porcupines vs. dogs

Recently the Placencia Humane Society has been inundated with concerned calls from pet owners whose dogs have tangled with porcupines…and lost.  These are some of their stories.

In the middle of the night (1:30am) PHS received a call from a panicked pet owner whose dog Luke was covered head to toe with porcupine quills. 

After a quick call for advice to Dr Tesecum (fondly referred to as Dr. T), Pamela and hubby Karl hastened to the scene where they determined Luke would need to be anesthetized before they could begin to help him.  Karl set to work administering the necessary injections, and 10 minutes later the Kecks and Luke’s grateful owner began the task of removing over 500 quills! 

A few days later the same situation arose when another dog was brought to Pamela and Karl’s home full of quills.  Although Sheba lost this latest battle of “dog vs. porcupine” she appeared to have fought more brilliantly than Luke, for she sported far fewer quills afterward.  After another quick call to Dr. T for advice and a subsequent quick dose of drugs, Karl and neighbor Linda Tyler set about removing the quills.

Because Sheba frequently cavorts with Floppy - her neighbor’s missing dog  - everyone assumed Floppy would soon return sporting a face full of quills.  As you can see from the picture, she did just that.  And with all their recent practice, our quill removal team made quick work of taking care of Floppy.  

 PHS is extremely grateful to Dr. T. and the other rotating Belizean vets as well as   visiting US vets – not only for their dedication to our monthly local and field clinics; but also for their additional time training us in suturing and other basic techniques, thereby allowing us to do simple procedures like these when a vet is not present on the peninsula.