2 AM...Ami came in with a snout full of porcupine quills.  I've had long experience with those.  Sasha used too get into them all the time.  First time I high tailed it to the vet in a panic.  He sedated her, used regular pliers to pull them out.  Took get her more then a day to come out from the sedation...which vet said would be a few hours.  Next week...more porcupine quills.  Since I was very unhappy with the whole sedation thing, Sasha, a box of milk bone, a pair of pliers am I had a pow wow.  And again tbd next week...and the next...

I was able to get most of Ami's quills out but two are behind his lower front teeth and a few more are in the lip and gum and he broke them off so he'll need to be sedated for that.


And, phew, they just called.  He's all done.

Poor Ami. It must have hurt. Last night must have been the night for husky trouble (or in Mars case almost). He went out for last potty break and a few seconds later we heard an extremely loud shrieking / screaming, like never before, follow by a bark.  Everyone ran out to see (even my daughter who was in her room With door closed heard).  Mars was confronting a feral cat.  The cat was hissing and pawing.   But after he saw us all, found and opportunity to escape. I thought Mars had been hurt given the noise he made. But after close inspection, nothing I could see.  Mars was been a Drama Queen. But he sure frightened us

Yesterday was a rough day - Ami was out of it for the first few hours and then whiny and pacing and disoriented. He'd ask to go out, we'd let him out but then he would head straight for the road (we have invisible fence and he has free rein of the lower 4 acres.)

Z'ev in the meantime...oy, Z'ev. I put him in his garage crate with a bone while we were at the vet. A bigger bone than he would usually get. A much bigger bone. Which brought his guarding full to the front. Any time either of us would go near the crate to try and get him out...full on Cujo Normally he only gets a small rib bone that he works on for about an hour and than is happy to come out but this bone was the last in the bag and the next bag was all frozen together and I didn't have the time to chip them all apart. So he didn't come out until past dinner time. Don't know whether it was bladder or stomach that was calling but eventually physiology trumped psychology

And its gonna be tough with Ami at night. His usual routine is after dinner is go out with a bone, come back inside when we start the movie (he hears the music) get a bit of whipped cream on the couch and then out until we go to bed. Skunks are one thing but a $300 porcupine episode is a no go...well, maybe not a whole 300 - I did get a nail trim for 15 and a heartworm test for 20. But, because of his age, he needs blood work before anesthesia. Harrumph. There goes the robotic pool vacuum I was going to treat myself to this year Oh well, the Big Red FLuffy is worth it.

Poor Ami, and poor Amy and Wayne for the entire ordeal. I'm not sure we have porcupines here, fortunately!

I have had my own two in the morning stories this week though. It started with Mishka, but I figured it was her almost routine not feeling well episodes. But then Kohdi got it, and boy did he get it. Every half hour wanting outside all night long, then, I either wasn't waking up when he came or, it was too late and there was no point in coming to wake me cuz I woke up to poop EVERYWHERE! even on the walls!!! His ass musta just exploded in the hallway outside my room cuz it was on the walls, the floor and his backside was covered in it. I finally got a whole nights sleep last night but his poop is still runny. Weird thing is, he doesn't seem to be sick, he's still running and playing and all that. Only thing I can think of is possibly the ducks that have been visiting the past few weeks brought some kind of bug. Ugh, it's been a mess here

Sorry Jimmy, I'm laughing...And Wayne is singing "memories"...

Hopefully, the dogs aren't eating the duck poop? Cryptosporidium, maybe?

They probably have, Amy. The ducks poop on the flagstone, I rinse it away, but I can only do that when I'm home and the ducks have visited while I'm at work too so the poop sits there til I get home. And I've seen them go right to the spots the ducks have pooped. Fortunately, the ducks are done with visiting til next year. Last two times they were here, female was missing so either something happened to her, or she's nesting.

Is Cryptospordium something they need the vet for? Mishka was already better before Kohdi got sick, but it's day 3 of runny poop from Kohdi...and I've been doing the pumpkin thing since last night. He's not illl, he has an appetite, he's running, playing, and last night I slept the entire night, but the poop is mush. It's been no fun cleaning him off!!! I'm lucky we are pretty tight cuz he does NOT like being cleaned off back there, lol.

Btw Amy, I bought one of those robotic vacuums for my pool, it's been sitting in the garage for a couple years now. I noticed it would miss a lot of spots, and spend wayyyyy too much time in spots that it already cleaned.

Argh..the joys of dog ownership...

Rumo once stuck his head into our front bush, and came out holding a Possum in his jaws! He dropped it on the ground, and it just laid there limply. We called him into the house by enticing him with a Greenie...and my husband said that after a few long minutes, the Possum got up and walked away. What a smart little critter! If he had run, that would have triggered Rumo's prey instinct to grab him by the neck and shake him...

Anyway, I sure hope Rumo doesn't find any porcupines!!

Wow... porcupine quills.  That sounds really painful!  Especially the pulling-them-out part!