My dog got his first taste of porcupine!

[GregbkH]

Unfortunately, my dog, MF Jones, ran into his first porcupine this morning. I had already known what my dog would do if he ran into one. As expected he ran up and tried to grab the quilled beast. I was yelling at the top of my lungs for him to stop. I actually thought I had successfully called him off the thing. When he came trotting back, I saw that I was wrong. However, I think my yelling quelled his attack some as he only had 10 quills in his face.



My neighbor told me if I ever had to pull quills from my dog that I should cut the ends off of the quills before pulling them out with a pliers. The reason was that the quills are hollow and that if you squeeze them with the pliers they could expand in the dogs face making them harder to get out. I have no idea if this is true or not, but I cut them with a scissors first then pulled them out. The came out real easy. MF Jones didn't struggle much either. I hope he learned his lesson but he'll probably do it again.

 

[MossRoad]

Poor doggy! :thumbsup:

 

[Otto Syracuse]

I got the same advice from my neighbor too, and it worked like a charm. My dog had them in the same area, plus he had three inside his mouth!

 

[oosik]

Your dog must have learned something. If he only had ten quills then he probably understands the pain associated with a porky. Contact with a porky makes some dogs very mad and the next encounter is far worse because they want to kill/get even with the porky. Watch out for that.

 

[dave1949]

Good tip on cutting the quills, I'll have to remember that.

Ya oosik, our dog is sure he is going to win the next round. Fortunately there hasn't been a next round. We've pulled quills from two of our dogs. One had so many in her mouth I was afraid I wouldn't get them all, so off to the vet for a final look.

 

[tcartwri]

My GSD had probably a thousand quills in his face, tongue, inside his mouth, down his throat.... They put him under immediately, and three techs worked non stop for 40 minutes pulling quills out of him. Years later..... you would be petting him on the head, and a quill tip would come through the skin... after migrating through his skull. Crazy stuff.

 

[Dftodd]

Around 30 years ago my grandparents dog got into a porcupine. Whole face was covered. They ended up giving him a sedative before removing the quills. After they finished, they left him snoozing at the foot of there bed. Around 2am the woke up to a loud crash. The poor dog had got up to get a drink and fell down the stairs

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Sigh. Neither of my current dogs have met Mr. Skunk or Mr. Porcupine. Meanwhile, my mother keeps telling me about the "cute" porcupine she sees near a woodpile at 5 in the morning. I told my 89-year-old mother that the porcupine must go and that she needs to wake me up if she sees it so that it doesn't kill our trees or get messed up with our dogs.

 

[Jstpssng]

Hopefully he leared his lesson. I had a Vermont forester years ago telling about how his dog got quilled rather badly out in the woods and he was pulling them out with his teeth. I don't know for sure, but I think mine would have had to wait until we got back to the vets.

 

[zing]

My neighbor told me if I ever had to pull quills from my dog that I should cut the ends off of the quills before pulling them out with a pliers. The reason was that the quills are hollow and that if you squeeze them with the pliers they could expand in the dogs face making them harder to get out. I have no idea if this is true or not, but I cut them with a scissors first then pulled them out. The came out real easy. MF Jones didn't struggle much either. I hope he learned his lesson but he'll probably do it again.

DO NOT CUT THE QUILLS.

Yes, I am shouting that. Sorry not trying to be rude, but this is a wives tale that should not be spread. The quills are hollow but they do not spread when you pull them out and cutting them does not make them easier to pull out. Look at the ends of the quills that you have pulled out and you can see that they will not bubble up inside, they are too stiff. They are rough and serrated, and that is what holds them in.

There are two problems with cutting them:
- They crack/split more easily which can mean you have to pull out multiple shards instead of one whole quill.
- When you cut them you have less to grab onto and the dog will lick at it because of the irritation, often driving it farther in. Sometimes because it now has a flat end and is shorter, they will drive it in so far that you can't grip it and remove it anymore. In that case the dog needs to be sedated at a vet and possibly need to skin cut to get a grip in the end of the quill.

I appreciate that you are trying to help, but cutting the quills is a wives tale that should not be spread around because it does not make the removal any easier and it can often make it worse.

Just leave the quills whole, and use needlenose pliers ike you did. I actually find that a pair of bent nose needlenose pliers make it even easier, but that is just a personal preference. As well, don't forget to check the dog's legs by slowly running your hand up and down the full length of the leg and his chest as well, as they can often pick up a few quills there that are not as easy to notice as the ones in their face. Really you should check his whole body of course, but the front legs are an especially frequest place to pick up extra quills.

Cheers.