grass seed

[ips]

Indeed Judy. But you hear so many scarey stories that you can get paranoid.

[madrags]

I nearly lost Buzz to a seed that (vet thought) entered through his paw and worked into his chest cavity, where it caused a massive abscess. Took a three hour op to find the seed. Since then, I take them all to the groomer at the start of the summer to have their feet clipped out.

[Judy]

All too easy to get paranoid but in over 30 years of dog owning I've only met 5 people who have had the problem with their dog, however it has, sometimes, been more than once with the same dog so it seems that some dogs may be more prone than others, possibly they are less sensitive about the feet or too busy to do anything about the prickling sensation? My lot, touch wood, are always stopping to remove bits from their coats and feet so maybe less prone to problems. Can be nasty things to deal with thats for sure.

I can't make up my mind re trimming the feet I've known one dog with trimmed feet get problems and one who never had another problem once the owners trimmed his feet. All mine are trimmed all year round, I can't face the amount of muck 12 or 16 hairy yeti boots can bring in.

[trekmoor]

So far, I have never seen or even heard of a dog in Scotland getting this problem. Does this variety of grass seed only grow in parts of England ?

Wullie

[druimmuir]

Have heard of 2 dogs in Scotland lost that way with a seed that had made it into the chest and subsequently formed an abscess which unfortunately was too bad with infection before the vets could find out the cause and it ended their lives...

[Matt]

In East Anglia it is a pretty common problem, I know of 3 surgeries just among my friend's spaniels to remove seeds that have worked their way in, and seen plenty of seeds which had started to go in but could be pulled out by hand. My labs don't suffer from them apart from a few weeks when it seems the seeds shed from the stalk and then they get into their fur but are fairly easy to find and pull out. Spaniels: different story, they seem to get them in their paws and ears very easily...

[MDP]

Walt fell victim to one between the toes the other week. Back foot swollen and red. Vets next morning and luckily they managed to get some forceps down the entry hole and fish it out! Lucky as thought it was op time.

Saw a dog on a training day the other week with one stuck in and a swollen paw, other people on the day had advised bathing the foot in water as hot as the dog could tolerate, I would rather part with a but of cash and get it sorted rather than risk it but that's me

[High On]

I call them mean weeds. Here in the west coast of the US we have two very common grass awns. One is called fox tail, the other rip gut broam. Fox tail is notorious for lodging between toes, finding its way into the ear canal and inhaled through the nose or mouth ultimately lodging in the lung. The nose inhalation is usually noticed when the animal sneezes uncontrollably for some time. Sometimes blood will be seen as a result of tissue aggravation combined with sneezing. Rip jut broam is just as bad. Mae Mae has an attraction for broom and her eyes. I have gently removed broam from her eyes three times. ALWAYS check your dogs thoroughly after each trip to the field. Especially during dry months.

[bird]

We're booked into the vet tomorrow morning as I've been checking every day but I've missed one and my dogs toe is obviously swollen. His feet look like they've been attacked by a lawnmower as I've hacked all the hair away from his yeti feet. Feeling very disappointed that I missed one

[Judy]

How's his foot, Bird?