.
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Most hydrogen peroxide sold in drug stores is a 3% solution.
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Well, now that’s solved, let’s get started on cat urine.
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One remedy for “skunked” clothng is to bury it for a few weeks and then exhume it. So it may be several species of soil fungi able to do this.
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We’ve got a neighbourhood skunk that passes through the back yard at night. You can smell 'em coming and you can smell 'em as they pass but then - all is well. Sticks around sometimes to dig for grubs and worms. I was out there, sitting under a tree, having a smoke late one night and got the sensation of not really being alone. Looked over, there they were, wandering past just a couple of feet away. Pause and shared a look as if to say: “'Sup?” and then continued on its merry. They cool.
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Right. I mean the 3% over-the-counter pharmacy stuff.
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I will never forget my dog getting her fur chemically burned off her head by a skunk while visiting in-laws. That was a far more miserable night than I ever realized it would be.
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Downwind. For the love of all that is holy, you do not want them upwind. Yuck.
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My grandfather used to tell us stories of growing up in rural South Dakota, where he would trap and skin small animals for extra income. When the other kids at school asked how he could stand the stench of the skunks his answer was always “smells like money to me!”
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