An agonizing run-in with a porcupine left a boxer-mix with hundreds of quills stuck in his face and legs.
Heartbreaking photographs posted online show the spines painfully lodged in 1-year-old Canello's snout, tongue, neck, eyelids and paws.
Sean Pace found the injured dog curled up asleep on his porch in Aurora, Colorado, at 6 a.m. on Friday, reports Fox31.
"We managed to get him some food," Pace said. "Got the police called, and managed to get him wrapped up in a blanket finally."
Police in nearby Parker, Colorado, said in a Facebook post that Animal Control officers had been looking for Canello for two weeks, since he escaped from his foster home in Aurora on Dec. 24.
According to the Castle Rock News-Press, Canello's previous owner had given him up to the Dumb Friends League's Buddy Center animal shelter in Castle Rock, Colorado. It's not clear why.
Canello likely had his encounter with the spiky animal at some point on Thursday, as he was spotted quill-free on Wednesday, per reports. Canello spent three hours having the spines surgically removed from his coat on Friday.
"Many of them were inside his mouth, in his tongue, nose, and his neck and his leg," chief veterinarian Jeff Fankhauser told Fox31. "Some of the quills had gone in one of his eyelids but had, fortunately, missed the eyeball itself."
Canello will be taken to the DFL's Denver shelter over the weekend. Fankhauser said the pooch was eating and in stable condition. The shelter said it could take some time for Canello to make a full recovery, but he'll be put up for adoption once he's fit, reports CBS Denver.
"Canello is going to need some time to heal," the animal welfare organization said in a statement. "After that he is going to need a new family and home to show him the love he has missed out on these past few weeks."
Anyone interested in giving Canello a forever home can contact the Dumb Friends League at 303-751-5772.
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