Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Porcupine

> Quoted from Kathy & Mike Kelly's message:
> >Anyone else out there have any porcupine experiences with their horses?
I
> >hope I did the right thing just pulling them out.
>
> If you clip the ends off the quills they deflate and are easier to pull.

Please, please, please don't clip the quills.  Can't tell you how many hours
I've spent with dogs under general anesthesia, having to "go fishing" for
the ends that migrated further in after well-meaning owners clipped them
thinking this would deflate them.  It doesn't, but it DOES make it way
harder to get hold of them, either for the owner with pliers or for the vet
with hemostats or any other instruments.  They have tiny barbs on the
"business" ends, and those are what make them tough to pull out--not the
"air" in them.

(And yes, to the original poster--you did the right thing just pulling them
out.)

Heidi


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