Quillie Millie is very ill

Here is Millie at the shelter--very ill with a face full of infected quills. She is eating a little now, and walking.

UPDATE ONE:
I am happy to report that Kathryn of All Dog Rescue met me in Bemidji today and took Millie, the starving porcupine quill shep and Savannah, a little white shep that was only here at the shelter for 24 hours!!

Millie came in last Saturday with the faceful of quills and has made a speedy recovery. We did, however, find 2 more quills today that surfaced. She will have quills come to the surface of her face for some time. She has gained lots of weight and is feeling much better!

Savannah came yesterday late afternoon and had her lucky day today to start her new life.

Thank you Kathryn and All Dog Rescue.

Sincerely, Karen

UPDATE TWO:
Here's an update on Mille,the quill shep that came in last Saturday near death. . She went to All Dog yesterday- thankfully- as she needed emergency surgery today!! Karen

ALL DOG REPORT ONE:
Hi Karen, I wanted to let you know that sweet Millie is undergoing surgery right now. Her foster mom brought her to the vet today because Millie has been completely lethargic and drooling constantly.

The vet found that Millie's heart and lungs didn't sound good. They were worried the quills had traveled through the skin and embedded into her organs so did x-rays. The good news is that there don't appear to be signs of quills inside, though she does have an enlarged heart and a mild heart murmur, so likely has heart disease. Most importantly, the quills don't seem to have traveled that far, but they found quills in the back of her mouth/top of her throat and she has quills all over that seem to have broken off and then the skin healed over. It's possible the quills will work their way out, but the vet is concerned that the quills will instead push the other direction and get embedded in her organs.

MILLIEOur vet closes at 5pm, but because Millie was in extreme pain, the vet found techs willing to stay late to help Millie. They will be able to remove the quills at the back of her mouth that cannot be done with her conscious, and they will do incisions to remove all the quills they can feel under the skin. They won't get them all, but hopefully the ones they miss will work their way to the surface so they can be pulled out. She will need to remain hospitalized until Monday, but hopefully by then she will feel 100 times better.

You were right - this dog is very special. Incredibly sweet despite the pain. Hopefully she won't have any other issues as a result of the quills. Poor girl. I'm so glad we were able to get her yesterday so that she can get this done today.

Please keep Millie in your thoughts!

Erica
All Dog Rescue

ALL DOG REPORT TWO:
I feel so badly for her. They removed another 30 quills last night (mostly at the back of her mouth and under the skin on her face, neck and chest) and are confident there are more in her.

By shaving the hair they found a TON of abscesses in her skin - major infection all over. They are going to keep her at least until Monday evening and are doing heat compresses to try to get the remaining quills to push out.

They are worried they won't be able to get the infection under control if it is being caused by a quill under the skin that they cannot find. So one day at a time... This poor, poor dog. We are all hoping she survives this ordeal.

Erica
All Dog Rescue