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Purdy visited
us in the middle of the night covered with porcupine quills.
A quarrel
between a dog and a porcupine is always won by the one with the most “spears.”
Porcupines do not “throw” their quills; Purdy ended up with this muzzle full
while engaging in ‘snout to porcupine’ combat.
It took over
1 ˝ hours to remove the quills embedded in Purdy’s muzzle, face, and feet.
Animals need to be sedated to remove these quills quickly, to reduce the stress
on the pet, and to reduce the risk of the quills breaking off.
There is
always a risk that some quills could be buried deep in the skin and cannot be
identified and removed. Any remaining quills can migrate deeper into the
body causing further problems such as infections and non-healing wounds.
Cases have been reported of quills migrating to the lungs, behind the eye, or
even into the spinal cord.
Purdy
recovered from this incident and hopefully will steer clear of these prickly
creatures. |
