ARGH!!! Porcupine quills...again!! Help...

[Chirpy]

My only frustration with living out here in the country are the porcupines. Unfortunately my dogs seem to believe they can take one on.... stupid dogs.

Anyway a couple years ago two of my dogs had a run in and ended up at the vet who had to put them under to remove hundreds of quills, including some in the back of their mouths. They must have really roughed that porcupine up ... I'm quite sure the porcupine still won.

Anyway, this morning our one year old puppy had about 10-15 quills in the side of her nose/jaw area. This is her second time, the first time a few weeks ago she only had about ten quills also. I was able to pull them out the first time....she seems to remember that and won't let me near her face. I know that even the best dog can bite out of fear or pain so I don't want to push her too far trying to remove these.

I cannot afford to take her to the vet (it's about $100 for him to do it) as my DH has been out of work for nine months!

Have any of you gone through this and gotten the quills out yourself? Other than physically holding her down to do it I'm open to other suggestions?

Thoughts? Ideas?

 

[tricia]

I know you said there are quills on the side of her nose and jaw, but is there any room to put a muzzle of some sort on her so you can take them out? I have not had to remove quills before - I can't imagine what a task that would be! Sorry!

 

[jjthink]

Try googling "getting porcupine quills out" - a number of hits come up about how to remove from dogs. Good luck!

JJ

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

I used to be a vet assistant and that was my job! LOL I had LOTS of dogs come in with quills. You want to get them out as soon as possible because your dog will be very uncomfortable and possibly start pawing at them breaking them off. It's very rare that they will get infected unless the whole quill went into the skin. The best way to remove them ins with a good ol pliers and a quick yank. The dog won't like it much as they have little tiny spiky things that scratch them on the way out. If you hold your hand over their eyes they won't see you coming with the pliers

That helps. Good luck!

 

[tricia]

Quote:
Yep, I am SO not envious of that!

 

[corancher]

Both of our dogs had a run in last year. We removed them ourselves but had to get our neighbor help hold our 90lb girl. She had 30 or more and she started bleeding after removing some of them. My husband used pliers and covered her eyes but she still snapped a lot.

Thankfully, we got the quills removed from both dogs. I thought they would really have several days of swelling and pain but once the quills were out they both seemed fine. The next day they were back to normal.

Good luck.

Ann

 

[Chirpy]

Thank you guys .... I knew you'd all come through for me.

I didn't even think about covering her eyes. That did it. It still took three of us to hold her and keep her eyes covered but we got them all out as far as I can see. I'm going to try to check her again later to make sure we didn't miss any.

 

[kodiakchicken]

I absolutely cringed reading this! Poor pup! I hope she's okay and has learned to stay away from those pointy critters!

 

[Chirpy]

It's funny, not like funny ha-ha, but funny weird. My vet said that most dogs that get mixed up with a porcupine are repeat offenders. He gets the same dogs in again and again ... dog's are so smart. You'd think they'd learn.

My girl is fine and is back to her old self this afternoon.

 

[dacjohns]

Can't help with quill removal or avoidance training.

Maybe you need a fisher. They eat porcupine.