Interesting Cases

Porcupine Quills

We get to see our share of interesting cat and dog cases.  Porcupine quills would normally not fall into the “interesting” category.  This case was an exception.
Harvey (picture) and Levi both came to us after an encounter with a porcupine.

This was the most impressive case of porcupine quills we had ever seen.  It took the equivalent of nine man hours to pull the quills from both dogs.  Quills were pulled from eyelids, gums, roof of mouth, under the tongue, lips, cheeks, neck, forehead, ears, paws, legs and chest.  Buried quills were extracted by cut downs over the neck and chest.  Buried quills can migrate to internal organs, most commonly the lungs, which may cause significant internal disease.

Luckily both dogs healed quickly.  They were sore and quieter than normal for a few days.  A few quills came to the surface and were pulled by the owners.  There were no long-term consequences, unless you consider the fact that they were quilled again about a year later.