Dog Recovers From Porcupine Attack
By: Julie Musgrave
Updated: February 12, 2009
A dog is recovering tonight after a porcupine -- yes, porcupine -- attacks, leaving the dog covered in its quills and in extreme pain.
Of course, porcupines aren't too common in our parts of the US, but unfortunately for this dog, he encountered one of the few that roam West Texas. Some Tech students found the stray wandering on campus a couple of days ago with his face covered in quills. They contacted Animal Services, and found out officials had been trying to track down the dog for several days. But the students say animal services wasn't going to give the dog a chance, the vet bills would be too high. So they pooled their money together and took it to Lubbock Animal Hospital.
The vet that treated the dog says they don't see too many porcupine cases around here, but had the dog gone untreated he could've suffered from starvation or dehydration.
Today -- the more than 200 quills have been removed from the dog's mouth and even inside his throat. The dog is on his way to a full recovery, and a new home.
Colin Grove, fostering dog: "Hopefully he'll just kind of meld better with the house, and with us, and just be more comfortable instead of being so skittish around everyone right now 'cause he doesn't know what's going on."
Dr. Robert Richards, treated the dog: "He's pretty lucky. These guys have done a good job of getting funds together, try to take care of him, and are actually gonna try to find him a home, so he kind of fell underneath a lucky star."
The kids that found him, now named him appropriately 'Porky.' And although the Tech students pooled their money, they could still use some help, as they try to get the dog back on it's feet. To help, just contact the Animal Hospital of Lubbock, the number's on your screen.
