Dogs Meet Porcupine

As if our lives were not full of enough disasters, this morning at about 6:30 am our dogs Baloo and Louie were just let out to do their business as usual.  This is our routine.  We let they roam freely within their designated invisible fence.  Then at around 7 am my husband called me while I was still in bed and I somehow knew by his voice that something was wrong.  So I came down and lo and behold both dogs had razor sharp quills on their nose, mouth, tongue and face.  By the look of it they went after a porcupine and lost the battle.  They were hurting and frantically clawing at their own faces.  It was instant dog whiskers.  Porcupine quills have sharp barbs just to give you an idea.  I know they are not-so-perfect dogs but even they didn’t deserve this.  



Baloo had it the worst. He had quills at the roof of mouth, tongue and lips. 

 

Louie had only a few quills on the left of her face.

 

 

 

So we rushed them to the vet for quill removal.  They were lucky that none of the quills struck them in the eyes.  I was shocked with the vet bill but at the end of the day I’m happy they gave me a discount after I asked for it.  They had to be put on anesthetic and IV fluids.  By 5 pm, my husband and I picked them up from the vet clinic and the dogs were all alert as if nothing happened.  They are still on pain meds.  We were advised by the vet to keep an eye on the inside of Baloo’s nose as they could not remove the quills completely.  I hope they’ve learned their lessons but suspect not.  Worst case scenario would be them trying to get revenge.