10/15/2026
🦔 From a porcupine encounter… to a quill in the heart
Ajax and his sister Athena came through our ER after an unfortunate encounter with a porcupine.
Athena had multiple quills embedded along the right side of her body, while Ajax was covered in them — his head, mouth, paws, legs, shoulders and neck. And what you could see was only part of the story. Numerous quills were buried beneath his skin and could only be found by carefully palpating him.
Both dogs were immediately sedated so we could begin removing the quills. Athena had one pe*****te directly into her elbow joint — when it was removed, joint fluid came out with it. She ultimately required the joint to be flushed.
Ajax’s case was even more extensive. He required general anesthesia, and two ER veterinarians spent more than three hours removing quills. Some were deeply embedded in the muscle of his neck and shoulder and required small incisions to retrieve them. One was even lodged deep within his third eyelid.
But we knew there were still quills we couldn’t safely reach.
Porcupine quills can migrate through tissue, meaning they can travel surprisingly far from where they originally entered — potentially into joints, the chest, lungs or even the heart.
CT imaging showed us just how far some of Ajax’s quills had travelled.
❤️ One was in his heart.
🫁 Two were in his lungs, accompanied by a pneumothorax.
There were also additional quills in his neck and oral cavity.
Ajax was taken to surgery with Dr. Biskup and his team, where he underwent a median sternotomy to access his chest and remove the quills. He also required a partial pericardectomy.
After everything these two siblings had been through, we were thrilled to see them come out the other side.
Ajax made a remarkable recovery ❤️🩹
This case is such an important reminder that porcupine quills aren’t simply a cosmetic problem. They can migrate deep into the body and cause life-threatening injuries, sometimes far away from where the quill originally entered.
And through it all, Ajax and Athena were so lucky to have such a dedicated family❤️🐾
