How bad are skunks and their infamous smelly "spray," is it that big a deal?
Posted by Scared_Form8175@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 523 comments
Like how effective of a defensive weapon is it? Do skunks spray humans? How intense is the effect of that? Seems like it wouldn't be that powerful, it's not like, venom or something.
Comfortable_Break387@reddit
It doesn't happen that often. You'd have to really provoke one to get it to spray you. Most of the time it'll be your dog that gets sprayed, not you. Even it does happen, it won't kill you, but you'll be very unhappy when it happens. That smell really, really sticks.
craftyrunner@reddit
A staffer at a local feed store got sprayed right in the face—she thought it was a raccoon (it was under a tarp covering dog food, she lifted the tarp to put a humane trap in, and found out it was not a raccoon). She had to throw out everything she was wearing including her sunglasses. Someone gave her a ride to the hospital because her face burned. She paid to have their car professionally cleaned—and she sat on a different tarp in the car. The doctors told her those sunglasses saved her more agony, but her sinuses burned. She ended up getting her hair cut short because she couldn’t get the smell out. She said it was the worst experience of her life.
bigfatfurrytexan@reddit
My old boy Samby was sprayed in the face by a skunk. Did a number on him. The deer musk was worse as far as reaction…his whole head swelled up.
We lost him Monday. He was a small ray of light in this world and I’m missing him terribly
Scared_Form8175@reddit (OP)
That's horrible. Is there a disease/infection risk from it, too? The fact the liquid comes from this animal's ASS is nauseating in itself. Could it permanently blind you? Sounds miserable. Wow.
riktigtmaxat@reddit
The real risk isn't a skunk spraying you. It's the transmission of rabies via bites as it only transmits via saliva.
Practical-Ordinary-6@reddit
Yes, the big risk is getting bitten by a rabid skunk that will kill you if it has rabies and you don't get treatment. It's totally possible a skunk to have rabies although of course most do not. But bats, skunks, raccoons and foxes are prime carriers. Most domestic dogs are vaccinated so fortunately they aren't a big problem here.
riktigtmaxat@reddit
I was staying in a lodge in Nicaragua a couple years ago and found a skunk in the inside the dresser were I was keeping my clothes in the morning. Holy shit does that wake you up.
Practical-Ordinary-6@reddit
I just read a sad case about a boy in Texas who told his parents that he got bitten by a bat but they didn't see a bite mark (bats have very tiny teeth) so they didn't do anything. It took two months but finally he started showing symptoms of rabies, which means that it was too late to save him essentially. He died two weeks later.
riktigtmaxat@reddit
That's really sad.
The fact that post exposure drugs are not free in the US is a travesty.
Practical-Ordinary-6@reddit
Rabies treatment is covered by insurance and 92% of people have insurance.
If you don't have insurance you'll still get treatment anyway because of the emergency situation and the fatal nature of the disease.
riktigtmaxat@reddit
Shit that just makes it worse.
Most_Ad1891@reddit
I’ve never heard of skunks blinding you. Dogs get sprayed all the time and while they regret chasing it, they don’t lose their sight.
craftyrunner@reddit
I believe it is temporary but horrible, and also depends on if you manage to close your eyes in time, or if you rub them afterwards.
Most_Ad1891@reddit
I learned something new today.
craftyrunner@reddit
Not that I have heard of, but I don’t really know. Technically they spray from glands under their tails.
ElegantHope@reddit
Fun fact, even skunks don't want to spray you because they don't like their own smell. They do handstands and make big noises to try to scare you off first. They're really really using the spray as a last resort if you don't respect them.
Ear_Enthusiast@reddit
True. I watched a group of drunk Marines at Fort Sill in Oklahoma corner one and throw things at it and scream and shout. They had it cornered for a good 3-4 minutes and it didn't spray. I was shocked.
Lazy_Nobody_4579@reddit
IME this is correct, but may depend on where you and the skunk are. I’ve come across a couple skunks in urban areas that are very chill/curious/desensitized and seem unlikely to spray unless seriously provoked. Rural skunks have been a different story.
I grew up in a rural area but live in a city now. I was having a cigarette on the porch last summer and this skunk came up straight up just snuffled my toes 😳. Totally unfazed, just came to check me out and say hello I guess. An ex of mine went to college in a sort of suburban area on the edge of a city. One of his dorms had a friendly skunk outside that was basically mascot. People would feed it and pet it when they were stoned. It never sprayed anyone. Always freaked me out though.
riarws@reddit
Probably smelled skunky weed and thought it was his buddy.
Gilamunsta@reddit
Back in the old days when I lived in Virginia I had a pair of blueticoon hounds who were like oh look Black and white cat let's go f*** with it LOL No thankfully my best learning lot faster than my boy did Not to mess with the black and white chemical warfare goblins
avelineaurora@reddit
You sure about that?
Gilamunsta@reddit
Not 100% no but I caught the big ones I thought now I have to look at it again LOL
JazzyHugh@reddit
Don’t listen to the naysayers, I think the couple of minor errors lend a sort of charm to your comment. What you’re saying is completely understandable but it gives it the vibe of talking to someone who’s been around the block at a bar, who just happens to be a couple of drinks in. Some of life’s greatest stories and wisdom are imparted in that setting :)
PlayingDoomOnAGPS@reddit
[X] Doubt
GolfingTreeTrimmer@reddit
My dog has been sprayed twice, right in the face. Even based on the experience second hand, I'd need a minute to think if i had to choose between getting lit on fire and getting sprayed in the face by a skunk. I'd probably choose skunk, but not by much.
chickpeas3@reddit
My cat got sprayed almost point blank in the face. He hated baths more than any cat alive, so to actually get him clean, I had to get in the tub with him. It was awful. I felt like I was torturing my cat, and he probably thought I was, since he clawed me so bad on my arms I looked like a junkie (not hyperbole, it was baaaaad). In the end we both smelled like skunk, although him less than before.
He got checked at the vet the next morning, was given the all clear, and we both took about 3 more baths in skunk deodorizer the recommended. It came off of me, and he smelled fine… except when it rained. Then the humidity brought out a mild lingering skunky musk. Took months for it to finally go away.
PlayingDoomOnAGPS@reddit
I've never been spray, nor had a dog that got sprayed. But if it happens within 10 miles of you, you'll know it.
NotenStein@reddit
You are blinded as your eyes water incessantly and your nose produces so much snot you think you will drown in it. It burns your eyes like tear gas or cutting up raw onions on your face. You smell onions for weeks.
It sometimes has other effects. Your parents bury your clothes and your mother, God rest her soul, washes you in tomato sauce but runs out, so you are subjected to having canned crushed tomatoes rubbed against your bare skin while she gags and vomits. You sleep outside in a tent for a week.
I do not like onions or tomatoes to this day, and that day was 60 years ago. I am not a timid man, but I run like the devil himself is after me when I see a skunk.
ChemistRemote7182@reddit
It certainly repels humans. I actually wonder it gets predators killed with time- the scent is extremely strong and can be picked up far away, and it is extremely hard to get rid of using all the tools we modern humans have. If a predator loses all ambush ability for a prolonged period of time its probably dead, no?
makawakatakanaka@reddit
Image stale urine, onions and B.O. had a baby and that baby took steroids and was given a gun. That’s what where dealing with here
Cacafuego@reddit
And the baby liked to start tire fires.
Wide_Breadfruit_2217@reddit
Baby also smokes a lot of weed
jaded_tourist@reddit
My pup found out the hard way that the burnt tire smell comes from juvenile skunks. That sweet sweet cheeba smell comes from the adults
ThotThroughTheHeart@reddit
I've never smelled a skunk up close, my only knowledge of skunk odor comes from driving past them, and I liked that smell as a child, associated it with hanging out at my big brother's house while he listed to Children of the Sun.
Hoopajoops@reddit
Don't forget that it's incredibly hard to get rid of the stench. Tomato paste is a myth and showers will slightly reduce the smell but it's going to take more than that to get rid of it enough that you don't stink up an entire room after entering.
No-Agency-6985@reddit
Supposedly vinegar works better, as it is more acidic. But still VERY hard to get rid of!
hisamsmith@reddit
One quart Hydrogen peroxide, 1/4 a cup baking soda and 2 teaspoons Dawn dish soap mixed together in a spray bottle. Spray down the animal or person sprayed. Let sit for 10 minutes and rinse with cold water. Repeat if needed. I live in the country where my dog(s) have been sprayed numerous times over the last 20 years. Only thing that works. A country vet I used to go to gave me the recipe 20+ years ago.
ozma0419@reddit
This is the only answer
SensibleFreedom-0726@reddit
I have heard that an oatmeal bath helps
Kaboom979@reddit
Yes, but they were asking about the skunks, not the general state of affairs here in America
urnbabyurn@reddit
I find it pungent like very very strong diesel fumes.
Tropical-Lightning@reddit
Thank you for mentioning the onions. For me it was rotting onions and heat. My dog rolled a skunk in the yard and wound up getting sprayed in the face.
Haunting-One5656@reddit
and add something dead to that. That’s skunk smell. It invades your sinuses for a while.
imadethisjusttosub@reddit
Mixed with used motor oil
ghoulthebraineater@reddit
Tire fire. You forgot tire fire.
IAmMey@reddit
Oh my god it’s terrible. Putrid and rot smelling. If you hit a skunk while driving, you almost have to throw away the car! (Not really, but the smell can last for WEEKS). Skunk roadkill can be smelled half a mile away if the wind is right. And removing the skunk will still leave the smell for weeks in the general area. It’s not world ending smelling. But it really is just awful.
If you get skunk spray on your person, you’re literally not doing anything but trying to get the smell off of you for a couple DAYS. After that you might go nose blind but everyone will smell it on you for at least a week.
sckurvee@reddit
It's strong enough to deter predators that would love to kill a skunk to survive another few days. If a skunk event happens a hundred yards away it's very annoying for several days. If it happens to you or your property (like if you run over one) it will ruin your week. Dogs are obviously super susceptible to it, having such strong senses of smell. Get sprayed by one in your face and it'll seriously fuck you up (more so for a dog). It'll overwhelm your senses like tear gas or pepper spray. You may be temporarily blinded, may have trouble breathing (but who wants to breathe in skunk air lol). I guess tear gas / pepper spray is an apt comparison.
The effect remains, to a lesser (major annoyance) level for like a week.
Zziggith@reddit
Smells a lot like pot smoke
clementineisdope@reddit
How is this the only mention of this in the comments.
just_a_wolf@reddit
Because while they smell sort of similar pot doesn't have the chemical weapon burn to it that skunk spray does. Pot smells like super far away skunk.
clementineisdope@reddit
Lol. That's fair.
ReliabilityTalkinGuy@reddit
It is borderline impossible to get skunk spray off of yourself in any sort of timely manner. You can smell it from hundreds of feet away. Whatever you’ve heard or read is probably not an exaggeration at all. It can take days or even weeks to be able to remove the smell from things.
Scared_Form8175@reddit (OP)
Sooo you're a bit "smelly" for a while? Like is it that strong you couldn't just wear different clothes and shower thoroughly? Like would other people not hugging you notice it?
just_a_wolf@reddit
The smell is like a dead body in a tub of gasoline. It's a super chemical acrid smell with an undercurrent of rot or septic tank. It is insanely concentrated. It will not wash off.
PlayingDoomOnAGPS@reddit
You ever watch Hot Ones? Skunk is a "bit smelly" the same way Da Bomb is a "bit spicy."
DoNoHarm--TakeNoShit@reddit
Showering and changing clothes do nothing. Anyone one in the same building will smell you, for weeks, And not in a "That person has BO" kind of way - it is nauseating and makes your eyes water. To say it is strong is an understatement.
HeyPurityItsMeAgain@reddit
It doesn't come off!!! You will smell for weeks, your hair, your skin.
evil_burrito@reddit
No. Nothing can disguise the smell. You could smell it anywhere in a house, for example, if someone who was sprayed was inside, too. Nobody would hug you for quite a while. It's very difficult to wash off. A shower alone would not do it.
shelwood46@reddit
More than smelly, you smell like you rubbed weed resin all over your body, you reek. You have to clean with special soap, or a concoction that contains hydrogen peroxide & baking soda. Your regular shower soap/shampoos will not remove it. Regular detergent won't get it out of your clothes. Again, you can smell a skunk from inside your car if you drive by an area they sprayed. If you are sprayed by a skunk, people in other rooms in your house could smell you. Furniture you sat on could get permanently funky (the odor they spray is an oil, a really persistent oil).
MetroBS@reddit
They would notice even if you were standing across the street from them, it’s that strong
FreedomBread@reddit
One sprayed near our house and the air conditioner pulled it in, it was overwhelming. It wasn't a smell you could get used to, you would always smell it, at different strengths. It last all night and dissipated mostly by morning, but lingered in the garage somehow...I'm guessing less airflow and some of it crept in there and stayed.
It was awful. Like the stickiest of the icky combined with burning rubber.
Dangerous-Safe-4336@reddit
To answer your question directly, a frightened skunk will spray whatever it thinks is a threat. If you happen to see a wild skunk, move deliberately and don't frighten it. I do know of a guy who has made friends with wild skunks where he lives. Skunk spray is not a venom, but works like tear gas, and pretty much any predator will give up when sprayed in the face. The usual contact people have with it is trying to wash it out of their dog's fur.
SpindleWV@reddit
I would get skunks in the live trap that I set to keep raccoons from messing with my chickens. I had no other options than to manually release the skunk.
What I would do is get a tarp and make a wall in front of me and approach the live trap. I got skunked every time, well the tarp did at least.
The smell is like burnt rubber and or garlic. Obviously very strong as well.
Frankly it wasn’t all that overpowering for me, but there is no doubt that getting even a little on you would stay with you, as the spray is an oil and doesn’t wash off right away (thus the acid based cleaner like tomato juice). Would hate for my dog to get hosed down and come trotting in the house, for sure
dave54athotmailcom@reddit
It is not toxic and will not kill you, if that is what you mean.
It is a disgusting smell that you can detect even a distance away and well diluted. Foul and revolting. A close shot can cause such a reaction you are momentarily incapacited from gagging and vomiting. It is oil based and very difficult to remove from skin or clothing. Lots of DIY recipes to get the smell out of your clothes or off your dog, usually some combination of tomato juice, hydrogen peroxide, and dish soap. None work well. I have not found any commercial product that effectively removes the smell. You usually end up sealing the clothes in a plastic bag and throwing away. You will sleep alone for several days, even after multiple showers.
Scared_Form8175@reddit (OP)
Ouch. How'd you become a skunk victim?
zinsser@reddit
One of our dogs is bad about being aggressive toward skunks and has been sprayed a couple of time. All the home remedies and OTC skunk shampoos can't kill that stench. It takes several washings and a couple of weeks before he no longer reeks - and then it slightly lingers for a month.
KrevinHLocke@reddit
Like how effective of a defensive weapon is it?
Very effective. The smell is very horrid.
Do skunks spray humans?
Yes, but most of them just want to get away. If you trap them or try to be aggressive, you could get sprayed.
How intense is the effect of that?
The smell is very horrid and doesn't easily go away.
Seems like it wouldn't be that powerful, it's not like, venom or something.
Won't kill you, but you won't forget it either.
Minute-Of-Angle@reddit
Won’t kill you, you’ll just wish it did.
Minute-Of-Angle@reddit
It is absolutely potent and effective. We have friends who have a dog that tangled with a skunk, their whole house smelled awful for weeks.
I was in a car that hit a skunk. Three trips through the car wash later, it smelled like skunk and car soap. That smell also lingered for weeks.
Stay. Away. From skunks.
FewRecognition1788@reddit
If I think I've passed through a thick cloud of marijuana smoke for a full minute (or more) on a freeway at 70 miles an hour with all my windows up, then it has to be pretty darn intense up close.
From what I've heard, the biggest problem is that it's so hard to get off, you just can't get rid of it.
Kittyferal8@reddit
i hit one on a country road and the smell stayed on my car for 3 months(i assume it got into the vents since i washed it at every tank of gas)even when the season changed and snow started falling i needed to open my windows to bear driving
Large_Score6728@reddit
I worked with a woman who walked out her door and got sprayed by a skunk. She came to work thinking it didn’t get her, ( she was wrong).
WinstonWilmerBee@reddit
The smell isn’t offensive in and of itself in small doses. It’s not great, but you aren’t puking.
It’s that when you’re close, it’s so, so strong. It’s like if you poured essential oils into your nose and mouth. It has an almost visceral feeling in the air.
The smell itself is kinda like boiled eggs and permanent markers mixed together.
4Q69freak@reddit
Pretty bad, imagine really dank weed x1000. Reason we use to call really dank weed “skunk weed “ in the ‘80s. If you or usually your dog gets sprayed Otis really hard to get off. Tomato juice doesn’t really work like you see in movies or on tv.
marylander_@reddit
it is very powerful. You can smell for a minute or so after passing it in a car with your windows closed when the skunk isnt even directly next to the street
CupBeEmpty@reddit
The wild thing is if you actually get sprayed or have your dog get sprayed the smell actually overwhelms your scent receptors and they stop transmitting the smell to your brain. It just smells like garlic.
Then you get out in the open and your scent receptors stop being overwhelmed and all of a sudden you can smell it again from a mile away.
Gilamunsta@reddit
It smells nothing like garlic sorry
CupBeEmpty@reddit
It does if your smell receptors get totally blown out by a direct spray on your dog and you grab your dog by the collar and get it on your hands.
j_me-@reddit
I've had a skunk spray 3 feet in front of me, and I wouldn't describe it so much as garlic as I would a burning tire factory.
It's other worldly and does fuck with the senses for months.
Eyore-struley@reddit
Not true. Concentrated skunk is so much worse than skunk roadkill. If you so much as brush against or a sprayed pet, Idgaf if your nose receptors stop transmitting, every part of your body will pick up the slack. It permeates your very soul. You will smell it everywhere for weeks. You will dream skunk smell. You will envy the dead.
Harkan2192@reddit
My dog and I got sprayed in our yard a couple summers ago. I can confirm it is so much worse than roadkill skunk smell. I spent weeks getting the smell out of the house, and it still lingered to randomly remind me months later. It was hell.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Heh, I would t go so far but yeah it’s bad. I loved my dog but I couldn’t cuddle her for at least a couple months after she decided to go full jihad on our local skunk.
No-Agency-6985@reddit
Indeed, you basically go nose-blind.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
It is literally true for that specific smell receptor. On a molecular level it just gets activated so much your cells just send a constant signal to your brain and your brain just starts ignoring it.
It is fascinating molecular biology that sadly I have experienced personally.
Comprehensive-Buy558@reddit
I accidentally ran over a dead one with my windows down (it was dark and i couldn't see it until the last second). Parked the car outside for days with the windows down to air it out.
I live pretty rural, I didn't have to worry about someone stealing it
Khajiit_Has_Upvotes@reddit
My mom was an emt and told me one time the ambulance hit a skunk on their way to the hospital lol
paka96819@reddit
People steal roadkill skunks?
aarkwilde@reddit
RFK jr would. Most others, no.
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SyntheticScrivner@reddit
Only Kennedys 😁
elphaba00@reddit
Same. Hit a dead skunk on a two-lane highway about a half hour from my house. It was a long drive home, and the smell would not leave for days
Interesting-Phase947@reddit
My dad accidentally ran over a roadkill skunk and can't get the stench off his truck tires a couple weeks later.
riarws@reddit
With that smell, I might have tried to park it in a more populated area in hopes that someone would steal it.
Skipp_To_My_Lou@reddit
I've seen that episode of Seinfeld.
sideshow--@reddit
It was BBO
Miquiztli@reddit
The beast!
afternoondlight@reddit
BBO
FuckIPLaw@reddit
Boy have I got a song for you
BasilMaisel@reddit
My parents used to sing this when we smelled skunks while driving. A core childhood memory lol
Most_Ad1891@reddit
Was it:
“Dead skunk in the middle of the road I one it I two it I three it I four it I five it I six it I seven it I eight it”?
Porschenut914@reddit
my uncle hit a dead one and parts were stuck on the bottom of his truck. he parked it at the end of his street then went to self serve car wash.
OddEmergency604@reddit
The human nose can detect skunk spray in the air at a concentration of 1 part per billion, and up to two miles away.
bass679@reddit
About 20 years ago my grandfather hit one (or more?) with his combine swather. Not on purpose, he was cutting alfalfa. He smelled for at least a week and he permanently lost his sense of smell.
somePig_buckeye@reddit
My dad had a skunk get run through a baler in a hay field once a long time ago. Everyone on the wagon about gagged and the bale was thrown off and left in the field to rot.
Totschlag@reddit
At highway speeds even, so you could pass it and still be smelling it 3 to 5 km away.
Gilamunsta@reddit
And that is no lie LOL
Odd-Bullfrog7763@reddit
Its powerful, my dog got sprayed once. It washes off fairly easy with tomato juice or sauce though.
BarbarianBoaz@reddit
You get hit with it and you will know how effective it is.
Jamsster@reddit
It smells bad enough that predators will avoid eating it to not reek.
Fun_Push7168@reddit
Could be a death sentence to a predator. Hard to hunt and eat if everything can smell you coming from a mile away for a month.
Sharkmato@reddit
Skunk smell came into my classroom one evening - I think one must have sprayed near an air intake. Very little time elapsed between "do I smell something?" and "class is over!" My eyes were watering by the time I left.
ushouldbe_working@reddit
It is the skunks only defense. Yeah. It's strong
AncientGuy1950@reddit
Let's just say, should you annoy a skunk, and he turns tail on you, you will not be having a good day.
Scared_Form8175@reddit (OP)
They really just turn around and spray out their ass lol? Witnessed first hand?
AncientGuy1950@reddit
Witnessed at a distance when a cousin decided fucking with a skunk was a good idea when we were about 12. He went home, and I got to laugh at his dumb ass.
It's not out of their asses, the glands and whatever way they spray is under their tail somewhere. I have no intention of ever getting close enough to find out.
BuffaloRedshark@reddit
the smell lingers for days if not weeks
doovl@reddit
Upstate NY here. We have lots of skunks, if you’re walking home at night and you happen to be on the same side of the street you cross to the other side- respect Señor Skunk. We also have dogs who are let out in our backyard so we try to ensure the yard is clear before letting the terriers out. At times we’ve had to ‘walk’ the skunks out of the yard…. Keeping our distance ‘come on let’s go’ and the skunk, in no rush, slowly leaves….
ImABuffKrabby@reddit
I'm convinced it has to smell different to everybody, I've been sprayed a few times and I always found the smell pleasant,but it gets on everything. I wouldn't say it's that big of a deal, but I've also been told I have a faulty sniffer so who knows!
Lensatic_wilkinson@reddit
Not exaggerating when I say it feels like a slap to the face. Pain in the ass to remove as well.
Silver-Award-288@reddit
I been out walking with my dog and we’ve both been sprayed a few times. They are especially out in January-April/May cause it’s mating season. The smell sticks but 2 or 3 baths with dawn dish soap usually takes care of it.
amc365@reddit
It smells terrible, but it seems to cling to everything and take forever to get out
inimitablematt@reddit
I see most people are saying it’s bad, but not what it smells like.
It smells like weed. But the dankest, strongest thing your neighbors ever smoked.
PrimusDCE@reddit
Very bad. I had one that used to loom around my car at night. One night something happened and it ended up spraying around my front door. The front side of my house smelled really bad for about a month.
Jub1982@reddit
Nothing messes with skunks. They will spray anything that they feel threatened by. Their spray won’t kill anything, but everything remembers not to mess with them.
karlnite@reddit
Their spray does kill predators through starvation. No sneaking up on a meal when you smell like that. A wolf pack for instance will attack a sprayed member and shun them.
SnooWalruses7243@reddit
Except my dipshit dog apparently
Gilamunsta@reddit
Yours and mine both LOL
Practical-Ordinary-6@reddit
We had a golden retriever that got sprayed twice. We had a backyard that included some woods. We didn't see it happen but when he came back to the house there was no doubt what the problem was. There's not too much chance of getting a skunk smell out of a golden retriever's fur.
ghoulthebraineater@reddit
I had a black lab/golden retriever mix. She was an amazing dog. She seemed to think that any black animal smaller than her were puppies that she needed to take care of. Cats, dogs, Guinea pigs. Didn't matter. Apparently skunks were also included. She got sprayed so many times.
SensibleFreedom-0726@reddit
Okay, this made me laugh.
karlnite@reddit
If the spray actually gets on you, it is painful and disorienting. It can also hurt your eyes and leave you temporarily blinded. The smell lasts for weeks, but is strongest for a few a days. It can be washed off, it lingers in hair and such. If an animal was sprayed, they generally are so distraught they run away, or scratch at their own face. The skunk escapes (not always, a cat might still tear it open after being sprayed). The predator now stinks to high hell, everything with a nose can avoid them, they can’t hunt, they waste away for weeks. It can be deadly to animals in the wild.
koreanforrabbit@reddit
A skunk's spray directly to the face killed my dog last year. He was a giant, gentle, sweet old boy who loved kittens and other little guys, so I suspect he thought the skunk was "friend shaped". It was horrific. I've always thought skunks were cute and just left them alone, but now they're KOS if I catch one on my property. I can't go through that again.
BigBodybuilder640@reddit
That’s impossible lmao what
Glum-Welder1704@reddit
Very effective. Skunks fear nothing.
Skunks will spray humans if they're surprised or blocked
No, it's not like being poisoned, but it's very unpleasant. You con order eau de skunk online if you want to experience it for yourself.
T00luser@reddit
one of our dogs (the dumb one) gets sprayed at least once a year.
We've got a big supply of Hydrogen peroxide and baking soda on hand at all times.
aloofman75@reddit
A friend’s neighbor had a skunk wander into their house and it sprayed the living room.
They had to throw out all the furniture, decor and carpets. They had to replace all the drywall too. It ruined everything in the room that the spray could possibly stick to.
Syren013@reddit
One got into a fight in my backyard one night. In the midst, it sprayed the side of my house near the AC unit. The smell woke me from a dead sleep and I thought maybe there was an electrical fire with burning plastic. Nope, just the skunk. It took 3 days before the house smelled normal again.
SnooRabbits1411@reddit
It’s not just a smell, it’s chemical warfare. I cannot stress enough that you do not want to fuck with a skunk.
Upbeat-Banana-4488@reddit
I accidentally ran over a relatively recently dead one and it was horrific. I could taste it and gagged. It’s not just smell. It’s an oil. I drove 25 mins with windows open, then left them open in my office parking lot. 2 hours later, still horrific. I ended up having to use tire de greaser on my car’s undercarriage to get it off and it still smelled some in hot weather. (TX so May-Oct).
FutureThought1408@reddit
Its insanely powerful. I had one die in my shed, and I could smell the spray it let lose for a month, and the first week about 200 yards away when driving home in my car. (Note: I buried it so the smell was from the spray, not it).
It can put you to tears. Depending on the wind, can smell for 1/2 ish mile or so.
Avbitten@reddit
im a dog groomer so deal with skunked dogs a couple times a month. the smell lingers in the shop for 10ish minutes after the dog has left. And if the dog is bathed improperly after being skunked, it traps it in the dog's pores so every time they get wet again for approximately one year, it releases the smell again.
HyperXanadu@reddit
You immediately know what it is when you smell it the first time. Foul but definitely not the worst thing I have smelled. Garbage, shit, and rotten eggs are definitely worse in my opinion.
Skunk has a certain acquired taste.. like smelling petrol, setting tarmac... just obviously much more rank.
GeneMountain7128@reddit
It's extremely effective.
To the point where they essentially have no natural predators. They skunk around skunking folks up with their little arrogant skunk trot.
Yes they will spray humans. They will spray whatever looks at them funny if they're in the mood.
Most often though, humans interact with the smell after their dog tries to fight a skunk and then runs to your for help as they squint and shake their heads and maybe drool profusely. Then you spend the entire night trying to wash the smell out so it doesn't ruin your house. And your dog smells faintly like it for days anyway, along with whatever close your wore for several washes.
It's unforgettable. Except for dogs apparently, at least my childhood one, who got sprayed at least 3 times....
In the end I'd still probably choose getting sprayed over getting envenomated by a snake or something, but that's only if the snake is potentially deadly. Otherwise give me the snake
Head_Razzmatazz7174@reddit
I live in an area where we have both skunks and rattlesnakes.
I'll take the rattlesnake bite. The antivenom treatment at the hospital is a lot quicker and does not have a smell.
CheekyPunker@reddit
Or play with one
Adorable_Dust3799@reddit
My dog caught several rats near the fruit trees, and when she saw her first skunk she grabbed it by the ass. Fortunately we were right there and stuck a hose in her mouth immediately and washed her eyes. She gagged and spat up but Fortunately didn't need an emergency vet visit. It can definitely make an animal sick. That close up it's nauseating and can cause vomiting. I'm sure it can damage eyes if not rinsed out. Very incapacitating. It's also oily and lingers. From a distance is not bad
sermitthesog@reddit
It’s bad. When one sprays somewhere in the neighborhood, we have to shut our windows until the next day or else you can practically taste it.
1evilsoap1@reddit
It’s not the worse smelling thing ever, like bad weed and burning tires, but it is powerful. You’ll be able to smell it for miles, and if you or something by you is sprayed, it can be a pain to get rid of.
eskimoboob@reddit
We had one in our yard… woke me up inside from a dead sleep at 4am, eyes watering and everything. Must have gotten into a fight with a cat or something.
wwhsd@reddit
One got hit by a car outside of my apartment complex. I think it probably smelled like skunk for a week.
Practical-Ordinary-6@reddit
Pretty much the same thing for me. It was an intersection in a small town and my friend's house was two houses down from the corner. I'm guessing it got hit by a car and it was very strong that first night and still smelled the next day and gradually weakened for several days after.
worstnameIeverheard@reddit
I’ve had the same thing happened. The smell was so strong that I swear I could taste it. Ugh.
goodskier1931@reddit
For me, at night, open windows in the summer and an encounter with a cat or raccoon in the neighborhood . Couldn’t sleep until I closed everything up. Houses away from me.
1evilsoap1@reddit
Yea a guy in my neighborhood ran over a dead one a few weeks back. Saw him out there washing his car three days in a row, and left it in his driveway for a week so it wouldn’t stink up the garage.
ImagineFreedom@reddit
Powerful definitely. But so long as it's not fresh, smells like some dank ass weed.
Personal-Presence-10@reddit
Yeah most often when I smell a skunk while I’m driving I take a deeper whiff and try to see if it smells more sativa or indica lol. Unless it’s fresh. That’s still powerfully disgusting.
CheekyPunker@reddit
Not miles, come on lol
StupidLemonEater@reddit
Someone once said of skunk, "it's not the worst thing you'll ever smell, but it's definitely the most thing you'll ever smell."
she-dont-use-jellyyy@reddit
Worst*
1evilsoap1@reddit
I fixed it for you
Practical-Ordinary-6@reddit
Our dog got sprayed a couple times. A golden retriever with thick fluffy fur. You try to wash it out and you do your best but you can never get it out. You just try to knock it down as far as you can and wait for the rest of it to go away.
Practical-Ordinary-6@reddit
It's gag-inducing and hard to compare to other smells because it only smells like skunk. It can be very, very, very strong and linger for a very long time.
I stayed at a friend's house once that was right near a main intersection in a small town. Somebody must have run over a skunk at that intersection because we could smell it all night from half a block away. My memory is a little hazy but I think we could smell it the next day too.
maxim38@reddit
Tear gas can be better than direct skunk. Source - dog got sprayed once.
TheKiddIncident@reddit
It's bad. You do not want to get that stuff on you.
I dunno about animals, but humans will go to great lengths to avoid skunks. So, by definition it works as a defensive weapon.
I do know that dogs seem to be unaware of this and will commonly mess with a skunk. I know several people who had a dog which messed around with a skunk, got sprayed and then came running home to mama. Of course, now the dog stinks to high heaven. If you don't intercept the dog outside, now you have that smell in your house. Super hard to get rid of.
ImpatientMaker@reddit
It will ruin your whole week. It's not common to be sprayed but it is common to smell it (area depending). Like someone else said, you can have your car vent on recirculate, windows up, and you will still smell it driving buy a dead skunk. One time a skunk unloaded very close to my house and it was so strong that I thought someone set a tire on fire and I called the fire department. I cannot think of something that smells worse.
The_Iron_Ravn@reddit
Oh my god, I hate them. They run out in the middle of the road and then they get hit and are just left to rot. The smell is so bad that it stings your nostrils and makes your eyes water even when the windows are down, and you normally have to roll down the windows to air out the stench. One time, I drove past three roadkill skunks in one trip. The main ingredient in skunk spray is sulfur, and it is atrocious. Fortunately, these things are rare in small towns, you have to go out into wilderness areas to find them, and you have to properly threaten them to make them spray.
Anyway, in a ranking of the worst things I've smelled, skunk spray is easily the worst, even worse an open septic tank or a sunbaked dumpster because those didn't actively hurt to smell.
Grand_Context_7906@reddit
This is a hilarious question- you have obviously never been around a skunk. Skunks can see about 3 feet, and move slightly faster than a sloth. And they are still here. Their asses are POWERFUL!
General-Winter547@reddit
When your dog gets sprayed and runs inside your house before you realize it’s been sprayed the smell is physically painful and takes about a week to fully get rid of
GByteKnight@reddit
This happened to us TWICE.
The first time the dog ran around the house rubbing herself all over everything. It took about two months to get the smell out of the house entirely - rugs, furniture, our bed, it was all befouled and we didn’t know what to do so we tried to shower her and wash it with tomato juice, which of course did nothing.
The second time we were more prepared and caught her before she got too far into the house, and handled her more effectively to reduce and then eliminate the smell.
horatio_corn_blower@reddit
A week? My dog did this when I was a teenager and I swear my clothes smelled like it for many months after. It was terrible, and now i’m terrified of me or my dog getting sprayed by a skunk. Which is a shame cause I love them, very cute animals and pretty chill aside from the butt poison.
Clean-Turnip5971@reddit
Yeah my dog got sprayed three weeks ago and still smells like it.
Hot tip for anyone, the ONLY remedy that I've found that works is a paste made of Dawn dish soap, hydrogen peroxide, and baking soda. In this last case we were out of town and our house sitter didn't know the remedy and couldn't reach us. It works best if you get to it immediately before the oils soak in.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
You said week but I think you meant month.
Glittering-Rush-394@reddit
Had this happen several times. And he rubbed himself on the rug, furniture etc. OMG
PiG_ThieF@reddit
It happened to our dog and we had to throw out a rug because we couldn’t get the smell out of the rug
CaryWhit@reddit
My dog and I got full on sprayed in the pouring rain and the dog was so upset he knocked me over and snuggled. It was one of those laugh till you cry bad days.
Hikikomori_Otaku@reddit
knew a bird dog who rolled himself in bog carcasse to try and get rid of it, unsuccessfully. Unless you have tried smelling salts or have spent a lot of time in the swamp you have nothing bad enough to compare it to.
Cathode335@reddit
Humans don't usually get sprayed (because we know better), but the smell is incredibly intense. If a skunk sprays somewhere in your neighborhood, you can smell it in your house.
A dog getting sprayed is much more common. The smell is really hard to get off with soap and water. A bath with tomato juice is supposed to be a remedy.
It's true that the smell doesn't hurt you in any way, but it's overpowering and lasts for days. It's definitely enough to keep people away from skunks.
husky_whisperer@reddit
The distance between the smell of "there's a skunk in the area" and the smell of fresh squeezed is light years.
First, it's nothing like you've ever smelled. It's an assault, quite frankly and impossible to put into words. You just have experience it for yourself (but I would only 3/10 recommend).
Second, it is NEON yellow. How do I know this? My white husky had been hit four goddamned times, that's how. It looks like someone cut open a yellow highlighter and dumped it on her. It takes me an hour's worth of washing/rinsing her with a special concoction to get as much as will wash out, out.
At that point most of the DEFCON 5 fresh squeezed I mentioned above is gone but she still smells like "skunk in the area". It takes a couple weeks to completely go away. And god forbid she gets wet because that activates the dormant evil in her floor.
Stay away from that shit man and have a healthy fear of them.
Dave_A480@reddit
It's strong enough that the only animal willing to risk getting sprayed twice is the domestic dog.....
turquoise_amethyst@reddit
Go to r/dogs and repost this, you’ll hear a bunch of horror stories.
sparklyjoy@reddit
This! Every real-life skunk story I’ve heard in person was from a dog owner 😅
turquoise_amethyst@reddit
Yup, even if your dog is non-threatening, if the skunk gets scared… that’s it 😂
sparklyjoy@reddit
I think another part of it is that dogs apparently really freak out when it happens and don’t make the cleaning up process any easier
Pleasant_Studio9690@reddit
My shepherd/husky/mystery mix was pretty oblivious. Took many washes with the garden hose, 2 tomato sauce baths, and several baths with human and horse shampoo. We didn't have skunk shampoo or the internet to know about hydrogen peroxide or other solutions back then, just word of mouth. She and my hands smelled for days afterwards, but I'd say it was 90% gone by day 5 or so.
sparklyjoy@reddit
Oblivious like not really noticing/minding the smell?
writesinlowercase@reddit
my buddy and i were driving late at night, in the summer, windows down, and almost hit a skunk. we didn’t hit it but scared the poor guy who sprayed towards the car. my right arm which was outside the window smelled of skunk for several days and his car smelled mildly of skunk for the two more years he had the car. add on to that there was also the immediate horrendous smell that was unleashed. his neighborhood also smelled like skunk for several days because of his car despite being nowhere near where the initial spray occurred.
Sparky-Malarky@reddit
Years ago I was a city bus driver. As you can imagine, it cause great hardship if a driver doesn’t show up, so the policy on calling out was extremely strict.
One of the drivers was constantly in the danger zone. Had been repeatedly written up, had been suspended, was in danger of getting fired for the next unexcused absence.
He stepped out of his door to get in the car to drive to work, and was sprayed by a skunk.
Since OP is unfamiliar with skunks, I will say this is an extremely rare occurrence! I’ve never heard of it happening to anyone else, but he insisted this is what happened to him.
But because this is SO unheard of, he was afraid no one would believe him if he called in, so he drove to work so management would know he was telling the truth. He walked in, they told him to leave, he left.
The office smelled on skunk for a week.
ImprobabilityCloud@reddit
Once a skunk sprayed outside behind my house. There was nowhere inside the house you couldn’t taste it for a few days.
You can smell it from miles away
Reduak@reddit
The smell is pretty strong. You can be very far away and still smell it
SidewaysGoose57@reddit
We had dog when I was a kid and he got sprayed. Awful smell. Hard to get rid of. Then he bit a porcupine a year later. Damn near died from that. Didn't learn to quit messing with small animals. Maybe not too bright.
TheGrimTickler@reddit
Our friend’s dog once got sprayed by a skunk. My first time seeing this dog since his being sprayed was several weeks and 6 baths later, and he still gave you a whiff whenever you pet him. And that smell kept hanging around him for the next several weeks. In my opinion, it’s not the kind of bad smell that makes you gag immediately, but it does smell pretty darn bad, and it is potent and resilient enough to be everywhere for a long time.
silversurf1234567890@reddit
Just think of the funkiest weed youve smelled. That’s a skunk smell
creamcandy@reddit
I know someone who called 911 thinking the house was on fire. Skunk had sprayed by the AC intake. He smelled skunky at work that day. Had to have the house professionally cleaned
ArrrcticWolf@reddit
Depending on the potency of the smell and conditions you can smell skunk spray from up to 3 miles away. It is extremely potential hard to clean off of your skin, and it’s easier to just burn your clothing and buy new stuff if you get sprayed directly.
tarheel_204@reddit
It’s very powerful and it lingers for a long time. For example, if I pass a dead skunk in the road (with my windows rolled down), my car’s interior will still smell like skunk at least for the next hour
Melodic_Pattern175@reddit
I’ve never been sprayed, thank goodness but I was once stuck in a car with a person whose canvas bag had been sprayed and I was almost physically sick by the time I got out. For that reason, when I see a skunk wandering about outside my workplace - which is about a dozen times a year - I will walk as far as is needed to make sure we don’t cross paths.
Rastard_the_Black@reddit
My friend had one get under the house and spray into the floor furnace. Had to replace the whole furnace.
yellowrose04@reddit
Let’s just say you’re driving down the road in your car like 60 mph with the windows up. You’re like what’s that smell? Eww skunk. You put your shirt over your nose and you can still smell it miles down the road. Absolutely disgusting, gag worthy smell.
serial_crusher@reddit
I drove over a dead one on Wednesday and my car still stinks. I don’t think I touched the skunk itself, but there must have been a puddle of the stuff that my tire made contact with.
Black_Dog_Industries@reddit
A guy at work ran over a skunk and right before hitting it, the skunk sprayed his car.
When he parked near the warehouse the scent wafted into the building. All of us started getting watery eyes, 2 guys had issues breathing, half the crew felt nauseous and one guy vomited.
We made him park down the street and had to open all the rollup doors to air out the warehouse.
Skunk spray isn’t just an odor, it’s like a chemical weapon attack.
JJSF2021@reddit
Oh, it’s bad… one of the worst smells on the planet.
I want you to understand the magnitude of me saying that. I grew up on a horse farm, so I grew up cleaning out stalls. In the area I live, farmers use chicken manure for fertilizer, and it’s so strong when it’s spread that it’ll take your breath away. I worked at a disaster cleaning and restoration company, where I cleaned mold and sewage out of people’s houses. So when I say that skunk is at least a full order of magnitude worse than anything else I’ve ever smelled, it’s not for lack of experience.
My dog got sprayed a couple months ago… it was so bad that she was trying to rub it off herself with mud, and we couldn’t let her into the house for 3-4 days, after bathing her twice a day in special skunk shampoo. I can still smell it on her a bit…
So yeah, it’s bad. It’s powerful, and it’s next to impossible to neutralize.
Scared_Form8175@reddit (OP)
Holy fuck it's worse than all that?! Wow. Ok.
JJSF2021@reddit
Oh yeah, it’s insanely bad. It’s a kind of stench that feels like it’s cutting through you. It’s kind of like someone covered rotten eggs in sulfur and started burning it, then concentrated the resulting smell into a liquid form, like an olfactory napalm.
ComprehensiveBad5548@reddit
Some sprays are capable of reaching up to 20 ft. It smells awful and stays around forever.
Scared_Form8175@reddit (OP)
20 feet?! It just shoots out the skunk's arse like a freakin geyser?! 🤢
ComprehensiveBad5548@reddit
I don’t know how it shoots out or why it’s so powerful lol! All I know it’s it smells awful and I would never get close to one!
Altaira99@reddit
It's one of the strongest smells you will ever encounter, and if you get sprayed up close you will gag and maybe vomit.
Shop-S-Marts@reddit
My car got sprayed once. It lasts quite a while and it'll make your eyes water terribly, aside from the smell.
FixergirlAK@reddit
It's similar to being maced. Not as painful (unless it gets directly into your eyes or mucosa, which isn't likely for a human) but a direct spray is enough to make you retch. Just trying to bathe a dog that's been sprayed is nauseating. Also the oil is incredibly persistent. It's an effective enough deterrent that if I find a skunk in the garage it gets to stay there until it gets bored. I ain't moving it. I'll hustle a rattlesnake along with the garden hose, but not a skunk.
Scared_Form8175@reddit (OP)
Nasty. Amazing it comes from an animal. How did it happen that one sprayed you? Dog?
Dr_puffnsmoke@reddit
Unfortunately let’s getting sprayed is a somewhat common occurrence. I’ve had several dogs get curious and chase down a skunk in the yard and get sprayed.
Cerlyn@reddit
Not the person you are replying to but I had a cat that got sprayed. We were on the front porch one summer night and I went in the house to take care of the other cats and put down everyone's dinner. My bf at the time was looking out the window and told me there was a skunk in the yard. I went to look and just saw my cat sprinting across the yard. He'd gotten too curious and got sprayed. I took him into the bathroom, stripped naked and put my clothes outside the bathroom door, made a mixture of mostly water, some hydrogen peroxide, and a drop of dish soap then gave him a sponge bath. He was drooling so bad and refused to open his eyes so I wiped his face and mouth down with paper towels as i didn't want to risk the hydrogen peroxide near his eye or mouth. My bf had to leave the house because even through the bathroom door, he said the smell was unbearable. Kitty was fine. There are YouTube videos of skunks spraying bears and making them run
Icestar1186@reddit
https://xkcd.com/37/
Seeggul@reddit
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/505968/what-is-ass-door
riarws@reddit
It is an ass-weapon though
Pleased_Bees@reddit
Fun fact about skunks: they have bad eyesight and can't see for shit past 10 feet.
They hear and smell the other creature of course, but other than that, they don't know what they're spraying. They just let rip.
too_too2@reddit
My last dog’s final act was to get sprayed by a skunk. Oh my god, it’s awful. I let her out in the backyard one morning like usual. I saw her see something and tried to stop her but dogs are fast, even when they’re old the prey drive can kick tf in.
So, she sprinted to the back corner of the yard at this skunk. She was maybe 60 lbs, skunks are little things, and that skunk squared off with my dog, sprayed the shit out of her, and kept coming forward. I was yelling for the dog to come back (ignored) but she was scared back to the house on her own. All my yelling woke up my husband who thought she’d gotten out on the street or something. Before I could explain, he smelled it. We bathed her. We took her to a groomer. I smelled like skunk for a week. Our house faintly smelled like skunk for weeks after
Comfortable-Race-547@reddit
If a skunk sprayed somewhere within 2-3 miles from my house I'm closing the windows
EngineerBoy00@reddit
Our (dumb) dog has been sprayed twice now,cand it is awful, and I mean AWFUL.
The first time we accidentally let her in the house before we smelled it and she ran all over, rolled on rugs, etc before we could get her outside.
The second time we kept her outside.
In both cases we used the recommended method of generously using hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and Dawn soap through multiple applications, followed by multiple baths with commercial deskunking shampoo.
Even with repeated, regular baths/treatments she smelled skunky from a few feet away for months, and up close for a year.
We have fenced acreage that she freely roams and we hope that she's learned her lesson now, but she's not the brightest of creatures so who knows.
219_Infinity@reddit
go fuck with one and find out
revengeappendage@reddit
Oh dude. It’s AWFUL.
You can smell it outside for days.
MahFreakinADHD@reddit
My dog got skunked and we didn’t have deskunk dog shampoo the first time… it stayed on his fur for 2 whole ass months. Tomato sauce did absolutely nothing
SamizdatGuy@reddit
My sister's dog got sprayed in the mouth, came inside and vomited skunk spray all over the house
Pleasant_Studio9690@reddit
Damn, that's brutal.
Pleased_Bees@reddit
Holy shit.
SamizdatGuy@reddit
I couldn't stop laughing when she told me about it. That dog is so fucking dumb, gets sprayed all the time
mediocre_goatcheese@reddit
My sweet dumb dog got skunked three times when we lived out in the sticks. Does the smell deter attack? Not for her, it didn't.
I tried tomato sauce... Nothing. Lemon juice... Nothing. Dawn... Nothing. She, and my whole yard/house, just smelled like burnt rubber for weeks. Every time. The only fix I found was moving back to the city where the skunks didn't come around as much.
Dumbest dog ever. I loved her so much.
Pleasant_Studio9690@reddit
My dog was scary smart. She was part Husky and would "talk" to you, sas you, and backtalk you. Sh'd even scold you if you left her home alone too long. But skunks and porcupines were her brain cells' kryptonite. Slowest learner ever around both. Only thing worse than dealing with your beloved pup being sprayed by a skunk, is seeing them in agony from a snout full of 20 or 30 quills.
Gilamunsta@reddit
Sour fellow about my blue Tick c Hounds Otis and Ella may. Press up my girl with a smart one cause she learned from from your first 1 Otis not much oh my God. Wasn't a week that would go by that he would come in the house the house smelling like skunk dumb a* b But I loved my Fur babies. D near broke my heart when I had to foster them when I moved to another state
PawPawsLilStinker@reddit
The humane society has a recipe to make it yourself. Peroxide, baking soda, and dawn if I remember. I haven't had to make it in a few years but it does mostly work. I've probably used it 8 or 10 times
No-Agency-6985@reddit
How about vinegar?
PawPawsLilStinker@reddit
I'm not sure. The peroxide, baking soda, and dawn does actually work. We have inside dogs and one good scrubbing and they can come back in.
No-Agency-6985@reddit
Sounds good 👍
MahFreakinADHD@reddit
Thank you but since then I have a bottle of deskunk dog shampoo now. It also depends how quickly you get your dog in the bath because the smell is from the spray oils… once they dry you are fucked
PawPawsLilStinker@reddit
I guess I was lucky I always got it off fast. The first time my girl dog, Cami, got blasted right in the fucking mouth lol and we didn't know any better and had the door open that February night and she ran in and was spitting and hacking right in my wife's face while she was sleeping on the couch. We were moved into our house for 2 months and I was already in my underwear washing dogs in the front yard
MahFreakinADHD@reddit
Oh no!!! Mine was a collie at the time and he had that double layer coat, so that skunk oil penetrated through those layers!
And February is skunk mating season… they are the most active during that month, so I believe your dog got hit right at the peak of skunk mating season. Because mine ALSO got hit that same month too!
PawPawsLilStinker@reddit
Oh that makes sense, I figured they were hibernation and those really warm night woke them up. My skunk knowledge is based off of Bambi I think. A smart person would have fired up the wikipedia machine after like the 3rd hit. I'm lucky to have two pitbulls, I cannot imagine a Collie. I don't think you wash a collie, you shampoo a collie
unknowingbiped@reddit
It was deeply embedded in our labs naturally oily ears. Even with the home solution. Turns out when you mix skunk oil and lab oil it doesn't just wash off in lakes or beaver ponds or puddles or ditches or streams or rivers or creeks or rivulets or rain or mist or fog or high humidity areas or divining underground aquifers, did you know Labradors are water dogs?
Pleased_Bees@reddit
Ocean. Seawater. You forgot seawater.
Never mind, that doesn’t work either.
unknowingbiped@reddit
The oceans are thousands of miles away. I only stuck my fingers in the water in Maine and tasted it to prove we didn't round lake Huron. It was January. Albeit low tide ocean and back water bay fresh water sea are different t.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Yup. I thought I had my dog all cleaned off but I dried her with a beach towel. I had to trash that towel.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
That’s what we used on my dog. It works decently because it oxidizes the sulfur compounds and the dish soap washes off the oil.
That said it works but you can still smell it for a really long time.
Tomato sauce is just an absolute myth.
Solid-Hedgehog9623@reddit
And over a pretty far distance.
theragu40@reddit
Yes! This is the part that isn't being mentioned very much.
Like yeah it's incredibly potent up close. But at highway speeds you can smell a skunk that's been hit by a car for a solid minute. From inside a car with closed windows.
So stench radius is a good half mile in any direction. It is really, really intense. I would do a lot to avoid being sprayed.
likerazorwire419@reddit
There was a family of skunks a block or two from my old apartment. There was also a warehouse growing cannabis in the same area. I could never tell which was which.
The_Nood1e@reddit
Sounds like maybe the skunks were growing cannabis
Aggressive_FIamingo@reddit
When I was a kid someone hit a skunk maybe a quarter mile from our house. It smelled for like a week.
NoNeedForAName@reddit
We had one spray I think in the garage recently. The whole house smelled for a couple of days, and for over a week, even with airing the place out, cleaning, etc., you could still smell it in the kitchen for over a week.
BlackQuartzSphinx_@reddit
Someone hit a skunk near the school I work at. The elementary had to have inside recess that day.
scolbath@reddit
Friend was behind a car that hit a skunk. Had to air out his car all summer
jckipps@reddit
Different people react to the smell differently. For me, it's not that bad.
Several years ago I was contemplating a skunk that got caught in a box trap intended for raccoons, and completely overlooked the fact that I was standing within range. He caught me right in the forehead. Fortunately the musk missed my eyes.
I scrubbed down thoroughly, and skipped all social functions for that day. No one else could smell it after I cleaned up, but I still smelled it with every hot shower I took for a week after.
Pleasant_Studio9690@reddit
This is the best "Ask an American" question I've ever come across. If you haven't smelled it, you'd probably struggle to understand just how anything could smell so bad.
We owned land a mile from our house. My childhood dog was loose on it and got sprayed somewhere on it, and the smell hadn't reached us yet. When we called her back to the car, she came at a dead run and jumped in before we were able to stop her. Worst car ride of my life. Thankfully, being an older, rugged SUV, the floor and seats were vinyl, and the roof was bare metal. Because of that, we were able to clean it up and neutralize the smell fully within a few weeks. My poor dog slept out in the yard that night, and I gave her a tomato juice bath and several shampoo baths the next day to neutralize it as best we could, bit she was still pungent for at least a week. Had to do so at least 3 different times in her life. Loved her to death, but she was a slow learner around skunks and porcupines.
Reddittoxin@reddit
It's strong enough to set off my asthma if it's fresh. Never been sprayed myself, but did that the unfortunate experience of being outside working when one got hit in the road next to me. Couldn't continue, had to tell my boss this was a medical emergency lol.
explodingbunny@reddit
It smells like weed but evil
MatthewSBernier@reddit
I'd vastly prefer a wasp sting.
Scared_Form8175@reddit (OP)
Really? Those are pretty damn painful
MatthewSBernier@reddit
VASTLY
bugusinarugus@reddit
I got sprayed when I was 10 years old. My chore was to gather chicken eggs every day. I forgot one day and had to go get the eggs after dark (the coop was pretty big and had a light). Before I even turned the lights on I got sprayed from knees to waist. The spray was more like a jet than an aerosol if that makes sense. I was wearing shorts so some got on my bare skin and some on my clothes. At first I couldn’t even smell the skunk odor because it was all burning- my eyes were stinging, I felt like I couldn’t breathe, and I could taste it like the smell was so strong it was just in the air. Complete sensory overload.
I don’t remember running back to our house but I barged into the kitchen where my sister was washing dishes. She started screaming and then puked in the dish towel (to be fair she was pretty dramatic).
My dad pulled me out into our yard, we lived very rural in the country so no neighbors. He called my grandmother to get some old timey advice about dealing with the situation. Apparently tomato juice neutralizes skunk spray. Unfortunately the nearest store was like 45 minutes away so we had to use canned tomatoes that were grown and processed from our garden. I sat in the front yard in a blue kiddie pool, in the dark, naked and crying, taking a bath in like 20 pints of tomatoes. They were canned whole so I had to kind of crush them and use them like soap.
It was pretty traumatic.
Our property smelled like skunk for so long and my sister and I were terrified of running into that skunk. We played in the woods mostly and the narrative of our adventures pretty much focused on the villain skunk for a time. The tomatoes worked maybe? I was let back in the house and took a two hour bath with all the bubble bath I wanted. I think I scrubbed a layer or two of skin off. We never saw the skunk (I didn’t even see it when I got sprayed). I’m 47 years old and have never met anyone else who has been sprayed.
I still think skunks are super cute and I don’t really hold it against them but damn - that was the most visceral reaction I’ve ever experienced.
Upper_Extreme9461@reddit
It's very powerful and unmistakable.
LilPoobles@reddit
If you actually get personally sprayed up close, it’s apparently terrible. I read an autobiography of a dogsledder running the Iditarod, and in training his dogs would sometimes attack a skunk on the trail. He described instantaneous vomiting and burning in the eyes and face.
katiewind110@reddit
My dog got skunked at 1am. Spray straight to the face. I washed him as well as possible and went to bed. The next day, at work, someone came into the grooming salon I worked at, and said, "oh boy, smells like a skunk dog in here". Nope. That was me, second-hand stinking up the room from 15 feet away.
GandalfTheGrey46@reddit
They have zero fear of humans if that gives you an idea.
Spikeintheroad@reddit
However bad you're imagining it smells , its worse. Its like freshly rancid meat brined in piss and dry aged in corpse grease.
Calipup@reddit
It is a very bad smell, but the chances a human gets sprayed by one is very low. You generally really only smell them when one has been run over in the road, or if it wandered near your house.
It's more common for dogs to get sprayed because they don't understand to leave them alone. Still very rare though, vast majority of people will go through life never having to deal with getting sprayed.
No-Agency-6985@reddit
Very bad and powerful smell! And once the spray gets onto you or onto anything really, it's VERY hard to get it out. Tomato juice is the folk remedy, but plain old vinegar (which is even more acidic) likely works better to remove it.
acableperson@reddit
A lot of these comments are focusing on the “being around a skunk spray”. If you get hit it’s abysmal.
Worst I’ve had was a dog got hit directly. It came inside and was acting weird and we thought there was maybe a gas leak because our eyes started to water and it was unbearable.
Then we gathered what happened, and my sister washed the dog. I HAD ZERO CONTACT WITH IT, and still when I went into a store the cashier told me I need to leave because I smelled so bad.
It’s really really bad.
Scared_Form8175@reddit (OP)
That gives me an idea of how strong it is. Did droplets (ew) get on you?
Omg that's rude they kicked you out. How did you buy cleaning supplies?!
riarws@reddit
It was either kick them out, or every other customer in the store would leave and nobody would come in for the rest of the day, because the smell would linger.
elchinguito@reddit
There were a ton of skunks where I grew up and every summer my dogs would get hit at least once. Never learned their lesson.
Saying it’s really bad doesn’t do it justice. When they really get you it’s a weapons-grade stink that sears your eyes and nose and doesn’t fully fade away for weeks. You can wash your clothes over and over but it’s still there. The dogs would go insane, bolt inside, and try to rub it off of themselves on the carpet and furniture while we tried to wrestle them back outside. Then came many, many days of cleaning.
Jesus I haven’t thought about this in years and you’re bringing back traumatic memories.
ABelleWriter@reddit
First, it actually can burn your eyes.
Second, you can smell a skunk spray about 3ish miles, depending (4.8 km) on weather/conditions/location/etc.
Close ish it can absolutely make you vomit.
Yup, pretty effective
DrProfessorSatan@reddit
I spoke to a guy that trapped and moved skunks. He said he got some on his hands from a tarp the skunk had sprayed. He didn’t even get that full dose and he said it was so bad it was nauseating.
Said Scope mouthwash was what ultimately got that smell off his hands.
Vincomenz@reddit
Last year a skunk got under my house and sprayed all over the place. Ive tried everything I can to clean it, but I still get a faint smell of skunk sometimes when my a/c kicks on. Fun times.
BusyMap9686@reddit
The smell from it hitting nearby is enough to make your eyes water. A direct hit to the face will temporarily blind a predator. So yeah it's a decent defense. The predator will recover and maintain its hunting area but will think better about attacking a skunk. So a really good defense.
Sea-Raspberry1210@reddit
My dog was sprayed by a skunk and my mom brought her in the house. Everyone in the vicinity of our house knew a skunk had been there. Our house smelled like skunk for almost 6 months.
2Asparagus1Chicken@reddit
It's not as bad as people say
clowntysheriff@reddit
My dog got sprayed by a skunk once. It was a good two months before he didn't smell at all, even if the worst was over in about two weeks. We tried every trick in the book too.
YonderPricyCallipers@reddit
When it's outside, and you're inside, but it's not right nearby? It stinks, but whatever. When it's RIGHT THERE??? Woooo boy. Story time: my partner and I were house/dog sitting. One of the dogs was outside in the fenced-in yard. It was July (prime skunk season). We were sitting in the furnished basement, with the glass door to the back yard right there. It was night time (when skunks like to be out). So the dog who was outside comes to the door, with a funny look on her face. My partner opened the door, and... I am not even exaggerating when I say that my life flashed before my eyes. I started to take one breath in, and I literally couldn't breathe for a second. I literally gasped, had the wind knocked out of me. My brain went, "Well... this is it. This is how it ends. I'm going to die". It hit my partner the same too. As soon as she recovered, she brought the dog straight upstairs and wrestled her into the tub... to no avail. There was no amount of perfumed dog shampoo that would touch that stench. Just the mere opening of the door for a few seconds to get the dog in had allowed the stink to permeate the house. It was HORRIBLE. It was also on US. My partner had to throw out the t-shirt she had been wearing at the time because no amount of washing it would get the smell out. A week later, after several showers and scrubbing with things like lemon juice and hydrogen peroxide, WE still stank. Like it was in our pores or something. All we can figure is that when we saw the dog at the door, it must have JUST happened. Like, the skunk must have been RIGHT there. I will never forget my brush with Death By Skunk.
Scared_Form8175@reddit (OP)
That's intense and detailed, wooow. Thank you for sharing that horror.
Omg you stank for a week from that? Did people notice at the stores, and work etc, get mad? If the stench is that intense I wouldn't blame people, even if its not your fault.
YonderPricyCallipers@reddit
People in my apartment building definitely noticed. Neither of us had a 9-5 job at the time, so luckily we didn't have to be in a workplace.
AlessandraSquee@reddit
My dog used to love chasing things out of the yard. The first two skunk encounters were more frustrating for me than her. As others have said, that oil is persistent. Even with the specialized skunk shampoo she eventually plucked the hair off her own butt to get rid of it.
Encounter number three put an end to her chasing entirely. The skunk sprayed her face so thoroughly that I was legit concerned for her for a moment. I was rinsing her face and doing what I could to provide some relief, but she was throwing up violently and struggling to breathe.
After that encounter she decided barking from a distance was safer than charging in, and was much more self restrained even when the taget was not a skunk.
sean8877@reddit
It's pretty bad, where I grew up in the countryside there were tons of skunks so we would smell it everywhere. Some people's dogs would get sprayed and it was hard to scrub them clean. Good times.
77iscold@reddit
As a kid, out dog got sprayed by a skunk. We were at my family's tiny vacation house with one bathroom and it was a mess.
The dog smelled horrible, so my mom brought her into the bath tub. Meanwhile, my dad went to the store to get some kind of special skunk shampoo. Then I started feeling super sick, ran to the bathroom only to find it locked, so I vomited several times on the hall rug.
My sister then got triggered and threw up all over the kitchen sink.
Eventually my dad came home and he was saying everyone in the whole store was complaining about the skunk smell and he was embarrassed and annoyed. Then he got to see the throw up all over the place.
Washing the dog didn't really help. We did special shampoo, tomatoes juice and all other crazy things. She smelled for weeks. It was terrible.
Ok_Win_8366@reddit
The smell is kind of like burned garlic and it sticks. lingers for days. People are definitely afraid of skunks because of it—fantastic defense mechanism. But honestly it’s their ONLY defense so they conserve it and only spray when there is a definite threat. They give many warnings before spraying like stomping their little feet 🥺 I’ve never personally known a human to get sprayed it’s almost always skunks that get hit by cars or dogs that chase and corner them.
DeliciousBerryYumYum@reddit
Having smelled quite a few on drives, that description is accurate haha. But omg yes they are ADORABLE and misunderstood creatures 🥺
SteampunkExplorer@reddit
They are SO cute! Like little fluffy weasel kitties.
Joel_feila@reddit
It stains things. Everything that it gets on will stink. Have a dog come in with skunk spray and it will burn your eyes at first. it lasts and lasts even woth the best cleaning it takes days to clear up.
Under-Kitty447@reddit
you can drive by one going 50 and still smell it lol yeah it's a deadly weapon
Emotional-Edge-8259@reddit
It's quite distinct. If you smell it, you know one is walking around somewhere.
Phyrnosoma@reddit
My last dog (RIP ol gal) got sprayed by one in our yard.
Holy shit it was horrible. I was gagging and retching cleaning her up and I am not particularly sensitive to smells.
travelinmatt76@reddit
Take some rotten eggs and sulfur mix together and heat it up in a microwave, enjoy.
Skunk spray can cause temporary blindness and nausea.
Serious_Letter_1902@reddit
Let me put it this way: when I’m walking the dog early in the morning and I see a skunk, even if it’s half a block away, we go quickly in the opposite direction. I really, really don’t want to deal with a skunk spray episode.
We had one that managed to get into the crawl space under our house last summer - we knew based solely on the smell wafting up into the house. Fortunately, it moved along on its own without incident (and we got the crawl space sealed up).
I think the worst story I’ve heard lately was a neighbor whose dog got sprayed directly in the mouth. Not great (dog ended up be fine, though).
Prechrchet@reddit
We had two dogs get sprayed by a skunk, and it was overpowering. They had gone missing, I found them down the road a bit, loaded them up in my car and once I got them in, I realized what had happened. I floored it back to the house (maybe 100 yards) and the smell still lingered in that car for quite a while.
It was insane!
MayorPoopenmeyer@reddit
Ah yes. Dousing my dog with tomato juice in the river in the middle of the night. He was an idiot to take on a skunk.
81ehx@reddit
It's that bad and that effective.
krill482@reddit
No, it smells like a terpene rich, gassy, and fresh weed. It where the term 'skunk' weed came from.
Vanilla_thundr@reddit
It's hard to explain. It's oppressive in a way that you have to experience. Imagine a smell so strong it forces its way into your head--not just your nose.
vanishinghitchhiker@reddit
It’s kinda like gasoline fumes as far as that goes
eyetracker@reddit
Yeah but that's kind of enjoyable for a lot of people, and some desperate ones huff it. I don't know if there's anyone freebasing skunk.
Seguefare@reddit
But mixed with a sulphury rot.
idiot-prodigy@reddit
It is a mix between a fart and rotten eggs.
"Skunk spray is made of organic sulfur-containing thiols, which are responsible for its characteristic odor. Sulfur has an odor often described as spoiled cabbage or rotten eggs."
What they don't tell you is how potent the smell is in real life.
You can be driving down the highway and smell it inside your car with the windows rolled up, without even seeing the skunk.
If your dog gets sprayed by one, it is a HUGE chore to clean him and try to remove the smell. The smell is notorious for being near impossible to remove by washing alone.
"The thiol chemical in skunk spray is not water-soluble, even with soap."
That is to say, simply washing your dog with regular dog shampoo won't do anything.
The best way to describe this is trying to wash off motor engine grease off your hands, and from under your fingernails.
The only difference is the smell is so potent that if any of it remains you still smell the rotten egg skunk smell.
StJmagistra@reddit
Written by someone who’s never smelled a skunk…
butt_fun@reddit
I mean yeah, that's why this subreddit exists
Skunks aren't really a thing outside of North America
Gilamunsta@reddit
In terms of smell probably the closest thing in Europe is a polecat But to be honest does not even come close to a skunk in disgusting
PlayingDoomOnAGPS@reddit
I honestly thought polecat was slang for skunk.
Gilamunsta@reddit
If I'm if I remember correctly they're in the same family which is probably where That name came from I believe they are both mustslids
eyetracker@reddit
There's lots of stinky animals, though mostly it's a scent marking thing and they don't use it for defense like skunks, or have a small that lingers as much I think.
Polecats are probably the stock for pet ferrets who have a stink but not as bad. They're only scary to mice and the California government.
Seguefare@reddit
They aren't??
1234RedditReddit@reddit
Bad, bad, bad. You have to bathe in tomato juice to get rid of the smell and any affected clothes just have to be thrown away.
devilscabinet@reddit
The smell is really bad, and it lasts for a long time. Skunks aren't going to spray you unless they feel like they have no choice, since they have a limited amount of it at any given time. That's true of venomous snakes, too - they don't want to bite you if they can avoid it, because it might leave them defenseless for a while.
HammyOverlordOfBacon@reddit
I ran over a skunk once when on my way to a NYE party. I got a ride home because I had been drinking. I did not pick up that car for 3 days
Hoosier_Jedi@reddit
The smell is pretty awful. Like garbage and burning tires.
elayemeyyyer@reddit
My dog got a direct hit once and ran inside immediately after. The entire house smelled like skunk for weeks. A direct hit like that stings your eyes the smell is so strong. The dog smelled in certain spots for more than 6 months if you got in close to give him a snuggle. Also most predators sneak up on prey, so if a predator got skunked it would be pretty hard for it to hunt for food afterwards. Good defense mechanism! Also as an aside I’ve been woken up from sleep by a skunk walking by my open window because of the smell.
Equivalent-Cicada165@reddit
Passing by it is one thing
If you or your dog gets sprayed, it's a nightmare. You can't just wash it off, it clings to the fur and body.
The whole tomato thing doesn't really work
LetterheadClassic306@reddit
ngl it's way worse than you think. my dog got sprayed once and it smelled like burning rubber mixed with garlic for weeks. you can't just wash it off with normal soap either. the only thing that actually works is a specific peroxide mix or a Nature's Miracle skunk remover. i keep a bottle in my garage now just in case.
AffectedRipples@reddit
I live in central Nebraska and like to go out and walk alone at night. I've came upon badgers and been in the middle of a pack of coyotes. The most scared I've ever been is coming around a corner of a building on my property around midnight and being face to face with a large male skunk. It made me back away slowly like i was looking at a grizzley.
dohlparts@reddit
Shits stinky fr
DeliciousBerryYumYum@reddit
This shouldn’t have made me laugh as hard as it did 😂
Honest-Cranberry1019@reddit
One sprayed into our central heat and air unit while I was asleep. I woke up, thinking I was suffocating. It was horrid. I had a hard time breathing. The scent lasted for days.
pizzaanarchy@reddit
Sir, smelling a roadkill at 70mph is not the same as getting sprayed by a skunk. In your eyes or mouth, painful. On the smell, you nor anyone else around you can breathe. And it does not wash off.
PureMitten@reddit
We have stink bugs in my area that, when frightened, smell like driving past a fresh dead skunk on the freeway and dissipates within a few hours and even that is enough for me to give them a wide berth. It's still at the level of being able to taste the smell and that's enough defense mechanism for me. Getting directly sprayed by a skunk or having a pet or my car sprayed is high on my list of things I want to never experience.
Gilamunsta@reddit
I've never been sprayed personally but I used to have a pair of blue tick coona hounds we used to go oh look dad black and white cat let's go play
Ok_Win_8366@reddit
The smell is kind of like burned garlic and its sticks, lingers for a days. People are definitely afraid of skunks because of it—fantastic defense mechanism. But honestly it’s their ONLY defense so they conserve it and only spray when there is a definite threat. They give many warnings before spraying like stomping their little feet 🥺 I’ve never personally known a human to get sprayed it’s almost always skunks that get hit by cars or dogs that chase and corner them.
Alternative-Pear9096@reddit
When released, it makes you cry. And then it’s in your pores and your nose and fibers of your clothes. To get it out requires bathing or laundering in tomato juice. not like a bottle in a tub of water. Bathing in tomato juice.
But you’ll still smell it for a week.
Scared_Form8175@reddit (OP)
Omg that's brutal. Why tomato juice, why not like, soap? How'd you end up sprayed by one?
1evilsoap1@reddit
Regular soap doesn’t really get rid of it. Tomato juice bath was/is the traditional way of getting rid of it, but it’s known now that doesn’t actually work, just helps mask it a bit.
Alternative-Pear9096@reddit
what does work?
1evilsoap1@reddit
A mix of Soap+baking soda+hydrogen peroxide
Alternative-Pear9096@reddit
Soap doesn’t work. and as someone here noticed, neither does tomato sauce. I’d love to know how and who figured that out!
I wasn’t sprayed, but someone on my street was one summer night growing up, and I was also outside. It’s not a narrow range defense, it has serious reach. I was three or four houses away, crying like someone had thrown vinegar at my eyes.
bluegrass502@reddit
Years ago we had a dog get sprayed by one. As soon as I opened the door for him, my eyes started watering. Everyone in the house knew pretty quick what the smell was, but didn't know why it was so strong until they heard me start the shower head. The cats ran from him. The other dogs started barking at him and wouldn't let him down the hallway. We had to open all the windows and put fans in a couple of them to try and get the smell out. It was after midnight in mid February while the temperature was like 30°f. It took three full washes with baking soda, vinegar, and Dawn dish soap (that stuff is basically magic) to get him clean. Tomato juice's effectiveness is just a myth.
Every piece of cloth that touched that dog that night had to get thrown away because the skunk smell wouldn't come out, no matter how many washes.
So yes. Skunk spray is as bad as it's made out to be.
AppropriateDark5189@reddit
You can smell them miles away.
I’ve had dogs get sprayed. Not pleasant. Usually, the scenario is that a skunk will wander into our yard. Dogs will “investigate” and then get sprayed.
As soon as I even smell it, I bring the dogs inside to avoid any incidents.
flyinwhale@reddit
A skunk didn’t even spray in my garage it just waddled in and waddled out and our garage smelled so powerfully for DAYS that we called the fire dept (non emergency line) just make absolutely sure what we were smelling was for sure skunk and not some like of chemical/gas leak or plastic electrical fire because it was soooooo strong and intense and lasted for so long we weren’t even sure anymore what we were smelling
Saltpork545@reddit
You know for weeks that you got sprayed. It's very effective and extremely noticeable.
Not typically but they can. Humans are a bit too big but it does happen. Happens to dogs much more.
I've seen fresh skunk spray make people gag.
It's the smell of rot. It stinks. You don't want any of that smoke.
GreenBeanTM@reddit
I went to this summer camp sorta thing in high school that was held at a college in my state. For 2 weeks we lived in one of the dorm buildings. About 2 days in the first floor/laundry room in the girls dorm building started smelling and none of us reported it to the adults because we all assumed either A) the adults who lived in the building also smelled it or B) a skunk had gotten into a fight with another animal outside so there wasn’t really anything anyone could do about the smell.
Cut to day 7 when one of the adults who doesn’t live in the building came into the building: yea so actually a squirrel had died in the space between the floor of the ground level and the ceiling of the basement. A squirrel had been rotting in our dorm building for 5 days and about a hundred people all said “🤷🏻 must have been a skunk”
It’s also important to note: every single one of us were from Vermont, the camp was specifically for Vermont high school students. *all* of us knew what skunk smelled like.
HayTX@reddit
The smell is bad and it doesn’t wash off easy. If a dog gets sprayed they whine and it takes several baths to get the smell out.
I have ran a few thru the hay mowers and it’s bad.
WWGHIAFTC@reddit
the smell is bad, but the real problem is how hard it is to get rid of. it can linger for weeks in a bad case
onlyreason4u@reddit
You can easily smell a skunk in the general area.... up to ~1.5km away, but it's possible up to 8km. It's very distinctive and a strong odor. Keep in mind also... animals can smell a lot better than we can.
As a defense it's pretty effective because almost no animals other than owls who can't smell very well mess with them. The spray can permamently blind you if it gets in your eyes, it's aldo apparently pretty irritating to the skin. The biggest issue though it that it's impossible to wash off.
I've never heard of a human getting sprayed. Skunks can't produce a lot of sray so they warn you first. People know better and get the hint. My family dogs growing up though both got sprayed, a couple times for one. You can neutralize about 90% of the smell with hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and dish soap after multiple washes. You can still smell it though for about a month.
jooicide@reddit
My dog was sprayed by a skunk one summer. I learned the hard way that the smell up close is very different from the skunk smell in the distance we've come to expect when in the car, smelling it on the breeze etc. It does smell like that, but times a million, combined with garlic, something rotting, strong body odor, shit, and onions. The onion smell and general grossness of it all makes your eyes water and the scent sticks to everything. This is probably what makes it a good defense. I cannot imagine being the one directly sprayed, especially if it was in the face, when just being around it made my eyes sting like that. It's not venom but it gives the skunk enough time to get away, which is pretty much the point.
In terms of how bad it was, the smell lingered in my house for a couple of weeks no matter what we did. It gradually dissipated a lot, of course, but after that initial shock even smelling a little bit of it was enough to make me sick.
Hatweed@reddit
It’s like bad weed concentrated, and it sticks too you when it hits you. It’s not a fun thing to deal with.
Fickle_Waltz_2211@reddit
Horrid. I went to the mountains in Virginia, it was late at night, my brother opened the sliding glass door and saw a skunk. He thought it would be funny to throw a can of orange Fanta at it. He missed but it was enough for the skunk to spray. The entire house smelled like skunk for 36 hours. I couldn’t fall asleep due to smell. Terrible experience would not recommend.
Otherwise-OhWell@reddit
I've seen skunks from a 2nd-story window at night and they are super cute - little tuxedo rats - but I've never been sprayed directly.
I have driven through several roadkill incidents though and the smell was horrific.
horatio_corn_blower@reddit
I see skunks all the time in my neighborhood, my dog sniffs them out pretty easily. Super cute and some of them are downright large, I keep my distance though.
Creepy_Push8629@reddit
Superworms will musk you and the smell is bad but nothing like a skunk smell. And their size is like the size of a skunk's nail.
When a superworm skunks me, it's so gross. I start to get queasy. And even if I scrub my hands and use alcohol repeatedly, the smell is still there. For hours. 🤢
I can't imagine the skunk smell ON you.
MoonieNine@reddit
As a kid, one walked by us at our campsite. We froze and it just kept on walking. They only spray when threatened. But yes, the stench IS as bad as you've heard.
No-Pickle-8200@reddit
My dog got sprayed a few years ago, the spray when it is fresh is truly awful. It smells like burning tires or something.
I was able to get the smell off of the dog by washing her with dish soap a few times, but my whole house reeked for weeks because I had to walk her through the downstairs to get her to the bathtub for her bath.
AvatarAnywhere@reddit
Lived near a park where skunks lived. Mating season the skunks get excited and spray. The park was down the street and my windows were closed, but the smell was so strong I woke up coughing. It’s something that once you smell it you can instantly identify it. It lingers for days.
wonderslugbogbottom@reddit
My dog got sprayed and immediately afterwards it smelled damn near poisonous. It was almost qualitatively different.
cryptoengineer@reddit
If you get sprayed, even if you're a seriously hungry predator, the smell becomes your primary concern, and you don't even think about food.
I've never been sprayed, but have smelled many skunks. At low concentrations, it somewhat resembles pot, but that's only at very dilute levels.
Domidude@reddit
Years ago my great aunt got a brand new SUV, it was her first new car in about 2 decades. She parked it in her driveway as she didn’t have a garage. A skunk walks up at night and the motion sensor light comes on and spooks the skunk and it sprayed directly onto the car (windows were up). The smell was so bad for so long she was tempted to commit insurance fraud and destroy the car so she could get a brand new one. It took multiple car washes and well over a week for the smell to fully go away. Definitely ruined the new car experience for her.
Glenn_Maffews@reddit
A skunk encounter will never be forgotten.
They are as bad as US tv and movies show you.
turdferguson3891@reddit
I've never been sprayed but if a skunk has been in the area you can smell it from far away so I have to imagine it's pretty intense. Like getting hit with pepper spray or something (which I have experienced).
Alternative-Pear9096@reddit
I’ve been hit by tear gas. I think getting hit by skunk is worse. Tear gas definitely dissipates fast.
SensibleFreedom-0726@reddit
There’s a better story here. Please share it!
turdferguson3891@reddit
Over a decade ago I was hanging out with a friend and some girls we met. One girl was a drunk mess. The other one I was interested in. We ubered back to my and my roommates spot. Drunk girl was being really annoying. I made some kind of joke at her expense. She pulled pepper spray out of her purse in the uber and just sprayed the shit out of me. I was pissed. Wanted to call the cops but her friend convinced me not to. Friend then took care me of in more ways than one. I miss being young.
Leemage@reddit
My dog got skunked during his last pee for the night. It woke up the entire apartment block when we brought him in to wash him. People were peeking out their doors asking what happened. My poor husband rushed to cvs for hydrogen peroxide and everyone he passed was giving him a wide berth. He ended up throwing out his clothes in the dumpster. Apartment smelled like skunk for a month even with heavy cleaning and all the tricks. Dog smelled like skunk any time he got wet for about a year. It was brutal.
mmahowald@reddit
Oh god. One sprayed near the side of our house when a dog barked. I had to go buy some chemical to neutralize the stink over three days later. I was u employed at the time so spending money hurt but the smell hurt worse.
Double_Currency1684@reddit
I have smelled their odor coming from the forest when driving down the highway windows closed, nasty
eyeroll611@reddit
Sooooo bad
kdani17@reddit
I live in an urban area and get woken up by the smell during this time of year. Thank goodness they can only do it every so often and we only have a couple in the neighborhood. Nothing like burning nostrils at 3 AM…
toodleroo@reddit
A skunk's spray can be smelled as far away as a mile or more.
SockSock81219@reddit
It's extremely bad, basically intolerable in close quarters. Our dog got sprayed once when I was a kid, right in his face, and I can still remember it vividly. Dog was screaming, running around in a wild panic. Our eyes were watering and my dad was gagging. It was like someone had poured gasoline on a tire and lit it on fire inside the house.
We had to get our poor dog back outside to at least try to hose him off while holding rags to our faces even though it was like 10 pm. We heard that tomato juice helped, so we tried to open a can of tomatoes to pour it on him, but he was too crazy and we could barely see, so I don't think we got much on him.
We ended up opening every window in the house, running all the fans we could find, and trying to keep him out on the porch for the night.
Skunks have a chemical weapon, as bad as tear gas or worse.
Sporkee@reddit
I have the gene that's makes me enjoy the smell.
cn45@reddit
it’s so bad. if it ever gets on you, it smells so bad that you go nose blind to it. but everyone else can smell it.
TrapperJon@reddit
Smells like money to me. $20 per ounce more specifically.
Sparklykazoo@reddit
You do not want to he on the wrong end of a skunk.
weirdcunning@reddit
No, it's not that big of a deal. They are most active at night. Smelling a dead one on the road and an occasional dog getting sprayed is most common interactions around here. They not very aggressive, pretty skittish. If you give them space, they will just leave. The spray is a musk they make. It reminds me of strong marijuana. It's difficult to get the smell out.
mydogisatortoise@reddit
I have known several in the wild and unless you are threatening they will not spray you. One even had a litter of kits in the house and they were chill.
glowing-fishSCL@reddit
Skunks will spray humans if they feel threatened. I have been sprayed before---my sister and I were riding a horse, and we saw a skunk and thought it would be fun to chase it. It was not!
The spray is not terrible, it smells bad and persists for a long time, but (at least to me) it wasn't nauseating. One thing though, in nature, it just has to be good enough to make some other prey seem more attractive. So it does its job.
SensibleFreedom-0726@reddit
Happy Cake Day
glowing-fishSCL@reddit
Thank you, I didn't even realize. 7 years is a long time.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Hehe 7 yeah.
God I’ve been at this way too long.
Gilamunsta@reddit
Something tells me that you never never did that again LOL
solidspacedragon@reddit
The idea of the weapon isn't that it hurts what it hits. The stink just doesn't go away until the predator starves to death because any prey can smell it coming miles away.
Astute_Primate@reddit
Not toxic, but you'd never know that from the smell. It's awful. 100% as bad as its reputation. They usually don't spray humans. They'll adopt a defensive posture that looks like they're threatening to spray, but only actually spray if they're in mortal danger. Skunks actually don't really mind humans. And we've got a decent symbiotic relationship. They're omnivores that eat pests and garbage on your property. And their babies are cute as hell. The only time you have to worry about the smell is if you have a dog or cat that attacks one, if you hit one with your car, or if you have a den near your house and it's mating season (they'll spray to attract mates and warn rivals to stay away from their territory)
CupBeEmpty@reddit
It sucks. It isn’t the worst thing in the world but it’s highly unpleasant. The smell lingers for fucking ever.
It’s not like pepper spray or anything. I have never gotten it in my eyes thankfully. I hear that does hurt.
If your stupid dog corners a skunk in its den and gets blasted then you and your dog will be smelling like skunk for at least a month if people get close enough to you.
RetreadRoadRocket@reddit
Dog got indirectly hit a couple of months ago and no amount of cleaning tricks have gotten it to go away entirely as he still smells like it when he gets wet. Stuff stinks horribly
tibearius1123@reddit
My dogs attack a sunk about twice a year. The smell isn’t something that makes you vomit like a rotting smell, but it is EXTREMELY strong.
sing_singasong@reddit
It’s horrendous. My dogs got skunked 3 months ago. They’ve been treated, and bathed, and bathed again. THEY STILL STINK. I think I have ptsd from the smell. Every time I pass one as roadkill I feel rising panic and anger.
Osethme@reddit
I was driving home from work and got off at my exit, about a mile from my house and started smelling skunk pretty strongly. We had a couple local ones, didn't think much of it.
The smell got stronger and stronger the closer I got to home until I pulled in my driveway and it was....awful. The downstairs neighbor's dog got sprayed and I could smell it literally a mile away.
I felt so bad for them because as awful as it was upstairs I could not even imagine their place.
FuckIPLaw@reddit
Skunks are basically big adorable weasels that evolved the land animal equivalent defense mechanism of an octopus' ink. You only have to worry about it if you mess with them. A live one from a distance is a smell you'll notice but won't exactly be puking from. It's kind of a musky smell, not dissimilar from a fox.
Actually getting sprayed, well, just don't provoke them. It's not hard to avoid.
UncleOdious@reddit
I just learned the Eastern hemisphere doesn't have skunks.
too_too2@reddit
I think I knew this from outlander. There’s a scene in the books when they move to America and they’re terrified of skunks
UnfriskyDingo@reddit
Like weed
Leaf-Stars@reddit
From a distance it isn’t that bad. Up close it will cause vomiting. They’re gentle creatures though and won’t spray unless threatened repeatedly. They will try to warn you off first.
bkdunbar@reddit
I think it must be effective.
I live out in the country. One of my dogs likes to hunt: moles, groundhogs, rabbits .. the usual. As a young dog she ran into a skunk .. got sprayed and that was enough for her. She came home and wanted me to DO SOMETHING.
Fortunately, it missed her eyes: skunk oil can cause blindness.
Unhappily for her - this was not my first skunk rodeo - the cure is - after blotting out all the oil you can - a thorough wash with a hydrogen peroxide and dish soap mixture.
Then throw away the towel.
CheekyPunker@reddit
It's fucking horrendous but the worst part is how it won't wash off. I bathed my dog in the skunk removal shampoo but it still faintly stuck around for a week.
When you're driving, it's not uncommon to smell skunk powerfully in your car hours after a spray happened. Worse if the critter got run over.
It smells a lot like dank weed with a pissy undertone.
That said, don't bother a skunk and it won't bother you.
No-Sail-6510@reddit
It’s actually not bad from a distance but it fucking reeks up close. Like your beloved dog gets skunked and you’re thinking maybe I should just put him down. But honestly it’s not that great of a defense because dogs do this repeatedly and never learn.
procrasstinating@reddit
It’s very strong up close. Not quite pepper spray, but it will make your eyes water and you choke up. Only a very determined dog will keep going and attack a skunk after getting sprayed in the face. Only a really stupid dog will do it more than once. It takes day or weeks to get the smell off that stupid dog and just about as long to get the smell off the carpets and furniture of the stupid home owner who lets the stupid dog back in the house before they realize what it was chasing in the middle of the night.
PM_ME_YER_MUDFLAPS@reddit
Funny enough I am kind of used to it. My dad used to hunt and used skunk scent as a camouflage. Unfortunately he stored it in a storage below my bedroom and the bottles leaked and I spent a few months sleeping in the room above the storage. Skunk for me is annoying but not the great issue others make it out to be to me.
gofindyour@reddit
Not only can you smell it, you can feel a sting in your nose if it's close enough. It's very intense
Bluemonogi@reddit
It is an extremely strong smell even a mile away with windows closed. If you came upon a skunk and scared it then you might get sprayed. They can spray up to 15 feet away. Besides smelling really bad it can irritate skin and eyes. It is hard to remove the smell. I’d say it is an effective defense.
No one I know is dumb enough to mess with a skunk.
Supnd21@reddit
It’s brutal. I had a friend once go into a chicken coop with his dog and got sprayed. His mom buried his clothes. It took multiple showers and tomato juice shampoos before she’d let him in thr house. I saw our dogs kill one after it had exhausted its spray. They were competitive about getting it. Both took multiple sprays and then came carrying jt back to the house each with an end. They absolutely reeked for 3 days.
NarrowAd4973@reddit
I can tell when a skunk walks past my house because of the smell that drifts inside, even with windows closed. And all I can do is sit and wait for it to dissipate, which takes several minutes. Driving past a dead skunk on the road will have the odor in your car for a few minutes. The smell is extremely potent.
A skunk's spray is an oily mucus they can launch as a projectile from their anal glands. This means it's produced by the skunk's body, so has a limited amount. They'll try to run away first. If they can't, they'll go for intimidation by stomping their feet. If that doesn't work, they'll turn and raise their tail. That's your last chance to get away before you get slimed with something designed to be one of the worst things you've ever smelled. And it's designed to stay on you for a while. It takes special measures to get rid of it. Just washing your clothes isn't enough.
SteampunkExplorer@reddit
BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
...
..Yeah, no, it's really bad. 🥲
Like, you will be bothered by the smell for several minutes or longer if you drive through an area where a skunk has sprayed recently. It's also notoriously hard to wash off of pets, kids, belongings, et cetera. It may not be venom, but it's still serious business for the skunk, who relies on the spray to save its life.
And it works! Most animals don't bother skunks. Look how this bear reacts:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sJ1eLJFQ14c
They absolutely do spray humans, but they'll usually do a cute little stompy dance to warn you first.
Current_Poster@reddit
I always liked David Letterman's description: not the worst thing you ever smelled,but definitely the most thing you've ever smelled.
Ml_lD@reddit
It smells like if marijuana had the same tangy “funk” as blue cheese
illyria817@reddit
A skunk sprayed in our backyard in the middle of the night. We were asleep on the second floor, with windows closed. The smell was so bad, it woke us up.
SabresBills69@reddit
years ago skunks were looked at as pets where they surgically removed the gland for the spray. thry were ne er domesticated to have as pets
spookyscaryscouticus@reddit
Skunks don’t spray humans very often, but they have very poor eyesight and don’t move very fast, so they can be startled. They don’t run very fast and don’t have very good eyesight and aren’t very aggressive. They don’t need to be. Basically nothing eats them but birds of prey unless they’re starving. If you don’t back off when they stomp or turn-tail toward you they will spray. Dogs are more likely to be sprayed, because they’re stupid, friendly idiots.
The intensity is no joke though. You know the smell of weed? It’s very like that from afar, but the biggest issue is that it’s not just a smell. It’s a chemical weapon that sticks to your skin, ruins your clothes, and doesn’t wash off. A skunk is a trundling THIS IS NOT A PLACE OF HONOR sign roughly the size and shape of a cute, fuzzy kitty.
ju5tjame5@reddit
I ran over one and 50 miles later I pulled into a Taco Bell drive-thru and the lady in the window could smell it
El-Viking@reddit
It's a strong smell and very difficult to wash off of a dog that's been sprayed. I believe there's also an irritant factor in the spray... maybe akin to a pepper spray? As to how "bad" it smells apparently varies. I don't like the smell but I don't particularly dislike it. I'd prefer to drive through lingering skunk spray over walking into a scented candle or perfume shop.
Mr_Feces@reddit
Form the perspective of someone who grew up on a farm long ago, it almost always sprays your dog, not you. The dog is your only family member dumb enough to pursue a skunk. The smell is strong, and it stays in your dog's fur very well.
Then your dog gets to sleep outside for about three days. Repeat about once a year if your dog has a bad memory.
The tomato juice barh does nothing except turn your dog pink. We stopped trying that after a while.
Mr_Feces@reddit
It's actually pretty funny picturing what your dog was off doing to have that happen even while the smell gets old really quickly.
Grunt08@reddit
You can smell skunk spray from a mile away (literally), and it lingers for a long, long time. Up close it can be bad enough to make you vomit. And it sticks to everything.
If you're sprayed directly in the eyes, it's basically like getting pepper sprayed.
I mean if you live in a literal pile of shit maybe the smell wouldn't get to you.
Shevyshev@reddit
Apparently you can smell it up to 3.5 miles (6 km) away. It is potent stuff
AwkwarsLunchladyHugs@reddit
It's really, really strong stuff. When I was about 12 years old, we lived out in the middle of nowhere, and our dog got sprayed by a skunk - I couldn't even get close to him right after without 5wanting to throw up. Bgg
Separate-Raccoon8584@reddit
I was petsitting for a dog who got sprayed, and she came into the house right after. I didn't know what the smell was at first, but it was so bad that I thought without a doubt that it was something deadly and immediately took the dogs out into the yard before eventually figuring it out. It's the worst thing I've ever smelled, I had to take multiple showers and was still smelling it on my belongings weeks later.
ThrowAwayIGotHack3d@reddit
It's horrible, there's a family of skunks that lives near my house and they spray my house sometimes, you can smell it from inside the house for daysss.
seancbo@reddit
It's horrifying. I've had dogs get skunked and you have to do a whole fucking process to get them clean.
-joker-joker-joker-@reddit
So yeah it's powerful.
Most important is that predators hate it. If they're pack animals, no one else in the pack wants to be near you. If you are a lone predator, every prey animal within a mile can smell you
You only make that mistake once.
EffectSuccessful6169@reddit
It could easily male you vomit if you're close by and can't get away
Apocalyptic0n3@reddit
It's as bad as you have heard, possibly worse. It'll last for a day or so and will affect a good 50 foot radius. If it gets a pet, that pet will smell strongly like skunk for a few days and then if you put your face near their fur, you'll smell it for like 6 months. There is no escaping it.
jessek@reddit
It smells bad but if you leave them alone you’ll never get sprayed. Only times I’ve dealt with skunk spray was when our cat got sprayed when I was a kid. We had to give it a bath with Listerine. The cat was not happy.
elbarbalarga@reddit
I lost my my sense of smell to covid years ago, and blindfolded I couldn't distinguish a pile of shit from fresh roses.
The other day the I passed skunk road kill in the car, and it hit me like a ton of bricks.
I've been able to identify no odors, pleasant or foul for more than five years, and skunk was strong enough to wake my nose up momentarily. What a shock to the system after all this time. Lol
vespers191@reddit
If skunk spray was weaponized, it absolutely would be banned by the Geneva Conventions. There is frankly nothing quite like it, because it is an aerosol that can be smelled for ridiculous distances.
LadySilvie@reddit
It is very bad, overwhelming.
It is effective enough that most skunks don't even have to threaten it to he left alone haha.
I have a conservation field/forest nearby with trails for hiking and we have run into families of skunks just marching down the trail in the opposite direction as us. Completely unbothered by our presence. We got off the path and went around them so as not to risk a spray 😂
HeyPurityItsMeAgain@reddit
If you get sprayed by a skunk you smell for weeks. It's repulsive. It is that strong. Everyone and everything AVOIDS them if at all possible. It works.
DeeDeeW1313@reddit
Ive never been sprayed by a skunk. My dogs have. My house has… the smell isn’t good but not “the worst” the side is it lingers forever.
It smells like more pungent weed btw
Mediocre_Daikon6935@reddit
Son, you’ll wish you just got bit by a rattlesnake.
There is no predator that makes the mistake of hunting a skunk more then once.
Scared_Form8175@reddit (OP)
How is it THAT bad? 😂 it's not like a really smelly fart can actually kill/damage you physically
Mediocre_Daikon6935@reddit
There are fates far worse than death.
Scared_Form8175@reddit (OP)
Geez. Jokes aside, elaborate please?
Mediocre_Daikon6935@reddit
Losing by your children.
Getting spray by a skunk.
Having to brandish your children in the wilderness, because they sprayed by a skunk.
luvdiapsma@reddit
I ran one over once with my car and the radio announcer was pissed.
SGDFish@reddit
That's a good one lol
purritowraptor@reddit
Oh yeah.
It's bad.
MdnghtShadow118@reddit
Someone hit a skunk maybe 1/4 mile up the road from my apartment last summer. I couldn’t open the windows for 3 days and could TASTE the stink when I walked outside.
SteelGemini@reddit
The smell lingers for a long time and is quite strong. It's not unusual to smell it from inside your car when one has been run over or just in a general area when a skunk has sprayed something recently. If you are sprayed, it's apparently a pain to get the smell off, but I haven't experienced this directly.
It's unpleasant, but there's worse smells out there. But it is distracting. If you've been sprayed, nobody is really going to want to be around you until you deal with it. It's not debilitating, though. I suppose it could be worse if you're sprayed, I've never been that close to the source.
The_Big_Pow_Theory@reddit
I let my dogs outside to use the bathroom late one night. They myst have been sprayed. When I let them back in the whole house was filled with the smell. I immediately got them back outside but not before they laid on their beds inside. I had to put all that outside. Ran up to the local Walmart for tomato juice and whatever google told me would help get the smell off of them. Bathed them in it when I got home. House smelt like a skunk for like a week. Seemed no matter how much I bathed them it still stunk in the house.
Low_Attention9891@reddit
Yes, you can typically smell it for days. It’s not venom, it won’t hurt you, it just smells really really bad for a while and is difficult to clean up.
fried_clams@reddit
We hardly ever smell one any more in my part of Massachusetts. The coyotes ate them all. How hungry do you have to be?
SpaceC0wboyX@reddit
My dog was sprayed by a skunk. My entire house and family smelled for 2 weeks no matter what we tried. After that the dog and any furniture he touched continued to smell for about 5 months (though it decreased over time).
The worst part is you can’t even effectively wash it off because water activates the smell and makes it worse.
kjc-01@reddit
It is powerful and pervasive. My dog was sprayed for the first time just over a month ago, and despite multiple peroxide/baking soda washes since then I still get a good whiff every now and again. We weren't home when he got hit, but it was so strong the neighbors called out the gas company to search for a leak. We walked into the yard and it hit us like a ton of bricks. It smells very different at each concentration level. At the dilute/distance dank smell level it is merely noticeable. Being sprayed directly in the face has got to be biblical level unpleasantness.
Lojackbel81@reddit
If one gets hit by a car you will smell it for days and from a long distance away. I live in a semi rural area and it’s a fairly common occurrence. They’re cool little animals.
digawina@reddit
My ex's dog got skunked. Months. He smelled for MONTHS. It faded, sure, but there was a whiff of it in the house for months.
iceph03nix@reddit
If they spray you it's powerful and persistent. I honestly don't mind it when it's light and just in the breeze. It's a sort of sweet smell
greggo39@reddit
Years ago I hit one with my car and my car reeked. My girlfriend’s dad made me park a few houses down the street every time I visited for a week.
Sensitive-Dot-5765@reddit
I don’t think they spray people very often, but dogs get sprayed much more frequently. It can be really bad, one time my dog got a direct hit and we both smelled for a while. It was so strong it smelled chemical, seems a little oily and got on anything the dog got on.
BlueFuzzyCrocs@reddit
The strength and longevity of it portrayed in media is pretty accurate.
The rate of occurrence is not. Odds are very slim that you will end up sprayed since they would run first is you see one. Having a dog get sprayed is pretty common in my area though.
If one gets hit by a car you can smell it for a good mile or two when driving by the roadkill.
Seguefare@reddit
I passed by one that must have just been hit. The smell lingered in the car for an hour.
Philcoman@reddit
It burns the nose and throat as well as being very strong, and it’s very pervasive. A skunk sprayed at night in my back yard and even though the windows were closed, the smell woke up everyone in the house.
Pure-Insanity-1976@reddit
A description of a skunk by an early Jesuit missionary:
The other is a low animal, about the size of a little dog or cat. I mention it here, not on account of its excellence, but to make of it a symbol of sin. I have seen three or four of them. It has black fur, quite beautiful and shining; and has upon its back two perfectly white stripes, which join near the neck and tail, making an oval which adds greatly to their grace. The tail is bushy and well furnished with hair, like the tail of a Fox; it carries it curled back like that of a Squirrel. It is more white than black; and, at the first glance, you would say, especially when it walks, that it ought to be called Jupiter’s little dog. But it is so stinking, and casts so foul an odor, that it is unworthy of being called the dog of Pluto. No sewer ever smelled so bad. I would not have believed it if I had not smelled it myself. Your heart almost fails you when you approach the animal; two have been killed in our court, and several days afterward there was such a dreadful odor throughout our house that we could not endure it. I believe the sin smelled by Saint Catherine de Sienne must have had the same vile odor.
poutinethecat@reddit
I once had an encounter with a skunk in a friend's backyard. I didn't get sprayed, but i definitely wondered why it wasn't scared of me. Then I realized I should be scared of it and ran inside.
Digital_Simian@reddit
You can smell it pretty strongly from pretty far away. That stink is actually pretty overpowering up close and not that easy to get rid of. A lot of a skunk's threats are smell dominant, so I can only imagine how disorientating that must be for a dog, bear or wolf because it's pretty nasty for a human. You can smell skunk roadkill for instance for miles for days.
evil_burrito@reddit
It's not the worst smell ever, though it's not pleasant.
What it is, though, is really really strong and persistent.
Skunks will generally try to avoid spraying you. They'll turn their little weaponized bottoms towards you and flash their distinctive tail and stamp their back feet. They will not, however, give any fucks and do not scare easily.
If you take their warning, you'll just go somewhere else and all will be well. If you do not, well, you were warned.
Dogs, however, are not scared of skunks and will not be warned. Your stupid-ass goofy friend is the most likely in the family to get sprayed.
kshucker@reddit
Skunks are pretty bad where we live. A neighbors god dot lose a few years ago and was messing with a skunk one summer night. The dog got sprayed right outside of one of our windows. We have a whole house fan that we had running that night (a giant fan in the ceiling that brings in the air from the outside and exhausts it out the attic, very useful after it cools down in the evenings).
You bet your ass our whole house smelled like skunk within seconds. My eyes were watering and I was gagging. My fiancé had just gotten over COVID and lost her sense of smell. She was unaffected by the smell.
Char_siu_for_you@reddit
My dog got sprayed once. Took three blasts back to back and I got a little bit on me when I was pulling her away. The initial smell was god awful. I’ve smelled skunk before but never like that. It was like rotten garlic, but incredibly more intense. I got a severe headache within a couple of minutes. My wife went to the store to try to buy a remedy, she said she could smell it from blocks away. We had to bathe in the front yard under a hose and couldn’t enter the house for hours. It happened at 2200 we were outside until 03:00. We stunk for days, even after using skunk shampoo. The whole experience sucked very hard balls.
Seguefare@reddit
They're generally left alone by most predators, if that tells you anything. Except apparently, Great horned owls, who swoop down from above, and don't have a sense of smell.
TillPsychological351@reddit
Skunk spray isn't the most noxious odor in the world. Let's be clear, it is extremely unpleasent, but it's not the kind of stink that will turn your stomach and make you puke.
But it is extremely powerful and persistent. You can smell it miles away, and even passing within the general vicinity, the odor will attach itself and follow you. The closer you get to the source, the more it irritates your eyes and mucous membranes.
Everyone knows what a skunk looks like and only the dumbest, drunkest rednecks would ever consider approaching one.
mustang6172@reddit
Imagine the smell of a sweaty, fat man on a summer's day, and then add an onion to it. That is how a skunk do.
A skunk will provide much warning before spraying. It is a last line of defense.
anneofgraygardens@reddit
My dog got skunked once. We washed her immediately and repeatedly. The whole house was absolutely fucked up though. The next day I had an appointment for a massage. I took a shower just before leaving and I thought I had done an okay scent of getting the smell out but as soon as I was out of my house (where the smell was everywhere) I realized...not so much.
When I got to the spa, I had to profusely apologize for carrying the scent with me. She was so nice but I'm sure she wasn't thrilled and used extra scented lotion, haha.
We tried a bunch of tricks we found on the internet, and one that worked pretty well was boiling a bunch of vinegar on the stove. Obviously it made everything smell like vinegar, but when that faded, it made a good dent in the skunk smell.
MetroBS@reddit
It smells like weed combined with burnt rubber and stale urine, and it is extremely powerful, you can smell it multiple kilometers away.
However skunks are not aggressive and won’t spray unless they’re really provoked
RudoifSchmidt@reddit
I was hitchhiking in New Jersey.I turned and looked at my feet a skunk was arched tail up fixing to spray me.I jumped over him.
plated_lead@reddit
I knew a guy who had a skunk farm, god only knows why. His nickname was Stinky, for obvious reasons
riarws@reddit
You know how most weed smells sort of vaguely bad, some smells a little bit sweet, and some smells just beyond terrible and makes you gag? That last one is how skunks smell.
As to power: I have very little sense of smell (within normal range, but just barely). I can’t even smell cigarettes if I’m not standing right next to the smoker. I deputized my family to tell me when I need to reapply deodorant. It’s really, really dim. But I can smell a dead skunk from about a mile away.
As to how long and strong the smell lingers, and how much it recurs: same as cat urine.
I have never been sprayed; all my experience is only from smelling dead skunks at a distance. I assume it’s all worse if one is sprayed.
amcjkelly@reddit
Very effective. Washing a dog outside with a hose to get the smell off is an experience you won't forget.
3CatsInATrenchcoat16@reddit
My car was once sprayed and it lingered for weeks. Couldn’t get rid of it, so imagine a black car in the summer sun just marinating in skunk. 🤮
KaizDaddy5@reddit
Wow, TIL skunks are only indigenous the the Americas.
To answer it's utterly awful, no two ways about it. It's soo potent. Like others have mentioned burning tires mixed with the nastiest funk you can imagine, it bites your nose. And incredibly difficult to get rid of if sprayed.
And like others have said it's fairly easy for an intelligent person to avoid getting sprayed. They use it defensively and and usually give you ample warning to back off. They are nocturnal and avoid people.
The real problem is our dogs. Who don't ready the warning signs get sprayed quite often IME. And then they might try to rub it off inside the house, which is even worse. Only multiple baths of specialize sanitizing can make a dent in it.
Also they are super cool animals. They have even been domesticated on occasion (usually with scent glands removed) and are very friendly and affectionate companions. (My mother's childhood friend had some.) Adults can get pretty large, much than your expecting, especially with an erect fluffy tail. There was a really beautiful looking one that hung around my grandparents shore house, nearly all albino and huge.
dth1717@reddit
I don't find it horrible. I've smelled farts that are worse
sparklyjoy@reddit
Farts don’t last as long, though! 😅
thatsad_guy@reddit
It is horrible. My dog got sprayed once and that smell doesnt just go away with a bath. Thay smell lingers forever
Number-2-Sis@reddit
Called my father about a gas leak in my house once, he came over to make sure the house was safe.
It was NOT a gas leak, a skunk had just moved in under the house. He never sprayed, but just his body odor seeped into my house through the floor boards..
Imagine the worst you can come up with, then multiply it by ten.
Also I had a friend with a pet skunk when I was a kids, had its scent glands removed, he still stunk!!!!
UnfortunateSyzygy@reddit
They're pretty shy and nocturnal, so humans don't get sprayed very often...but it takes AGES to get the smell off of a dog that doesn't respect a skunk's boundaries. You gotta get special soap and everything, multiple baths a day.
ReadingNext3854@reddit
You cannot fathom how intense the smell is, especially if it's fresh. I called the Gas Company because it smelled like burning chemicals - and he was yeah, it's a skunk. There's one that cuts thru my yard at night - must have sprayed recently because the smell literally woke me up. That was a week ago and I can still smell it inside my house. They will spray you if you're a threat. Cute as hell when they're babies.
Paramedic229635@reddit
Here's a hint, the scientific name is Mephitis mephitis. It means: Bad Smell, Bad Smell.
bananajr6000@reddit
My dog took a direct hit and yelped and cried for 20-30 minutes. The stench had me gagging. Tomato sauce did nothing. Extra-strength Febreeze took about 90-95% of the worst smell away. The smell still lingered on my dog for about two more weeks, even with a couple more Febreeze baths
GotMeAMuleToRide@reddit
Last night our car decided to get in an argument with a skunk through an open window. I hate this cat.
AmazingRefrigerator4@reddit
Put it this way: a skunk sprayed outside out house and it got sucked in through our air conditioning. It took 2+ days airing our house out before the smell went away
DoubleDongle-F@reddit
It won't deal lasting damage, but it'll burn your eyes a little if you're close, and it can take weeks to fade from the area. If your dog gets hit directly, it'll smell bad enough to keep you awake at night. They're not as bad to get in a fight with as a porcupine, but they're closer than you'd expect.
mrhanky518@reddit
Lol its freaking bad
Chazzysnax@reddit
Having a dog get skunked will ruin your week.
bdrwr@reddit
If you get sprayed directly, you can still smell it on yourself two days later. It's an overpowering, choking smell that makes it very difficult to think clearly.
Icey_Raccon@reddit
The good news is skunks aren't that generous with their spray. They rely on everyone else knowing how bad it is.
The bad news is, this means they waddle down roads with no fear and get hit by cars. The smell of a dead skunk can last weeks.
zmass126194@reddit
Had a dog scare a skunk with which sprayed a 1” cracked open bedroom window once (had a screen over it).
Kids had to miss school because it penetrated all the clothes in the room.
Had to wash all bedding, washed then wrapped the mattresses in plastic. Then had to rip up carpet because it just would not come out. Pull up the padding and then had to physically sand the subfloor to remove the upper 1/8th inch (~3mm) and vacuum the dust.
Oh. Also had to remove all the rubber and foam seals on the window itself.
Porchmuse@reddit
From a distance it doesn’t smell so terrible, up close that smell becomes acrid. Don’t piss off a skunk.
No-Conclusion4639@reddit
Oh, it's BAD. And most definitely a Big Deal. If you've ever had a dog that's gotten sprayed...you have a REAL job ahead of you before your best friend gets within 15ft of you.
It's a skunks main defense, so it's gonna be potent enough to ward off creatures dead-set on making a meal of them. And it sure as hell is.
TheEvilOfTwoLessers@reddit
From a distance it doesn’t seem that bad, it almost has a sort of coffee smell. Up close it’s like the worst toxic burning rubber kind of smell you can imagine, and it doesn’t go away.
little_runner_boy@reddit
My cousin once hit a skunk while driving to school one day. The smell made its way into the air system, and still he smelled so bad that the school sent him home for the day
sneezhousing@reddit
Very powerful it can linger in air for hours after they spray. You can wake up and know that a skunk sprayed something the night before.
If it gets you soap and water alone won't get it off.
Pitiful_Bunch_2290@reddit
This is one you'll have to find out about yourself. Go hug a skunk. Let us know what you think! 🦨
TheEvilOfTwoLessers@reddit
Had a dog that got sprayed once and it was probably a week before the smell was gone, and that was after multiple baths in tomato juice (which I honestly don’t know if that helped, that was the folk remedy of the time).
Plastic-Sentence9429@reddit
I like to get up early and hang out in my backyard chair with a cup of coffee and a smoke. We leave water dishes out for wildlife, and skunks are often around. They walk right by me and don't really smell. We're chill, though, so they don't spray or anything.
cephalophile32@reddit
It is VERY stinky. I've never been sprayed, but even if you just pass a roadkill one in a car with the windows up, you will smell it for a while after. The smell can linger on clothes and fur for weeks. Also, as far as predator deterrent, consider how many hunt by smell. Hard to track your prey when the whole area and your nose is flooded with STANK. It's also an irritant, so it can make your eyes burn. It's like the mammal equivalent to inking, but with stinky pepper spray.
sparklyjoy@reddit
Makes it really hard to see up to well! I wonder how long it could ruin a predators hunt for?
CosyBeluga@reddit
It's very intense and if you're unfortunate enough to get sprayed, it stings your skin and burns your eyes (like chopping onions but worse).
If you're unfortunate enough to be close to someone who's been sprayed, it still burns your eyes.
Also it lingers on clothes and in your hair like years old funk.
she-dont-use-jellyyy@reddit
It's awful and it doesn't wash off with soap. It lingers for days or weeks if you don't take care of it properly. And it stings/burns like crazy, too.
Penguin_Life_Now@reddit
Its not pleasant and takes days to wear off, causes irritated red eyes, etc. I personally have never been directly sprayed, but every year or two a skunk will spray some other animal in my yard (Possum, Cat, Racoon, etc.). They generally are fairly tame unless provoked, I have found them on the porch of my house many times, usually around sunset.
Felinius@reddit
When I was a kid, our dog got skunked. It was vile.
Now picture you’re an animal that tracks by scent. Suddenly all you can smell is skunk, and all your prey can smell you for miles, and for days.
Constellation-88@reddit
No. No, you’ve never smelled a skunk before?
Think of the most humidity you’ve ever experienced. The air is so thick it sits upon your skin and if you open your mouth, it’s almost like you’re breathing and water. But imagine instead of tiny droplets of water in the air, it’s this bitter stinky smell like a diaper pail that hasn’t been empty in a week. Every time you open your mouth, you can taste it. And it surrounds you, permeating the air, sitting on your skin, clinging to the sides of your nostrils.
You feel like you will never escape it. You can’t breathe. Your eyes burn. Your nostrils burn. You want to throw up, but your mouth already tastes like it because of the skunk smell.
I mean, it does go away after a while, but it’s nasty AF and you do not want to get sprayed by this. Whatever clothing you were wearing, you might as well just burn.
We have a dead skunk season where I live where they all wander around in some sort of daze because they’re just waking up from hibernation and they’re horny as fuck and so they get hit by cars a lot and you smell at at least three or four per day on the drive to work and it’s disgusting.
ActuaLogic@reddit
Yes. The smell lasts for days.
Vylnce@reddit
It's actually all fake perpetrated by cartoons in the 60s. Actual skunks smell better than wild foxes and you should embrace them as your friends and hand feed them when you see them klanker.
darwinsidiotcousin@reddit
My dog got skunked almost 4 months ago. My wife brought her inside because she didnt know what to do. The smell woke me up and it was overwhelming. I work from home and had to go sit outside every hour or 2 to get a break from it. Our house smelled like skunk for about 2 weeks afterwards and we replaced our floor mats. Our dog's face still smells faintly of skunk
You can smell skunks when they're around. They like to get under our house and you can tell its a skunk even from the other side of the house.
A skunk actually spraying is like 10x worse. Not just in strength, but the smell too. People often relate the smell of a skunk walking around to marijuana, which I kind of get, but I think its still an obvious difference.
A skunk spraying smells like skunk, burnt hair, and slightly fecal, and its way more pungent than a skunk's normal smell
BreastTickles@reddit
It's pretty bad. The defense mechanism works because any animal that sees a skunk knows to run the eff away from it. You'd have to be insane to approach a skunk.
smappyfunball@reddit
It’s powerfully intense and very hard to get rid of the smell.
I had a skunk stalk me once one night. I was out walking one night and spotted it, and it started paralleling me for a long time. We stayed like ten feet apart, and it would match every move I made.
If I stopped, it stopped, if I moved back, it moved forward. I couldn’t escape the damn thing but it would never get any closer. I couldn’t figure out what it was doing and I was afraid to run cause I didn’t want to get chased and sprayed.
So we just kept doing the dance of death for about 400 feet till I got to a curve and some cars and just ran and didn’t look back.
Goddamn menace skunk.
NBKiller69@reddit
My dog was sprayed once and ran into the house before I realized what happened. The house stank for over 2 weeks, and the dog even longer than that, even with frequent baths. To me, the odor is right up there with burning tires.
Real-Broccoli-9325@reddit
Puke level if you’re in direct spray or roadkill zone. We had two baby skunks in our garage and my mother taped garbage bags over the door to seal it off in case they sprayed.
Gilamunsta@reddit
Europe has nothing that's even close to the little black and white chemical We're fair goblinol
jeffgrantMEDIA@reddit
I had to throw away everything I had on and run around the back yard in my underwear trying to clean the dog off when it was below feeeIng and raining. And we we not directly sprayed. The skunk was facing my dog and as I pulled him away and sprayed the wall behind him. If it was a direct spray, we would probably still smell months later.
LABELyourPHOTOS@reddit
Skunks are typically pretty chill and quiet. They prefer NOT to spray. It takes a lot of energy and leaves them a less able to fend off an attack after.
They typically spray when bitten.
It really isn't too bad a smell BUT when you are sprayed very closely directly? It has a whole different small - oily and stinky.
It's not that bad to get sprayed - it's terrible when it goes in your eyes.
WaldenFont@reddit
From a distance it’s a strangely not entirely unpleasant, musky odor. From 20ft away it is unbearable. Any closer and it’s eye watering.
astrologicaldreams@reddit
idk the effectiveness of it as a defense weapon. yes, they spray humans. the effect is very potent and hard to get rid of. it's not deadly or anything, but man does it smell bad.
Recent_Permit2653@reddit
I had to mercy shoot a rabid skunk outside my bedroom French doors many years ago. It wasn’t even immediately at the doors, it was a couple meters/6ft away on the winter wood pile (otherwise couldn’t have stood clear and used the gun).
The damn skunk of course sprayed as it died, and the outside smelled like skunk for about a month. That smell also found its way past those French doors and my bedroom smelled for about three months, and the bathroom and hallway immediately adjacent to the bedroom but opposite the French doors had it for a good six weeks.
The smell itself isn’t that bad (or maybe I just smoked too much nice, slinky smelling weed), but holy crap does it linger for a long time. Even the entire wood pile got taken to the burn pile out back and burnt out there. No way I was going to burn any of that inside the house.
UpbeatPhilosophySJ@reddit
Not only does it smell like rotten eggs, it's really hard to wash off. Had a dog get sprayed once. Shaved the poor fellah and he still stunk.
NTropyS@reddit
As a defensive spray, it's very effective. Most skunks won't spray unless severely threatened, though. Those scent glands regenerate the defensive stink over a couple weeks' time. Dogs, coyotes, and unwary humans are usually the targets.
Once, when I was looking out my back door at dusk. There was my stupid cat sniffing the butt of a young skunk...and the skunk sniffed my cat. And then they just both went on their merry ways, no harm done. And there's me, at the door... terrified for my cat! Eeek!
Gilamunsta@reddit
You don't know what nasty is until you have to deal with a dog who got sprayed
OogieBooge-Dragon@reddit
So if you have ever had some one smoke pot near you, its like ( but really strong) that but with an acidic burn added to the scent. It hurts to breathe fresh skunk spray.
Skunk spray hangs around, clings to things.
If someone hits a skunk the smell will stick to the car.
Friendly-Gur-6736@reddit
I hit one with my car last year.
It smelled for about a week, and that's even after running it through the car wash.
Turningandburning@reddit
Imagine pepper spray but an unimaginable stench instead of burning. You get it into every sensory organ besides ears. Eyes water, nose is wrecked, you literally taste it in your mouth and your throat, it makes you sick to your stomach if it's on you. It's bad, and as others have said, it could be blocks away and you'll still get the funk.
freshboss4200@reddit
Sprayed once. Thought I wasnt but i must have done one of those "Walk through the cologne cloud things" I only realized when I drove a mile away and the smell persisted. I had to wash with dish soap, baking soda and peroxide. I still smelled for about a week. And my car stank for almost a month. It was awful.
pokematic@reddit
Let me put it this way, I'll be driving on the high way, there are no animals anywhere, I'll smell a pungent odor, and it'll linger for a couple of miles. That was either skunk spray on the highway from a while ago or from far off, it's that bad.
hollowbolding@reddit
it's awful and will stick around for months if you don't wash it out of the fur of your idiot cat who shouldn't have been outside to pick a fight with a skunk in the first place
think like. pot smoke, but more acrid, and much stickier
pfcgos@reddit
Skunks spray has a very strong, very recognizable smell. If you've smelled it once, you will recognizing it again. The thing that really makes skunks a pain is, if you get sprayed, it's very hard to get rid of the smell. Luckily, skunks mostly want to be left alone and it's not super common for people or dogs to get sprayed. Most people know what skunks smell like because they've hit one with their car or have driven past a road killed skunk, as opposed to having smelled it up close
OkQuantity4011@reddit
I'd estimate the instant vomit range to be about 10 feet in radius.
akunis@reddit
One night while I was asleep, I guess my clunker of a car intimidated a skunk and got sprayed. When I eventually got close enough to turn my car on, the spray went into the air conditioning. I never got the smell out of that car. It’s wretched, to say the least.
Highway49@reddit
It’s not a good time. It at least ruins your day. It smells like rotten eggs and rotten cabbage. It stings and is a bitch to get off.
professorfunkenpunk@reddit
They smell awful. You can smell them inside your car if they’ve been hit. But I’ve never encountered one in the wild. It does happen though. People, and especially their dogs do get sprayed
Reverend_Bull@reddit
Skunk spray is strong. It's a thiol, which the human nose detects even at tiny concentrations. Thiol spills have caused multi-building evacuations in labs. Skunk spray hits you dead on with a thiol mixture that can't be washed off with just soap and water. Common neutralization agents include bathing in tomato sauce.
Don't get me wrong. It's not tear gas. And it won't actually hurt you. But if you take a direct hit, expect to smell that bad weed/rotten beer at high intensity for WEEKS.
Rosexanax_Barr@reddit
My only skunk story is hitting one in my car going about 50MPH. My windows were down and I was instantaneously gagging because the smell was so bad. That lasted a few minutes and my car didn't stink the next day but it was so bad in the moment.
beardedscot@reddit
Skunk will spray everything, and something covered in skunk spray will clear a room. It's that bad to be around.
URInMyFace@reddit
Arguably the worst scent you will ever smell.
Violently bad. Like chemical warfare bad.
Kiki-Y@reddit
Dude it is noxious. I've had dogs get skunked and smelled dead skunks and it's always gag inducing.
theycallmethevault@reddit
Oh god, you can smell it for miles. And if you get sprayed? You’ll stink for days. Doesn’t matter how many tomato sauce baths you take.
WhereasTherefore@reddit
Its reputation is well deserved. It smells awful and is hard to clean.
Ok_Truck_5092@reddit
It’s not just the smell itself, it is extremely heavy and burns your nose. If an animal/ pet is sprayed it’s incredibly difficult to get the smell out.