anybody here familiar with fisher cat behavior?

[magical thyme]

20. from the mspca and petmd

http://www.mspca.org/programs/wildlife-resources/species-information/about-porcupines.html

PUBLIC HEALTH CONCERNS

Porcupines do not carry any communicable diseases that are of concern to humans, except, as with any mammal, they can contract rabies.

Porcupines are primarily nocturnal animals who rest during the day in hollow trees and logs, underground burrows or in crevices found in rocky areas.


http://www.petmd.com/blogs/fullyvetted/2007/may/porcupines-and-dogs%C2%A6-prickly-pattern-conflict

For starters, porcupines carry rabies. Of course, that presupposes that the dog can get anywhere close enough to get bitten.

My concern was the napping in the middle of an open field is abnormal behavior for a fisher cat and for a porcupine. And yes, rabies is very rare in opossums. It was not an opossum napping in my pasture; it was/is a porcupine. So now I'm less worried about rabies than my dogs getting quilled. They are not the brightest when it comes to porcupines.