Wildlife control

[Shelly_palmer]

Hi all,
I had been on a holiday trip with my family for a week last month. After we returned back home, our house and premises were smelling unpleasant and the attics were completely spoiled. We have a puppy at home. When we went for the trip, it was our neighbor who fed the puppy. Skunks are common in our residential area and I guess it would be the skunk who sprayed my dog. It’s really a nauseating smell. I had to wear a mask to get rid of the odor. I cleaned the dog with the shampoo and conditioner. But the pungent smell from the attics is quite disgusting. Since I cannot bear that foul smell, I haven’t cleaned the attics. I’m planning to get the help of a humane wildlife control Richmond Hill. I would like to know whether anyone else had confronted such a situation before? Please share your experience. Also, share your valuable tips to get rid of the skunk odor. Thanks in advance.

 

[greybeard]

I usually keep the skunks eradicated, but every once in awhile, one of the dogs gets sprayed anyway. I just don't let them in the house or even on the porch for a day or 2. (my dogs are predominantly outside dogs)
The odor? It's just part of farming and living a rural life.

 

[Southern by choice]

The attic smell may be dead squirrel. Squirrels are notorious for getting in attics... coons as well, but skunk is unusual in the attic.
As far as the dog... ugh... I will ask my friend what she used. I know she used peroxide and something else... several times.
They had a skunk spray their dogs on the porch right by the HVAC unit- which sucked that into the house. The whole downstairs of their house ended up smelling like skunk. It took them months to get the smell out of the house. They had to take all the furniture out... clean and let it air... all their clothes smelled of skunk. Cleaning and dry cleaning and yet still the smell. Just when they thought they were making progress she would go to work and people would say what is that smell?

It was one of the worst ordeals, really unimaginable. They ended up throwing stuff away.

 

[Latestarter]

Greetings and welcome to BYH. Sorry I missed saying HI when you first posted. Also sorry you're dealing with the not so pleasant problem of skunk spray. I'm a bit confused... did the skunk spray the dog and the dog bring the smell inside? And not sure how a skunk or puppy would get into the attic? Regardless, hope you find a solution.

 

[greybeard]

Just when they thought they were making progress she would go to work and people would say what is that smell?

There's a reason for that. Human (and other noses) along with their brains omit odors after a few minutes or so. That is, the odor becomes the new 'normal'. This, is to keep the portion of the brain that deals with olfactory senses from being completely overwhelmed by every new odor it encounters, and added to any odors already sensed and present. Noise, is very similar. A constant noise in the workplace or near a home, in most cases, is accepted by the senses as normal, and you don't even notice it after awhile, but anyone new coming around notice it right away. Anyone new walking into your home will immediately notice the odor, whereas your own brain no longer fires off on the odor that has been present for even a few minutes.
In poison gas odors, it has caused death in humans, and probably animals as well. You smell it, a few seconds later, it seems to be gone simply because the olfactory nerves no longer register it and then wham, ya drop to the floor dead. It's why chemical and mining industry workers are taught over and over, if you smell gas, get away out and away or upwind immediately. Tho a human nose and it sensory system is nowhere near as acute as a canine, it can still sense odors as diluted as low as 2 parts per million--some studies say even more accurate.. Everyday, whether our brain tells us or not, we encounter millions of odors.
An informative read on how our noses and odor sensing ability works and why:
http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.0020146