Finally Spring is here! I’m not sure if you have noticed, but we live in a pretty amazing province. We are surrounded by breath taking beaches, an abundance of woodlands, hiking trails and numerous provincial and national parks. With spring here, hopefully we will all be spending more time outside- exploring these beautiful natural places and bringing our dogs along- they love it too. When you are outside though don’t forget that we share the environment with other friends; one being the porcupine. Now, being animal lovers we love all critters and the porcupine is no exception; however, an encounter between your dog and a porcupine can certainly be an unpleasant event!
Porcupines are Nova Scotia’s second largest rodent. They spend much of their time in trees and wooded environments, though can often be seen on coastal edges. While they don’t actually hibernate they are much less active through the winter, spending more time in their dens and sticking close to home for feeding. Once the spring and summer hit they are more active and will travel farther from their dens for feeding. They are mostly nocturnal, so porcupine encounters are more likely at night, early in the morning or at dusk.
We all know that the porcupine’s fame comes from their greater than 30, 000 quills that they wear. These quills are hollow and have several dozen small black backward facing barbs which swell when they penetrate flesh which help them to act as anchors in the skin of their predator and facilitate them penetrating as deep as possible. These quills are released on contact or can fall out if the porcupine shakes vigorously. They cannot be projected at an enemy as once was thought.
If your pet is unlucky enough to get “quilled” by a porcupine the best thing you can do is have him seen immediately by your vet. Unless there are only a few superficial quills that can easily be plucked out, most dogs will require sedation to have them removed properly. Those barbs on the tip of the quills make pulling them out of the skin quite painful which causes the dog to struggle and we are more likely to break quills off under the skin. Broken quills can migrate through tissue and can sometimes cause a serious problem months or years later. Even with sedation we make every attempt to remove all quills completely, but the reality is that often there are broken quills that we are unable to feel, especially if the dog is able to spend time pawing at the quills before being seen. Probably the biggest wives tale surrounding quills is that if you cut them off the air escapes causing them to deflate and fall out. Please don’t do this! All you will achieve is quills that are harder to remove and often will require surgical incisions to remove them.
So, the weather is turning and we live in a great province. Please, get outside with your dogs and enjoy it, but be watchful in the early morning or dusk for porcupines and if your dog does get acquainted with a porcupines armour please don’t try to remove those quills yourself, visit us at the Bedford South Veterinary Hospital!
Written by Sue
