A pit bull from New Jersey fought a porcupine. The vicious dog savagely attacked the other animal during the battle, but it was not very successful. The dog was rushed to a local veterinarian’s office to be treated for the attack, leaving the family with a vet expense of $19,500!

The pit bull did not make it after the quarrel with the porcupine. Its body was filled with quills, and as a result of attacking the other animal, suffered immense injuries. The dog’s owner got help from the vet immediately, but despite their best efforts, they were unable to save its life. Not only does this family have to grieve the loss of their pet, but also incurred a $20,000 bill for services used in an attempt to save it.

Chester, the dog in question, was nine years old at the time of the attack and did not survive due to the porcupine’s defensive strategy, which stuck the dog with numerous quills all over its body. Chester’s owner, 22-year-old Miranda DeGennaro, said that staff at the animal hospital had “never seen quills that bad in their entire life.” Chester was nine years old when he was attacked by a porcupine; as a result, he did not survive.

The porcupine strayed into the backyard of a family in Sussex County, New Jersey early in the morning on September 2, 2022. Their dog Chester noticed it and savagely attacked the porcupine. The quills from the animal pierced Chester so badly that he didn’t survive despite his owner’s rushing him to an animal hospital nearby.

“We saw him running and barking, so we ran down the deck, but it was too late,” DeGennaro said.

The vet carefully removed all the quills they could see but was still worried about the ones not visible. They feared that the dog may have been stabbed across its body with them.

“The quills don’t really show up in CAT scans and x-rays. The damage is what shows up,” DeGennaro stated. “You can’t even do anything to see exactly where they are, so they did the best they could. But being that he swallowed some, they just went everywhere.”

A quill was discovered near the dog’s heart and several quills were discovered in the animal’s lungs, esophagus, and gastrointestinal tract after the animal had attacked a porcupine.

DeGennaro was told that she needed to make a $12,000 down payment for the operation in order to save Chester’s life. She didn’t have the cash on hand. Nonetheless, in an attempt to save Chester, the hospital carried out the surgery despite the high cost. The dog died after undergoing treatment for porcupine injuries while in surgery.

Now, the young dog owner is responsible for a nearly $20,000 vet bill.

“He really did need the surgery, and obviously, we all thought he was going to live. It was really important for him to get the surgery,” said DeGennaro. “I really thought he was going to make it.”