Guess who won? Ultimately, the veterinarian’s office, but it’s safe to say the porcupine beat out the dog in that contest.
Brian took Buster on a hike yesterday. Buster found a new friend in the woods and got a face full of porcupine quills for his trouble. Brian was able to remove the worst of them while they were still in the woods (probably a dozen or so). I got out a couple more when they returned home, but Buster had enough of that nonsense and we were not able to remove any more. They were pretty small so it must’ve been a baby porcupine. I called the on-call vet last night, but he felt it could wait until morning as Buster wasn’t showing any discomfort.
So, I took him to the vet’s today. He had to be lightly sedated so that they could remove the rest–around 20. There were a few that had become fully lodged under the skin (and which weren’t removed), so those ones might make an appearance in the future.
The expectation is high that this will happen again.