removing quills from a dog

[mimitabby]

there's no way you'd want to do it yourself. your dogs will scream and bite. sedation is a good thing. But yes; people DO extract quills from their dogs. I know I'd try giving it a tug or two and then I'd chicken out and take them to the vet.

[r900]

You can do it yourself. It's not pleasant, but the sooner you pull them out the better. They will steadily work themselves deeper into your pup and lead to infection if left alone.A plain old pair of pliers and a firm grip is what it takes.IMO $715 was unethical.

[sundial]

Oooh, poor baby. He needs a hug!

[ibcycling]

Ouch! Not sure if you'd want to try and do it yourself. It would really depend on how bad they were and how they handle the pain. If you had extracted them you'd still need to see the vet for antibiotics and a checkup but that would be much cheaper than the emergency vet.

I helped a vet remove quills before and some actually had to be pushed through the lip and pulled out from the inside. It was not fun and the dog did have to be sedated.

I hope they are both doing well today!

Lora

[TsPoet]

You can do it yourself. It's not pleasant, but the sooner you pull them out the better. They will steadily work themselves deeper into your pup and lead to infection if left alone.A plain old pair of pliers and a firm grip is what it takes.IMO $715 was unethical.

Yeah, I thought the $715 was pretty steep. But, it was 7 pm ($100 was just an "emergency" fee) and there were 2 dogs involved, so $350 each, which maybe is OK.
I tried to pull one from the Murph and he was obviously in pain from my attempt.
Neither dog backed off on it's own, they weren't bothered by the quills until about 15 minutes after the event, so not sure they'd be smart enough to not get into it again. I love to walk them there, but I guess I won't. At least not at dusk, that was stupid on my part.
A web search has come up with the same answers I'm getting here - Yes you can, and no you can't at about 50:50.
I'm guessing for me "no you can't" is the right answer, just because I'm a coward.
thanks,

[Tri Girl]

Oh, poor babies! I'm so sorry all of you had to go through this.
I remember when I was young, my dog got into a porcupine fight. He had a ridiculous number of quills in his chin (I think 50 or so). I remember dad pulling them out with pliers while he howled in pain. He never did it again, but that's not to say he didn't try.

I would've done the same thing as you. It would be too hard for me to tug and cause them more pain and to hear them howl and cry.

[smilingcat]

I think its best left to the vet

from wiki:

Contrary to popular belief, porcupines are not capable of throwing their quills, but they detach very easily and will remain embedded in an attacker. Porcupine quills are as sharp as needles. Unlike needles, however, the quills of New World porcupines have microscopic, backwards-facing barbs on the tip that catch on the skin making them difficult and painful to extract. Quills are about 75 mm long and 2 mm wide. If a quill becomes lodged in the tissues of a would-be attacker, the barbs act to pull the quill further into the tissues with the normal muscle movements of the attacker, moving up to several millimeters in a day. Predators have been known to die as a result of quill penetration and infection.

i thought the quills were barbed. And it can be very painful to remove. Yes you can do it; but, at what cost either way. Pain inflicted if you did it your self or $$ if you went to the ved and had the dog anethetized.

Geeze, rash of furry baby problems lately...

Well I hope they learned their lesson. And speedy recovery.
smilingcat