PARKER, Co. (WSVN) — A Colorado couple jumped into action when a dog injured by a porcupine made its way to their front porch.
The couple woke to find the dog in front of their house and at first believed the dog was simply cold. "He was actually on the mat," said Sean Pace. "I saw all this white all over his face and I thought maybe he was frosted."
Upon a closer look, the couple saw that the 1-year-old boxer-mix named Canello was actually covered in porcupine quills.
Canello had quills covering his face, snout and legs and Pace worked to help the canine out. "I was trying to check his tag," Pace said. "He wasn’t happy about that at first. We managed to get him some food. Got the police called and managed to get him wrapped up in a blanket finally."
Police told Pace that they had been searching for Canello since Christmas eve. Police said that Canello ran away from his foster home in Aurora after he had been given up by his owner.
Officials saw Canello earlier in the week but he ran away again. Luckily, he found a family that gave him the care he needed. "Many of them were inside his mouth, in his tongue, nose and his neck and his leg. Some of the quills had gone in one of his eyelids but had fortunately missed the eyeball itself," said Dr. Jeff Fankhauser, the chief veterinarian at Castle Rock Buddy Center.
Veterinarians said it took nearly three hours to remove all of the quills. "The process is fairly straight forward, unfortunately porcupine quills are barbed," Fankhauser said. "We were able to put Canello under anesthesia. At this point he has recovered well from the procedure. He’s already eating and he looks very stable."
It is unclear how long Canello was walking around with the quills but the Pace family was happy to be able to help. "He was a sweetheart whoever gets him next will be lucky to have a nice dog," Pace said.