A Prickly Problem - UPDATED

I swear lately I have been having nothing but bad luck and setbacks. On Thursday morning, Thanksgiving Day I went out to feed the dogs when I noticed something strange on Oscar's face. I did not have my glasses on but I did notice he was walking with a limp...that is nothing new as being a stray, he is always getting into fights.

A very sad looking Oscar.

Tammie was nowhere in sight but that is not odd either as she seems to have set houses which she visits for breakfast.  Like most people I go in and out of the house as I do my morning chores. By now I had my glasses on when I caught a glimpse of Oscar's face.  My goodness, he had all these prickly things on the side of his face.  My first thought was he had a run in with a cactus but these were not cactus needles...they were thicker and white.  He also had quills on his legs.

He already had an injured face from a previous dog fight
and now he went and made it worst :-(

Then I saw Tammie's face and it became obvious that she and Oscar had had a run in with a porcupine and got the short end of the stick.

Tammie

I went in to get my long nose pliers and was able to pry two porcupine quills off Oscar's face before he ran off.

If you are a long time reader you know that Tammie is a little wild stray that does not allow human contact of any kind. They could not have chosen a worst time to have had a run in with a porcupine.

Even if there had been an open veterinary clinic on Thanksgiving, how was I going to get them both inside the car?  Better yet how was I going to get them inside the clinic, in particular, Tammie?

While I can not be certain, I believe Tammie and Oscar have been strays all their lives. I do not think they have ever ridden in a vehicle and I had no idea how they would react.

Yesterday they were not able to eat. Today I opened a can of dog food and while they did not eat much at least they ate something.

I called the City of Del Rio dog pound Friday morning, but I believe they were closed as no one answered.  While I know they can not help me since we live outside of the Del Rio city limits, I was hoping they could offer some suggestions.

I called "A Pet's Wish" a local non-profit shelter but no one has returned my call.  I decided to Google it and it was strongly suggested not try to pull the quills yourself or you could traumatize your dog. They mention that your dog has to be sedated and depending on the number of quills could possibly have to undergo surgery.  Dang, that all sounds expensive to me and to make matters worst, it will be multiplied by two :(

Good night.  May you have Terlingua Dreams.