Porcupines

My poor Millie has been stung by Porcupines twice :(  First time it happenned, I was near the end of Perseverence Trail and she came out of playing in the bush with two quills.  She wouldn't let me near her to get it out, so I gave up and hiked 3 miles back with needles stuck in her nose.  Once home, I had my husband pin her down and I managed to pull them out.  I was not there the second time.  My husband was couple miles up Salmon Creek Trail when she got stung.  She didn't learn from the first instance.  This time, she was practically crippled with 12 quills stuck in her paws.  She was lying on her side, probably from pain, and could not move.  Brad had to carry all 62 lbs of her down the trail and rushed her to the vet.  They had to sedate her to ease her pain while pulling them out.  She was quite loopy afterwards and took couple of days before she was moving around like her old self.  I was away on a business trip during that time and was really sad I could not look after my baby.  For future reference though, here is what my husband says about how to pull out porcupine quills:

Let's start out with some facts and fiction...

FICTION:

1.) Porcupine Quills contain Poison. False! The American Porcupine does not. The Indian Porcupine does. Guess which country the Indian Porcupine comes from?

2.) Porcupines shoot Quills at enemies in Projectile fashion. False! They wave their tail and back when in distress and must physically touch an enemy for the Quill to stick in it. Likewise, if a dog touches a Porcupine, the Quill will stick in it. Quills do not "shoot out".

3.) Porcupine Quills are pressurized and must be snipped at the end before they are pulled out. False! This is utter bullshit. They are very slightly barbed, but not pressurized by any means.

FACT:

1.) Getting a Quill in you is very painful. True. Even one hurts like hell. Like a little dagger sticking into your skin.

2.) If your dog looks like she is in pain, take her to the Vet. Don't try to remove Quills yourself unless there is only 3 or 4 of them. Your dog may need sedating to kill the pain.

3.) If your dog has less than 5 Quills, you can avoid Vet fees by trying to remove them yourself. Read below for directions.

REMOVING QUILLS YOURSELF, WITHOUT A VET... (if there is more than 5, see a bloody vet!)

You will need:

1.) a strong grip.

2.) disinfectant (hydrogen peroxide etc)

3.) a set of balls

4.) a second person would help to keep Millie still.

First, have your disinfectant handy.

Now grip the quill as far down as you can, closest to the skin of the dog for best grip. What you want to do is very slightly turn the Quill at a very slight angle as you pull it. Don't pull it straight. The barb is not very big, but to avoid excess damage to Millie, pull it out quickly at a slight angle. As soon as the Quill is out, place it away to one side and do the next one.

Once all of them are out, dab the affected areas with disinfectant on a tissue to stop infection

That's it! All done. She'll be hurting for the rest of the day. Just let her rest.

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Hope this helped.