Porcupines and dogs on the North Shore

MassWildlife calls the North American porcupine common in the state as a whole, then places it mainly in the western and central regions, occasionally in Middlesex County, and rarely in the eastern and southeastern parts of Massachusetts, which lack the extensive forest a population needs. Cape Ann sits in the part of the state the agency describes as short of that habitat. For a dog that walks Stage Fort, Ravenswood and the off-season beaches, a porcupine is an unlikely meeting. For the same dog on a weekend in the forests of central or western Massachusetts, it is a real one.

The habitat clues are the same anywhere. Porcupines are active all year, mostly at night and alone. They den in rocky outcrops, rock piles and hollow trees through deep cold, heavy snow and hard rain. In winter they eat conifer needles and bark, favoring hemlock and white pine; in autumn they climb into oaks, hickories and beeches for the nuts; and in spring, short of sodium, they come to the salty plants along roadsides. A hemlock ravine with a ledge in it, at dusk, is porcupine country wherever you find it.

Speed matters because quills keep moving. VCA's instruction is to minimize the dog's movement, stop it rubbing its face, and get to a veterinarian as quickly as possible. Call on the way so the clinic can prepare. If your own vet is closed, Gloucester's list of local and emergency veterinary offices names the options nearest Cape Ann, and Massachusetts Veterinary Referral Hospital in Woburn is open around the clock. On a trip west, look up the nearest emergency clinic before the first hike, not after.

Afterward, follow the recheck plan your vet gives you. Because a vet may not be able to remove every quill, watch the face, chest and legs over the following weeks for new swelling, lumps, a limp, a sore eye or discharge, and call if you see any of them. That watch is what VCA means when it says leftover quills are monitored for migration. Keep the dog from scratching at the treated spots while they heal.

There is no version of a porcupine encounter that waits until Monday. Quills in or around an eye, inside the mouth or throat, in the chest, or in large numbers go straight to the nearest emergency hospital, because VCA lists eye injury, joints and the penetration of organs among the complications of migrating quills. A dog that is struggling to breathe, collapsing or swelling badly is an emergency whatever the count. Call ahead from the car so the team is ready for the dog.

Even a few quills in the lip need a vet that day. The cost of waiting is that the quills go deeper, which makes removal harder and infection more likely, and VCA warns that deep infection is the most serious complication. Keep your own vet's number and the Woburn hospital's in your phone before any trip into big woods, along with the name of the clinic nearest where you are staying.