Well needless to say I was very glad I only had a quarter of a mile left to drive. When I went to bed my husband told me I stunk. Not the warmest greeting I have ever gotten. Shampoo worked on my hair and laundering seemed to work on my clothes. We obviously had not sustained an intensive, direct hit.
The big problem was my car. No one wanted to go near it. How was I to get it smelling better so I could drive it again? I started by leaving it outside, rather than in the garage, and I left the windows open. (For once none of the cats jumped up to check out the interior.) While the air was doing what it could I started researching skunk solutions.
Most solutions dealt with dogs, though I did find some that explained how to neutralize the odor in your home or other buildings. Other than some name brand products, the solutions seemed to fall into two camps. There was the well know one of using tomato juice, and the newer formula created by chemist Paul Krebaum.
TOMATO JUICE:
Tomato juice has its advocates and its detractors. In between are those who say it works, but not as well as, or for the reasons, usually given.
These people say tomato juice dampens the skunk odor a little and may break up the structure of the sulfur-based make-up of the skunk spray and make it easier to wash out. Diana Maree, says, "It's gotten a reputation for killing skunk odor because, after the sulfuric compound in skunk spray has assaulted human noses and created olfactory fatigue, the pungency of tomato can be detected as "stronger" than skunk. So, it doesn't kill the odor, but it does make it less noticeable."
Most folk say it is the acidic content of the tomatoes that does the trick. One source suggested liberal applications of vinegar would work, too. One woman used fresh tomatoes off the vine from her garden and rubbed them over the dog. She says it worked great, except when the dog shook, the flying tomato pulp made her bathroom look like the set of a horror movie.
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Peggy Hoehne's Household Tips topic, please visit the Discussions page.