7/12/2002: Dog with porcupine quills

[Undertoad]

Nic "stole" my two-day-old Rhino picture for a Friday image (good going man, you win this round). (Nic's find is over in Quality Images, do check it out.) So I went off to MSNBC Week in Pics and located this other cute animal image. Awwwwwwwww.

His name is "Sailor", he's 4 years old, and he's at a vet clinic near his home in Brewer, Maine, after losing a scuffle with a porcupine.

Sadly for Sailor, there aren't just the quills you see; there are also many more inside the dog's mouth. He'll have to be sedated to stay calm while they're pulled out. And porky quills are particularly nasty because they're barbed, right?

No, it turns out that's a misconception. I went to this page written by a vet who explains quill removal from dogs. He also includes this very alarming shot of what the dog's mouth might look like:



And this closeup of a quill. See, no barbs, but VERY pointy:



The interesting thing about the quills is that they are hollow.