Friday, January 15, 2010

NEVER kiss a porcupine

Well, sadly... Camille has found one animal that does not appreciate her "mothering" ways.. last night, I sent the dogs out for "last call".. they can all go loose because there isn't anyone "here" to bother. And being cold these winter nights, no one ever stays out very long.

On this evening, I happened to be out there too, with a dog that is here for boarding, as I was walking with him, the others were just out and about. I was heading back in, I thought I heard a yelp...




so, I called everyone in - all the dogs came running, as did Camille, but she was the last one.. a bit unusual... as she approached me, I saw her drop her head and cry again. I ran to her and scooped her up.. only to find this horrifying picture!!! We dashed into the house, I yelled to Sadie to take care of the boarding dog, and for Ed to run to the truck.. we were heading to the ER....

Poor Camille, she sat on lap and never moved the entire ride to the ER. I kept hold of her paws so she wouldn't break any of the quills off, she knew we were getting her help, but this must have hurt like crazy!!! Fortunately the ER was quiet, and they took us right in, they gave Cam a shot for pain (and I took these photos after she got her shot) and then the decided to sedate her to pull the quills... there were 18 in all.

The "good part" is, she ran across an adult .. so the quills were hard and "easy" to pull.. quills of a baby are generally soft and can bend, making them difficult to pull - and to find. The other good part is, she is a "woos".. so after she got hit, she came running, some dogs will attack a porcupine and then end up with a mouthful of quills or legs and feet full of them.

Needless to say, there will be no more loose dogs at night, especially if we get a mild evening. I don't know exactly where Mr. Porky lives, but he's close by and I would rather not go thru this event again. I would like to think that Camille would remember the next time she saw one, but I won't take that chance either....