Last night we had a few friends over to watch the (sad) Dallas Cowboys game. It was great to have a house full of friends, and watch a little football, even though it didn't quite go the way we'd hoped... thanks, Alex Barron.
Afterward, we said farewell to our last three friends, Ty, Emily, and Eric and headed out for a little late night walk with Pepper. As we were leaving the house, I commented on how dark and difficult it was to see, since there was no moonlight and our (very safe) street has about zero street lights.
As we rounded the corner of our house, I saw a shadowy figure saunter across the street, and motioned for Eric to slow his car so that I could get a better look at it using his headlights. Just as my eyes adjusted, and I realized that the stocky little creature was none other than a porcupine, I saw a flash of white dart toward it, and began to scream!
Michael, thinking the creature was a squirrel, on steroids apparently, had let her off the leash to go check out the critter!!!
And as a result, our little Pepper wound up with a face full of quills- well, 9 to be exact.
Never having dealt with a porcupine before, I thought you weren't supposed to pull them out. So I ran back to the house, got the keys and the 4 Runner, and started calling the emergency vet hospital. Unfortunately, there is only an on-call vet in Summit County. The closest actual animal hospital is in Eagle about a hour's drive from our house.
So, we did the only logical thing we could think of: we went the (human) ER.
Sadly, they were unable to help us, but they did inform us that we could pull them out with pliers ourselves. And save a ton on sedation and vet bills. So, at 11:00 pm Mike, Eric, and I sat in the backseat of our 4 Runner and while Eric expertly extracted the 9 quills from around Pepper's eye, cheek, and lip.
She was a total trooper and didn't even whimper, even when one got caught and broke off.
So, the next time your dog gets quilled in the face by a huge porcupine because you let her off the leash at 10:30 at night, just grab a pair of pliers and yank.
Afterward, we said farewell to our last three friends, Ty, Emily, and Eric and headed out for a little late night walk with Pepper. As we were leaving the house, I commented on how dark and difficult it was to see, since there was no moonlight and our (very safe) street has about zero street lights.
As we rounded the corner of our house, I saw a shadowy figure saunter across the street, and motioned for Eric to slow his car so that I could get a better look at it using his headlights. Just as my eyes adjusted, and I realized that the stocky little creature was none other than a porcupine, I saw a flash of white dart toward it, and began to scream!
Michael, thinking the creature was a squirrel, on steroids apparently, had let her off the leash to go check out the critter!!!
And as a result, our little Pepper wound up with a face full of quills- well, 9 to be exact.
Never having dealt with a porcupine before, I thought you weren't supposed to pull them out. So I ran back to the house, got the keys and the 4 Runner, and started calling the emergency vet hospital. Unfortunately, there is only an on-call vet in Summit County. The closest actual animal hospital is in Eagle about a hour's drive from our house.
So, we did the only logical thing we could think of: we went the (human) ER.
Sadly, they were unable to help us, but they did inform us that we could pull them out with pliers ourselves. And save a ton on sedation and vet bills. So, at 11:00 pm Mike, Eric, and I sat in the backseat of our 4 Runner and while Eric expertly extracted the 9 quills from around Pepper's eye, cheek, and lip.
She was a total trooper and didn't even whimper, even when one got caught and broke off.
So, the next time your dog gets quilled in the face by a huge porcupine because you let her off the leash at 10:30 at night, just grab a pair of pliers and yank.
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