Porcupine makes me wonder

So, Bear dog got into a Porcupine or, rather, a Porcupine got into him. A small one by the looks of it, and one bite seemed enough to learn. We've gotten the big ones out and are working on the small ones, I'll watch him for infection.

Here's a question... Is there any sedatives that a person can buy for a dog in this case and administer on a need basis, ie today to make it easier to pull the quills, rather than 2 or 3 every 15 minutes or so? Might be worthwhile to have on hand I would think, on a farm, but I can see how there would be restrictions on it. Thanks!

Call a vet ? it seems we heard of something a few years ago when we inquired ?...................ouch !

Back in the day it seems our ranch dogs NEVER learned not to bite a porcupine.

Dad would put a block of wood in the dog's mouth to hold the mouth open if there were quills inside the mouth, pretty much kneel on the dog's neck and with a pliers, begin yanking. It wasn't pretty. The understanding was that you want those quills out soon, or they move deeper.

I also heard that cutting the end off with a nail clipper 'deflates' the quill, allows the barbs to flatten out some instead of digging into the dog so much. That's the theory, don't know if it's true or not.

Did you know porcupines don't run? They don't have to.

We use the same method as Uno's dad. We had some cattle dogs a few years back who were BAD with porcupines - they would not quit until it was dead. Sometimes it was a few nights in a row of quilling. You'd think they'd learn that the aftermath is not worth the thrill of the kill, but not so much.

Now, we have one Maremma who occasionally gets a few quills, but nothing like what we used to have to deal with regularly. And he's a suck, so he just lies there and lets us pull them out and then crawls under a bush because he's embarassed.

Beware the lowly porkypine.  A friend's Whippets went after one once.  She had to put them both down.  The spines went into their eyes and pierced the brain.  Yuck.

Schipperkesue wrote:Beware the lowly porkypine.  A friend's Whippets went after one once.  She had to put them both down.  The spines went into their eyes and pierced the brain.  Yuck.

Yuck indeed!

Is it true that it's better to push the quill through a pierced lip so that you can pull it out or cut it without the barb ripping more flesh than necessary being pulled out backwards? I think I've read that if they have through-and-through'd the lip, cut the end off with the barb and pull out because with the barb on it causes bloody mayhem.

Dogs can sure be dumb hey?

No, you might as well get pliers and get pulling.  Although the dog we had years ago killed a porcupine and what a mess.  I pulled

some, then he couldn't stand it, went and layed down, then came back for more.   But we had to take him into the vet's the minute

it opened.   He had them in his tonque, everywhere.  $454.00 later, they were supposed to be all gone.  But I kept finding the odd

one on his foot, near his ears etc. Poor guy.

Next porcupine that came around didn't see daylight.  No they can't throw their quills either, that's a myth.

Sweetened I have been told that dogs and sedatives don't mix well and there are very few to use.  Even when flying from Australia to Canada nothing was used.

Coopslave, I have to disagree with you about dog sedatives.

We took our bear dog, Otis to the vet once where he went ballistic and destroyed the place. For this he earned a red 'alert' sticker on his file. The vet gave me two valium pills and said, "Before you bring him to the vet next time, use these. Both of them!"

I took them both 20 minutes before we got to the vets and I didn't feel a damn thing. Not for the next three days!

I hear you Sweetened, it is a really nasty job to try to pull them out of dogs at home.
I have heard of whiskey being used, never have tried it here, usually with several people, dog wrapped up as tight as possible in blanket, it can be done with needle nose pliers if they are not too terrible spots, the throat and roof of mouth are really hard to get at.
We had tons of porkies here over the years, maybe the downside of never seeing a skunk around, I heard they prefer different habitat?
Some dogs it is really hard to subdue them, others seem to know you are trying to help them out.
We did have an older dog that got them bad and the shock was just too much for him, he didn't make it unfortunately.
We had been catching and relocating them further out in our pasture at first but after they decided our haystack was porcupine heaven we had to send every one we saw around here there for good.

He was good for the first few, got the 2 out of the roof of his mouth and he now just has a couple on the front of his bottom lip, he is NOT trusting of the pliers. I'm a big (heavy) girl, and I laid all my weight on him, held his head tight in and I couldn't keep him still enough to get the others in his lip out. We have gotten ahold of them, but the plyers just slip off them. There's one I'd reeeeally like to get out that is longer and sharper, which I'm sure bothers him every time he closes his mouth. Gonna see if I can pick up something like you would if he was going on a flight (if they still do that) and give it another go tonight, otherwise, I guess it's another $400 vet visit (huzzah... so much for being 'caught up!')

When I was a kid I remember it taking 5 grown men to hold down our yellow lab after he'd had a run in with a porky. It was bloody awful.

Hope you can find something to help without having to break the bank.

Did you know porcupines don't run? They don't have to.

Must be part of the myth because I chased one out of a tree (eat my tree's bark will you!) and across our side yard all while wielding a shovel and screaming like a banshee. Believe me, Mr. Porcupine was running as fast as his stumpy, little legs could carry him lol – nor has he been back.

A porcupine outran both me and my husband a few years back. Granted, it was in thigh-deep snow and we were both injured, so he may have had an advantage.

We (by which I mean my husband) did eventually catch him in a garbage can and relocated him out of our orchard and out to a nice slough. He was pretty cute, up close. His name was Frank the Tank.

My husband also enjoys catching the muskrats that come through the yard in the fall. I never know what he's got when he tells the kids, "come see what I've got!" He always releases them in a slough somewhere. Checking muskrat dens is a fun winter activity around here.

Authentic, your retelling brought back a funny memory.

When we were in the old place, both Doug and I were home. I was sick as a dog and Doug was taking the day off. He came into the bedroom and announced a porky had gotten Duster.

I went out in my PJs and slippers in the poring rain. Duster had a mouth of quills and the culprit had taken refuge in the RV shed and was hiding amongst the lumber. We put Duster away and turned our efforts to catching the wayward porky. How he got in I will never know. The whole place was solidly fenced.

I flushed him out of his hiding place and he ran straight at me! Yikes Slippers and PJs! I envisioned looking a lot like Duster. We cornered him and forced him in a big wire dog kennel. Now, what to do with him? We lifted the kennel into the wheelbarrow and proceeded to roll him off the property, past all the houses in the subdivision, in the pouring rain, in my PJs and slippers. The neighbors must have thought we were mad.

He was just a tiny little thing too. About the size of a basketball. Duster had to go into the vet though. That boy was solid muscle and the two of us could not hold him down!

Schipperkesue wrote:Authentic, your retelling brought back a funny memory.  

When we were in the old place, both Doug and I were home.  I was sick as a dog and Doug was taking the day off.  He came into the bedroom and announced a porky had gotten Duster.  

I went out in my PJs and slippers in the poring rain.  Duster had a mouth of quills and the culprit had taken refuge in the RV shed and was hiding amongst the lumber.  We put Duster away and turned our efforts to catching the wayward porky.  How he got in I will never know.  The whole place was solidly fenced.

I flushed him out of his hiding place and he ran straight at me!  Yikes  Slippers and PJs!  I envisioned looking a lot like Duster.  We cornered him and forced him in a big wire dog kennel.  Now, what to do with him?  We lifted the kennel into the wheelbarrow and proceeded to roll him off the property, past all the houses in the subdivision, in the pouring rain, in my PJs and slippers.  The neighbors must have thought we were mad.

He was just a tiny little thing too.  About the size of a basketball.  Duster had to go into the vet though.  That boy was solid muscle and the two of us could not hold him down!

#ruralproblems

A while ago, we had a porkie who always seemed to visit us every winter. Fascinating creature. I used to watch him with my binoculars climb this tall, old fur tree we have out back. I swear he would go up at least 50-60 feet to sleep and climb down every morning. I never knew they did that.

One day, I found him in one of our onamental trees out back. It's a short tree, no higher than 14 foot. I was able to walk to within 10 feet of him. He was eating our tree! I didn't know what to do? I just looked at him: he looked at me as if to say "Problem?" He just ignored me and kept on eating. He pretty much girdled parts of it. I managed to save the tree but it took years before it bloomed again. The tree now has a metal wall around it.

One winter our porkie didn't return. Figured age might have got to him or something. He was a big dude too. I sort of miss him. I likely would feel differently if I had a dog to worry about. My mom used to tell me stories aout a dog she knew that kept getting spiked by a porkie. It never did learn its lesson.

Yup...my rambling for the day