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About csenay
Monday, July 14, 2008
Your dog has faced a porcupine?
posted by csenay at 17h16
What happens when a pitbull picks a fight with a porcupine? Image from www.snopes.com
Well, it’s the veterinarian's, technician’s (and dog's!!) worse nightmare.
I remembered, many years ago, I was working as an animal health technician in a vet clinic in Joliette. The same dog came down from north three times in the same week with a face full of porcupine quills! Passing his paw gently at his nose and shaking his head, nothing helped. His muzzle was swollen and his eyes watering with the pain.
I do not recommend removing quills from your dog at home by yourself, especially if there are a large number of quills! Once imbedded into tissues they can be difficult to remove, especially the tiny ones that want to break before they are extracted. And more over, quill removal is painful!
Heavy sedation or even anesthesia and pain relievers are usually administered when dogs have large numbers of quills to remove. Additionally, thorough examination of the inside of the mouth should be performed to make sure there are no quills in the tongue or back of the throat.
Occasionally quills that have inadvertently been left in the dog will migrate to other sites. But a small part of the tip of the quill remaining behind when trying to extract it, rarely causes any problem.
An appropriate antibiotic can be used for a week or ten days after the procedure to prevent potential infection.
If your dog is an unfortunate victim of a frightened porcupine, consult your veterinarian immediately!
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