Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with smelly

Are manual anal gland expressions for dogs necessary?

wiretap — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:46:37 -0800

Anal gland expression for dogs - How does one keep a dog's anal glands in optimal shape? Having a minor disagreement with someone about this issue:

1. I've heard that dogs need to have their anal glands expressed regularly otherwise it can lead to an infection and impaction. My dog goes to the vet two times a year to get his anal glands expressed. It's obvious when he needs to get it done because he starts smelling fishy (TEEHEE) and is very sensitive/irritable and is constantly sniffing and licking his hindquarters. Once he comes back from the vet he's a happy camper and not at all preoccupied with his backside.

2. Someone else said that it's insane to take a dog to a vet to get anal glands expressed, and that it's just something dogs are able to take care of on their own.

What the what?

3. Then I googled it and it seems most people are saying dogs do need need regular expression, but the more you manually express the more frequently it will need to be done (?). A few sources say that feeding your dog high quality food and pumpkin will take care of the need for manual anal expression.

Do dogs need manual anal gland expression or not? Can a higher fiber diet really take care of the need for manual expression? How do you handle your dogs anal gland needs?

Help me help my dog please!

Um, honey....

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 10:13:33 -0800

How do I tell my SO that he smells bad? My SO and I have been living together for nine months and are planning to spend the rest of our lives together. We have a great relationship and have no problem communicating about almost anything. But this is not "Honey I really don't like your mother" or "We need to talk about your bedroom skills." I get the sense that he's not very thorough with toilet paper in the bathroom and it makes his ass stink. He usually goes a couple of days without showering which would not be a big deal except for this issue. At times when we're sitting on the couch and he gets up, I smell something that is very unpleasant. Sometimes I can smell it on the couch cushions when he's not even home. I do his laundry and the stains in his underwear are beyond what I would think are normal "skid marks" and I've seen the same on his bathrobe. I brought it up several months ago, after I noticed his bathrobe the first time, and I mentioned that I sometimes smell something that I can't identify and wondered if it was related to the bathrobe stains. He didn't say much but said he would "work on it." At this point I was thinking about buying those moist wipes made for bathroom use and just put them in the bathroom where he'll see them. I just don't know how to say to him that I think he doesn't know how to wipe his own ass.

Time stinks.

grapefruitmoon — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 03:30:43 -0800

Stinky Filter: Please help me banish the strange stench coming from, of all things, my watch. I love my watch. It's a children's watch with a rubber strap and metal casing on the face. However, I can not bring myself to wear it at the moment because it STINKS. I can't really name the stench - it's kind of a weird plasticy-oniony kind of thing. Not what you want emanating from your wrist.

I tried washing it with hand soap, which did nothing. If anything, it may have made it worse.

Are there any tricks out there for getting this clean? Both the band and the face are smelly. I didn't think it was possible for metal to stink, but oh, it does.

What are the best delicious-if-you-can-only-get-past-the-godawful-stink foods?

cog_nate — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 07:49:14 -0800

What are the best delicious-if-you-can-only-get-past-the-godawful-stink foods? I'm congenitally anosmic. Doesn't really bug me, but due to a recent discussion with a friend I'm curious to try a bunch of foods that smell awful but taste really good if you can get past the stink, because I won't have that problem. Cheeses, meats, vegetables raw and cooked, fruits, fermented foods of every stripe, drinks (?), baked goods (?) -- give me all you got. The more fully described, the better.

Thanks.

That lovely rotten-egg smell

Thorzdad — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 09:37:40 -0800

Does replacing the sacrificial anode in your water-heater with a different alloy anode really work to eliminate the stinky water? Recently, we replaced the old water-heater that came with our home. Within a week, we were treated to the stinky, rotten-egg smell that is pretty common, especially if you are on a well (as we are)

The one "fix" for this is replacing the stock anode with a zinc/aluminum alloy anode. Has anyone here actually done the swap? And, if you did, how well did it work to eliminate the smell? And how much did it cost?

Of course, one other "fix" is to simply remove the anode, and not replace it. This works, but doing so also voids the warranty and reduces the life of the water-heater. I'd rather not do that.

Banana? Yogurt? Bagel?

mpls2 — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 17:41:39 -0800

Should I confront my coworker about his smelly food? There's a guy at work who cooks up maple-and-brown-sugar oatmeal and brings it to his cube every morning. It's pungent, but only for about 5-10 minutes. It kinda drives me nuts, but it seems like a relatively petty thing to complain about.

Is this worth being assertive about? Any suggestions about how to go about it? When I imagine myself being "assertive", I only hear anger.

Thanks for your advice!

Oh god it's humping my leg

skjønn — Thu, 03 May 2007 11:28:17 -0800

I hate dogs. Help me deal so I don't lose my jobs. I'm writing this in a spirit of desperation as I find myself in my office dry heaving after needing to pick up a dog and carry her the space of 30 feet.

I'm 23 year old girl working very awesome and challenging part time jobs. 30 hours a week as a paralegal for a local law firm and 10 hours a week for a local fashion boutique.

Everything about both jobs is perfect except for thing: the dogs. By some very cruel twist of fate, both of my bosses are dog people.

The lawyer I work for bought an ultra fancy purebred puppy poodle something that cost thousands of dollars after I started working for him. He put a kennel in his office and brings the puppy to work with him everyday.

The owner of the fashion boutique I work for brings her little dog with her everyday too.

Both of these dogs are free to roam most of the time and the office and the boutique have been pet-proofed.

Although I love animals in the general sense and have a ton of compassion for them in general and would never wish an ounce of harm on either of these doggies, I can't deny I despise everything about them.

Their smell, the touch of their fur, the way they rub up against my leg, its enough to make me puke (and actually has made me do so more than once). My dad had allergies and my mom hated pets so I never had them growing up.

Here is my question: I can coexist with these doggies in the same building, but how do I make them stay away from me? Obviously strategies that would harm the dogs are out the question.

I am open to:
-learning to alter my body language...but how?
-purchasing discreet ultrasonic devices i can set off when the doggies get close. I'm poor but price is not a problem, this is desperate.
-applying lotions/creams/perfumes that repel canines (as long as it wouldn't make me too repellant for humans)
-anything else you could offer on how to make the doggies not touch or come near me.

Not open to:
-seeing a therapist to brainwash me into liking these little furry beasts.

Thank you. :)

Smelly Fridge, Smelly Fridge...

splatta — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 10:27:51 -0800

Our refridgerator stinks... why? This is a new refridgerator, the model is a Sunbeam Innovation, and it's stinky.

We're the first users of this unit, since January. I've gone through the whole thing smelling all the items individually (nothing smelled too bad), checking expiration dates, and throwing out anything questionable. It still smells! We have two of those fridge boxes of baking soda, and they're not helping. We don't eat or store a lot of meat, some cheese, but we eat it quick enough to prevent it from smelling up the fridge.

It seems like this particular refridgerator keeps smells in it or something, since one time we had blueberries in there for a few days, and they made everything smell, and even taste like blueberries, including the water.

Every time this thing is opened, a gross garbagy smell wafts through the first floor of the house. Does anyone have any experience with keeping a fridge fresh smelling?

She's qualified, but she smells bad!

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 13:58:30 -0800

Help me not smell like smoke on my job interview! Yes, I am well aware that I should quit, and I'm also well aware that I just shouldn't smoke before my interview.

However, my interview is going to be very long, and will happen later in the day, and I will be nervous. I would much rather not be thinking about how badly I want to smoke throughout the whole thing. Unfortunately I won't be able to quickly change clothes before my interview.

I know the regular tricks, breath mints, wash hands, apply hand lotion, remove jacket and any other items of clothing that can be easily removed.

Anybody else got any other tips that I'm not thinking of? I'm a girl, if it helps. And I'm posting this anonymously in case any of my coworkers who read this site happen upon this.

Smelly Kitchen

Noodles — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 05:48:07 -0800

I live in an apartment and when I cook (indian food) the whole place reeks of exotic spices. Does anyone know of an airpurifier that will filter out the offensive odor. I do not have a outside vent in my kitchen.

Is our smelly closet a lost cause?

catfood — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 13:23:58 -0800

We have a large closet in our apartment that has always smelled of cat urine. Despite taking every measure we possibly could to eliminate the odor, it still smells, 2 years later. Is there anything left to try? When we moved into our apartment 2 years ago, we had one closet that smelled *very strongly* of cat urine. We had the apartment management do everything we could think of to eliminate the smell. Below is everything we and the management have done to try & get rid of the cat piss smell.

Saturated the carpet and closet walls with Nature's Miracle, allowed it to soak and then dry.
Washed the carpet and closet walls with water to rinse any residue out.
Bought 2 Oust fans and a few things of baking soda to let sit in the closet to neutralize the odor.
Removed the carpet and carpet pad, saturated the floor boards and wall closest to the door with more Nature's miracle and let soak and then dry.
The management then installed tiles in the closet where the carpet had been (not real tile, those dumb adhesive tiles).
Closet still smelled so I put refills in the Oust fans and let them run until the batteries died.

This closet is supposed to be a combination coat / linen closet, but I do not want to put coats or linens in there because I don't want them coming out smelling like an old cat lady. We even have cats, and their litterbox area never gets to smell like this! We have always kept the closet closed because we are also afraid that our cats might mistake it for a second litterbox.

We've used this closet for storage for things that won't absorb odors (our vacuum, some cleaning supplies, snow shovel, etc), but we're at the point where we need the storage for the coats & linens we have had to pack into our bedroom closet (which is bursting at the seams).

Is there anything else you can think of to get this closet to smell better?

Alternately, can you recommend any non-expensive ways to store linens & coats in this closet without having them come out stinky?

How to Defunk a Phone Handset

Cordelya — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 05:24:58 -0800

The phone on my desk at work is a hand-me-down and has seen *many* users before me, and the handset smells horrible. Replacing the handset is not a viable option. How can I get the odor out?

Yick I smell bad...

meta x zen — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 10:59:48 -0800

Smelly Filter: I have an awesome watch with a "genuine leather" wrist band. In the summer heat I can't find a way to keep it from smelling. This is a new watch (about 6 weeks old) and I'm very attached to it (aka can't leave it home on hot days.) But if the band is already starting to smell a bit from sweating how bad is it going to be in 6 more weeks?!

I don't want to do the fabreze cover up cure. Any suggestions on how to clean it or prevent the problem?

How do I clean my stinky shoes?

sirion — Thu, 25 Aug 2005 14:14:51 -0800

Smelly Shoes: I wore my favorite pair of shoes to one of the hottest, most humid 7 weeks of Vermont summer in recorded history this year, and my shoes stink. I've tried spraying them full of Odor-Eaters spray powder (With Zorbitex™!) and leaving them alone for a while, and while they smell fine when left alone, they reek after an hour or so of use. Can I exorcise these shoes, or do I need to dump them? How do you tell if a pair of shoes is OK to wash in a washing machine? They are a pair of Merrill Vigors. To quote shoebuy.com,
"A multi-sport contender with an evocative oxford look. Full-function design throughout, from double-stitched rand to injection-molded struts for lacing lockdown. Aggressive Glacier™ Sole has centrally deployed malleable wing treads for secure hold on a variety of demanding terrain. Water resistant full grain/pigskin leather uppers, micro injection external heel counter, 4.5mm anatomical footbed, Q-Form™ compression molded EVA footframe, Air Cushion® midsole, Merrell Glacier™ sole/sticky rubber. "

There are a bunch of symbols on the inside of the tongue of the shoe, but I have no idea what they mean. 3 pictures of a shoe outline with arrows in different places (one outline is bold), a box made out of dots, a diamond, and a crazy deformed 6-pointed shape.

Why does our dog smell after being in the sun, and what can we do about it?

mr_crash_davis — Sun, 12 Dec 2004 12:37:36 -0800

StinkyDogFilter: Our 4-year-old vizsla gets really, really stinky after being outside in the sun for a while, to the point where it's almost unbearable to be in the same room with her when she comes inside. After 15 minutes or so the stink subsides and she's tolerable again. Any ideas?