I hate porcupines and so do my dogs

[cowboymom]

The Great Pyrenees came in from his night’s work at 5 a.m. with a nose full of quills! :no: Waiting for the vet office to open so I can take him in-this is one of those times I wish I could buy sedative OTC! There aren’t many of them and I pulled a few but some better behavior through chemistry will be easier on us all.

I wish I had a dollar for every quill I’ve pulled over the years! Once on the ranch I had all four dogs come in with quills in their faces, one Aussie had them in the roof of his mouth and couldn’t even shut his mouth! My old dog has been hit more times than I can count but she’s always let me pull them all. The GP is not taking kindly to his treatment and is too big for me to safely contain and be as careful as I should be.

We just moved here a few weeks ago and looks like Galoot got the short straw to be the calling card to the new vet community!

[SquishTheBunny]

Hope you got them all! We see lots of dogs come in with pneumothorax because of quills. One dog was quilled 7 years ago and just came in the ER with an abscess in its lung for a migrating quill! So, as much as it sucks for your dog, in the face is the best place to get it!

As a “at home sedative” you can try Benadryl, or ask your vet for a prescription of ace. It wont be the same as a good solid Domitor or GA sleep, but it its enough to get the quills out fast it may work.

In a perfect world, a trip to the ER for fast removal (before they can migrate) is warranted - but not always achievable. Hope you were able to get most of them out!

[Megaladon]

I’ve actually had some horses get into quills. Quills are fun to pick out at the office though.

[cowboymom]

He has a vet appointment in half an hour-I thought about trying to manage it here at home but I want to make sure we get them all. He got it on the inside of his jowls and that will be hard to double check at his current level of non-cooperative.

We had a horse get one (1) quill on the end of his nose, right between his nostrils! :lol: It looked so silly and it was totally something that particular horse would do!

I love pulling quills, so rewarding! Maybe the vet will let me help.

The victim: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202445642555914&set=a.1254748282374.39504.1039577974&type=1&theater

[Coyoteco]

Oh, poor boy! I’m glad you are on your way to the vet by now. That’s an amazing picture.

[threedogpack]

Oh he looks so PAINFUL! Poor guy. Hope you are at the vets as we speak.

[cowboymom]

I was and now we’re home-he’s sleeping it off on the futon. He was very good about it, he bled a LOT, felt bad for him.

I’m taken aback at some of the comments on my facebook though-some people (not necessarily reputable animal medical people) are saying to put vinegar and baking soda on the quills presumably so you can pull them out. But pulling them out isn’t the issue, getting the dog to hold still for it is the issue. seems like that would hurt a TON!

ETA further googling says it’s supposed to soften the quills to make them easier to pull but that doesn’t even make sense. I don’t want them to be soft so that they break off and the part in the dog instead of the vinegar stays to travel around. I’m calling shennanigans on that wive’s tale.

weird!

He got his quills pulled, a sedative, an antibiotic and some pain meds for $50. I’m ok taking a pass on the vinegar treatment!

[threedogpack]

if someone poured vinegar on holes in my face, I’d bite them.

hard and fast and many times.

bite.them. I tell you

and for $50…no contest. Let someone with the proper drugs help the poor dog out.

[cowboymom]

No kidding!

[dani0303]

Ouch poor boy! Maybe he’ll learn his lesson and think before he stick his nose on another porcupine

[todaysspecial]

My weird little trakehner mare, who is far more dog than horse, once got herself terribly quilled in the face. That was quite the vet visit.

So far, knock on wood, the dogs have been left unscathed!

What a face on your boy!