fill some bowls with vinegar and place them around your house.

Oh, how I empathize with you!! I was in the bedroom on Thanksgiving night when suddenly I thought something had caught fire. Then, I noticed it was our male Aussie who had gotten "skunked". The smell inside the house left after a couple of days, the smell inside the bedroom left after 3 or 4 days, but the smell on Cody, well, we're still calling him skunkhead after 3 baths. You're just lucky it's not on one of your furbabies. The vinegar suggested above should help the situation. Good luck.
Dee

Our dogs got skunked last year within a couple months of each other. The first time, DH let the dog IN the house (he has no sense of smell) and didn't know anything was wrong until the dog had run all over the house rubbing her face on furniture and rugs. It was awful, just awful. I assume your smell is milder than mine was, so maybe the vinegar will work for you. It didn't work here. I ended up going to the hardware store and getting several heavy duty "odor neutralizer" products, I don't remember the brands, but they worked eventually. It took a while, though, and of course we had to have our rugs and some furniture professionally cleaned. I can still smell skunk sometimes in our basement carpet!

For anyone else who has this misfortune -- the first time, we did the baking soda/hydrogen peroxide baths, which worked, but it took a few baths. The second time, we took the dog to our local PetSmart and one treatment later, she smelled better than she ever had before! Next time I'll skip the home remedies.

Do you have a new rug?

You have to figure out where the smell is coming from first.

Put fresh coffee in shallow bowls, if you have fresh beans, that's even better. Don't brew the coffee! LOL ;o)

OMG - this thread brings back memories! One summer day (about 20 years ago) we also started smelling skunk - it was so BAD!!! It was inside the house & outside! We finally pinpointed the smell was coming from the wood pile under the deck, right outside our sliding door off the DR & kitchen. After a week or so, we bit the bullet - tore the wood pile apart & found that ole smelly skunk! It had gotten trapped in the wood and expired there. Gross! Good luck with that!

We have been battling a skunk smell for over a week now as we try to humanely catch the skunk who apparently has gone under our deck and we think then rooted under our sunporch and made a nest. It was unbearable for 1 day, almost literally burning your nose as you breathed. Unfortunately, time is really the only way to make the smell go away. I boiled vinegar, per the suggestion of the skunk catcher, but my husband and kids think that was almost worse than the skunk smell. We burned scented candles non-stop during the worst part of it and sprayed febreeze. On one of the warmest days last weekend (50 degrees!), we opened all the windows and doors in the house. my kids have gone to school literally smelling like skunks - fortunately they are confident, well-liked kids so they weren't too traumatized although my 14 YO daughter camped out in her bedroom for 2 days and "de-toxed" anyone who walked in the room by spraying them with body sprays. Her room seemed to not get any of the smell because it is furtherest away from the deck. It has almost completely gone away except for one part of the basement near where I think it is nesting.

Anyway, we called a guy who set 2 humane traps (not really humane because by law he has to exterminate them after he catches them, but at least it isn't at my house). We caught our cat, but no skunk yet. If you are smelling it that strongly in your house, you probably have one nesting nearby. We walked the exterior of our house and quickly found the hole where the rascal went under the deck to nest. It is mating season and so if they have a nest near your house and you don't find it...you may have a whole family of skunks in 8 weeks.

one of the things the guy told me that he suggests to anyone with a deck is to dig down a foot and bury wire and bring up and overlap the facia board of your deck to keep skunks out from under your deck. I think it could easily be concealed with plantings. We are going to do this in the spring once the ground thaws. You have to dig deep because skunks are persistent and will dig and dig to get to where they want to go.

I have learned more than I care to know about skunks, their mating habits and rituals and their ability to outwit even the most persistent skunk catcher. I will be SO glad when we catch ours - if we ever do!

Good luck.

For the house: *Apples. Lots and lots of apples.
For Cody: a product called "Skunk-off". We got ours at an emergency Vet hospital. It did not take the odor away, but covered it up...really rather amazing. This was after attempting unsuccessful tomato juice baths and' Midnight Summers Eve' douche liquid!
* The apple tip came from a friend whose walls had been invaded by a raccoon who died there. This was years ago,pre Febreeze, etc., but she claimed it worked well.

Oh, Emilie--I'm sorry, I know it's a horrible, stinky situation, but your line "We caught our cat, but no skunk yet" just made me laugh. Your poor cat! What do you think he/she was thinking? "I can't believe these stupid humans. Oh wait a minute--I'm in here, trapped in a cage, and they're out there. Well, maybe they'll feel so guilty that they'll give me some extra good food..."

We had a guy set traps in our yard too, and never caught a skunk. They're back again this year. I'd heard that mothballs deter them, so I have moth balls scattered around the perimeter of the yard. Not sure if it's working or not, but we are vigilant when we let our dogs out in the (fenced-in) yard at night.

I just have to add this funny story. As I mentioned above, DH had no sense of smell when this happened (he has since had sinus surgery and can smell again). So after the dog got sprayed, DH went to the grocery store to buy tomato juice (as many people know, that remedy doesn't work, but we didn't realize it then). He grabs about 6 bottles of tomato juice and gets in line. After a couple of minutes, people near him in line start looking around and saying "Geez, it stinks in here" and "What is that smell?" and "Agh, it's awful!" DH of course knew it was himself but just stood there with his gallons of tomato juice (you'd think someone would have noticed what he was buying and figured out the source of the smell!), saying nothing.

I am giggling about catching the cat & Sueb's stinky DH!! Too funny:)

Yep, got a dog that got skunked & that stuff at Petsmart is amazing. He actually got skunked twice - the stinker!!

We also have an Ozone machine - it is amazing with neutralizing smells. Maybe check and see if one is available for rent.

Smiles:)

Here is a link that might be useful: about ozone

Great stories everyone! Thanks for the great tips! It still smells in our house- but maybe not as strong. I have put vinegar in bowls and lit candles and coffee grounds. If it is still bad tomorrow we will do some outside investigating. Although, it does not smell badly outside anymore. This is a mystery?

This may be way off base, but we had a skunkish odor in the house for a couple of days this winter, and we are in a suburban area and don't have a dog anymore. Then I noticed when walking around the yard that my society garlic had been hit by the recent frost and were dying down and emitting that skunkish odor. Perhaps that had permeated into the house. Anyway, don't have it any more.

Last night I was about to take off for a road trip. It's my grandmother's funeral tomorrow. However I decided to put my dog out for one final time before we left. My dog was sprayed by a skunk in that brief time. I totally neutralized the odor on her by immediately using nature's miracle. Not my first experience with this. However, unfortunately my teenage son had his window open during the spraying. My entire house now smells like a skunk. I can't not smell it in every room that I enter. I'm not sure if we do now or not. We have showered a couple of times. I need a real quick fix. I don't think showing up at the funeral smelling of skunk will go over too well. And this is my 91 year old grandmother that just passed. We were supposed to leave last night but instead I spent the night febreezing and showering. I wish I'd known about the vinegar. I'd have bought a few bottles. Anyway this is my experience again so far with it.

Oh, that sounds awful. So sorry about your grandma. I hope things are okay now and you're on your way. If the house still smells when you get back, maybe try an ion air purifier ? If the skunk spray particles came through the window and actually landed in his room, I think you'll have to clean things topically, though. I've found when they spray outside that it lingers for a while and the smell comes in through every possible opening, whether the windows are open or closed. Time may be your only hope.