Porcupine Quills

Dear Dr. Jody:  Our shepherd cross, “Tasha”, occasionally tries to win a battle with a porcupine.  It seems that at least once a year she will come home with a face full of quills.  What is the best way for me to remove them?

Porcupine quill injuries are very common in the Cochrane area.  Unfortunately, many dogs with previous porcupine experience tend to be repeat offenders.  Instead of learning from their past mistakes, it seems as if they are out to exact revenge on the porcupine that quilled them last time.  They are undoubtedly unaware that this isn’t likely to be the same porcupine.

When your pooch comes home with a face full, it is important that you seek veterinary attention.  Your dog will need to undergo anesthesia to remove the quills.  Not only are porcupine quills more painful coming out than they were going in (thanks to the multiple barbs on the tip of the quill), it is common for some quills to be hidden in tricky places such as the soft palate, the back of the throat, under the tongue, and between the teeth.  Even in dogs that appear to only have a dozen or so quills on the tip of the nose, I have found sneaky quills in the dog’s nasal sinus and tucked behind the tonsils.  These hidden quills are only detectable and removable when the dog is anesthetized.  Under no circumstances should you cut off the ends of the quills!  This does not make them easier to retrieve, and, in fact, will make them more likely to migrate quickly beneath the surface of the skin. 

Porcupine quills are not sterile structures.  They are covered in dirt and debris, and carry vast amounts of bacteria with them as they travel through tissues.  It will be important for your veterinarian to dispense antibiotics for several days following your dog’s quill experience to minimize the risk of serious infection that can arise even after the quills have been removed.  Pain medications will also be dispensed in all but the most simple of cases.

Because porcupine quills are barbed, they have a tendency to migrate very quickly under the skin and can even travel throughout the body, causing painful abscesses either on the surface of the skin or within organs.  The longer you delay medical treatment or try to remove the quills on your own, the more likely it is that a quill will break off at the surface and instantly become unreachable under the surface of the skin.  It then begins a migration through the body, taking an unpredictable path and becoming hopelessly lost.  Sometimes these quills will appear at the surface months or even years down the road; other times they have been known to fatally puncture vital organs long after the original porcupine experience.

If your dog has a vendetta against a porcupine, please contact your veterinary team as soon as she loses her next battle against the prickly beast.  Treating the situation as an emergency will give your veterinarian the best possible chance of removing all of the quills before they disappear beneath the surface, and the pain medications and antibiotics your veterinarian can provide will give your dog the most comfortable recovery possible.  Unfortunately, there is no prescription available that will ensure your dog learns her lesson.