Justice's first Porcupine ( Graphic kinda ? )

[Liberty & Justice]

Just called the E.R vet in Duluth........ They said for 700 dollars they'd put him under and remove the quills. OR I can wait 11 more hours and get it done in the a.m for a fraction of that. Sorry to justify that in dollars sense but for the 100 dollars an hour till our reg. vet can see him, he can wait till the morning.

 

[My Mateese]

True.......... I guess that didn't make a ton of sense. I do feel badly, believe you me. I didn't think of the E.R vet, just our regular one at the time. Oh boy the guilt is kicking in. I suppose I made those comments out of frustration and a bit of anger because he hasn't learned. I'll work on more training for him to get him to avoid those things. " prey drive " is kinda a " B**** ".

Stephen, I know you feel badly but Jess is right, he has already
forgotten, each times he gets it, it is worse. I fear for him, he
is going to be on my mind all night. In his mouth, poor baby,
he must be in agony. Think about us when we have something
in our mouth........OUCH........BAD NEWS. I know I am not
helping you feeling upset, but he has got to really upset.

 

[Marinegeekswife]

Just called the E.R vet in Duluth........ They said for 700 dollars they'd put him under and remove the quills. OR I can wait 11 more hours and get it done in the a.m for a fraction of that. Sorry to justify that in dollars sense but for the 100 dollars an hour till our reg. vet can see him, he can wait till the morning.

If it isn't an emergency I have no problem with you waiting but you should be doing it for the right reasons and not to try to teach him some lesson he can't learn that way. That's all.

 

[My Mateese]

Just called the E.R vet in Duluth........ They said for 700 dollars they'd put him under and remove the quills. OR I can wait 11 more hours and get it done in the a.m for a fraction of that. Sorry to justify that in dollars sense but for the 100 dollars an hour till our reg. vet can see him, he can wait till the morning.

Good grief

 

[Gelcoater]

Steven,I have to agree with Jess,he's not going to learn anything from it.Going to be a long night for you both either way you go here.

Now,on the critter front....right on with the cross bow idea.I never shot one before,how do you like it?
The wolf thing would have me spooked,while a cross bow would be ok,for a wolf(who probably isn't alone) I would want something like this.

 

[Gelcoater]

OOPs,forgot the pic.

That thar is a Smith&Wesson .50 cal revolver,will take down coyote,wolf, bear,and mountain lion,probably in one shot.At a couple bucks a piece the ammo ain't cheap,but if you want one shot stopping power,this is the unit to have.
Remember Dirty Harry pointing out to the bad guy his .44magnum was the most powerfull handgun in the world and can blow your head clean off?
This makes that look like a kids cap gun

 

[Rits]

It'd be impossible to eradicate all of them single handedly, and both species have a purpose on this planet...I would only get rid of an animal for self defense. I think Stephen also said he chose the crossbow because of neighbors would hear the gunfire. Like I've said before, and I'm not trying to sell something here, but in your case I really think the e-collar is what you need to keep Justice away from wild life. Most wild life is more scared of you two so they usually won't bother you as long as you don't bother them. If he shows interest in a porcupine, he'll learn that it will result in a stim. Eventually he'll learn not to bother with them or even look at one and you'll be able to correct it without hundreds of dollars in vet bills, virtually no pain and correct it before he even gets close to one. He'd still be a happy boy and won't be missing out on anything, able to run carefree AND staying away from wild life. But, that's one of the consequences you and especially Justice have to deal with, with allowing him to run so openly like that in such an area that is populated with wild life. Having him stay away from such creatures is really important and I hope the collar training is going well for you.

 

[Liberty & Justice]

Hey gang ! Boy it was a long, long night. My poor baby didn't sleep at all, and neither did I. We are leaving in just an hour or so, so it's almost over. As to teaching him a lesson ? Treat it as an angry parent that say's something out of context to a teen because of frustration, and a bit of anger.

Yeah 700 DOLLARS ? To pull quills ? I remember when he was attacked at a dog park it was very expensive, worth it mind you, but very expensive. I've never complained about a price on services before and really don't ever blink an eye to spending money on him. But knowing I've pulled them before, and knowing the procedure for a vet to do it, was like WOW, he can wait till the a.m. I took the morning off to get this done so I'm on top of it. He's tired and frustrated as much as I am, o.k he's much more of the two.

He'll be just fine. Thank you all for caring for him I do appreciate that.

 

[Liberty & Justice]

OOPs,forgot the pic.

View attachment 11656That thar is a Smith&Wesson .50 cal revolver,will take down coyote,wolf, bear,and mountain lion,probably in one shot.At a couple bucks a piece the ammo ain't cheap,but if you want one shot stopping power,this is the unit to have.
Remember Dirty Harry pointing out to the bad guy his .44magnum was the most powerfull handgun in the world and can blow your head clean off?
This makes that look like a kids cap gun

Haha yup that's a weapon alright. I'm a fan of the Glock manufacture.

Good grief

Yeah my thoughts exactly......

 

[Liberty & Justice]

Steven,I have to agree with Jess,he's not going to learn anything from it.Going to be a long night for you both either way you go here.

Now,on the critter front....right on with the cross bow idea.I never shot one before,how do you like it?
The wolf thing would have me spooked,while a cross bow would be ok,for a wolf(who probably isn't alone) I would want something like this.

Well I've shot plenty of weapons in my day and I have to say the Crossbow is a rather unique weapon. It's quiet, stealthy, and kind of brings you back to roman times ( Not a history buff ). But it is an ethical decision in choosing a defense if you are not trying to make the neighbor angry. Also it doesn't really cost anything to shoot, that is if you can find the bolts after a shot. They are much more expensive than a fine pistol, or rifle, but it's kinda cool.

For the record I'm not a hunter ! I am no professional in anyway.

 

[Liberty & Justice]

It'd be impossible to eradicate all of them single handedly, and both species have a purpose on this planet...I would only get rid of an animal for self defense. I think Stephen also said he chose the crossbow because of neighbors would hear the gunfire. Like I've said before, and I'm not trying to sell something here, but in your case I really think the e-collar is what you need to keep Justice away from wild life. Most wild life is more scared of you two so they usually won't bother you as long as you don't bother them. If he shows interest in a porcupine, he'll learn that it will result in a stim. Eventually he'll learn not to bother with them or even look at one and you'll be able to correct it without hundreds of dollars in vet bills, virtually no pain and correct it before he even gets close to one. He'd still be a happy boy and won't be missing out on anything, able to run carefree AND staying away from wild life. But, that's one of the consequences you and especially Justice have to deal with, with allowing him to run so openly like that in such an area that is populated with wild life. Having him stay away from such creatures is really important and I hope the collar training is going well for you.

That may of been a bit harsh ( Eradicate ) but it was a simpler solution to our problem. They do a LOT of damage to our trees though Rits. I am a HUGE animal lover on all fronts, whether it be a threat to us or not. I don't walk around trying to kill everything that moves, nor would I ever. But the Porcupines don't serve a ton of purpose on our land, they don't really eat bugs, they are an ugly creature, in fact a rodent. Plus they do a lot of damage to trees, in fact kill them, and my poor baby Justice. So I don't loose any sleep in shooting one or two, k maybe 4 at this point. I can promise this though, although it was getting dark and I couldn't find the cuprate that did this to Justice yesterday, you can bet I will today when we get home.

The E-Collar ? Yes a very valid point, it would of stopped him in his tracks when he bolted for the porcupine last night. There are a lot of deer in that part of the woods so I assumed he saw one of those and gave chase. Not that it's an acceptable behavior, but it should be dealt with by experiencing the collar. I will vow this week to give some training ( both him and I ) on the collar and see how it works. Haven't spent a ton of time with it as it sits in the box.

 

[Liberty & Justice]

If it isn't an emergency I have no problem with you waiting but you should be doing it for the right reasons and not to try to teach him some lesson he can't learn that way. That's all.

Sometimes Jess I treat Justice as a human child. Sometimes I forget that he doesn't learn from experiences unless you are right there at that very second to correct. In this case it was a mix of anger, frustration, a 14 hour work day and being tired that made me say things like that. The last thing I wanted to do was drive another 3 hours in the car after taking my pills, wait in a waiting room for hours only to be gouged for something I knew would be done right somewhere else ( our reg vet ) in a few more hours. It's also frustrating that this isn't the first time for this, I had expected him to learn from the past mistakes since he's never not gotten any lesson from a mistake. Again, he'll be fine, no harm really done except a bit of discomfort for a night.

 

[GennyB]

I agree with Rits, Way past time for the e-collar! I know you said you needed to learn about using it, well there is no time like the present. There are tons of experts on here that would help guide you through it if you can not find a trainer in your area.
I know you love that dog, so I am sure you don't want to see him suffer. It is time to step up and get that boy trained before something worse happens.
If you really think 40 quills was a night of discomfort, I would say to you, stick your face in a porcupine and then try to live with it for hours. I'm sure it was sheer agony!

 

[Liberty & Justice]

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I agree with Rits, Way past time for the e-collar! I know you said you needed to learn about using it, well there is no time like the present. There are tons of experts on here that would help guide you through it if you can not find a trainer in your area.
I know you love that dog, so I am sure you don't want to see him suffer. It is time to step up and get that boy trained before something worse happens.
If you really think 40 quills was a night of discomfort, I would say to you, stick your face in a porcupine and then try to live with it for hours. I'm sure it was sheer agony!

Agreed !!! We will start tonight with the E-collar I've been reading the instructions for the past hour.

 

[Rits]

I hear ya on the trees. I was just mentioning it's gonna be impossible to get rid of all the porcupines, they will keep poking Justice and the root of it all is to try and train him to leave them alone. I do care about him too through you, cause that really has to be painful for it to keep happening to him. Is there maybe some kind of deterrent to keep them away from the trees? I mean, it'd probably be too expensive to protect all of them in your area since it pretty wooded but maybe you could definitely look into putting something like chicken wire in the ground around the trees that you really want to protect so they can't reach it? Kinda what people do to keep horses off of trees. Just shooting some ideas maybe to protect your trees

 

[Liberty & Justice]

Well they are all out..... My vet was of today and only a tech so in a frantic search for a vet I drive 50 miles to the nearest one that would take us today. Justice has no more quills and is knocked out cold still. Vet said roll him over every 30 minutes and should wake up in a few hours. Here are some pics

And here he is at my office still sleeping

 

[Liberty & Justice]

Oh there were 72 quills in total !!!

 

[My Mateese]

Oh there were 72 quills in total !!!

OMG IN HEAVEN. Thank God they are out, poor baby and you too.
I am soooooooooooo afraid his eyes are gonna get it. 72 Lord have
Mercy. My heart goes out to him.

 

[My Mateese]

Please keep us posted, as I know you will. HUGS TO ALL

 

[JanS]

Wow he really did get it this time. There's no doubt he's going to be one that doesn't learn (either they do on the first occasion or they never do) so I'm glad you're going to start utilizing the e-collar. The porcupines are one of the least of the worries out there in your woods, so it's going to save his life sooner or later.

I'm glad he's finally out of his misery now and resting well.