Why Foxtails Are So Dangerous to Dogs (how to prevent injury)
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Late summer and early fall is the classic time for foxtails, grass awns, and barley grass seeds to burrow into paws, ears, eyes, noses and more.
Understanding why they can be so dangerous and difficult to remove can help you prevent your dog from having to deal with this painful and potentially dangerous problem.
In this video you’ll discover:
How foxtails burrow into a dog’s skin and why they are not going to fall out on their own
The common problems grass awns can cause
Steps you can take to keep your dog free from painful foxtail injuries and infections
+ Full Transcript
Foxtails, grass awns, barley grass, grass seeds, whatever you call them. They can cause all kinds of problems getting into pores, ears, and plenty of other parts of the body. And if you want to know the biggest number of foxtails I've pulled out of a single dog's ear, you'd better stick around.
Hi, I'm Dr. Alex from Our Pets Health, helping you and your pet live a healthier, happier life. Today, I want to talk about why grass awns can be a real problem, how they get through your dog's skin, and also how you can prevent them from being an issue in your pet's health.
So, foxtails usually cause more problems to dogs in late summer and early autumn when all the seeds are out and the conditions are still dry.
So, I've got a few barley grass or grass awns here, and you can see how they are kind of triangular. And it's the point that starts to burrow in. The thing with this shape though, is that as soon as they start moving, they only track in one way, because they've also got little barbs that you can't really see.
And there are a number of steps that you can take as their own to help reduce the risk of your dog suffering from nasty, painful abscesses, or even worse.
First is to simply avoid any areas where there are fields with barley in them or with other kinds of grass. Remove any foxtails from your garden, that kind of thing.
The next step that's especially important if you've got a dog with long hair, especially hairy feet is to actually keep them clipped and trimmed really short because that will help you visualize things sooner and it will help reduce the risk of the grass seed from sticking in their fur in the first place.
Checking your dog after every walk is really important. So, checking their feet, checking in between their toes, lifting up their ears, checking in their ears, under their armpits, in their groin, wherever it is. Just run your hands over your dog. Brush them out so that they're not going to have any grass seeds stuck there that can then cause problems.
And this is a great thing that you should do as well if you've got ticks in your area or other kinds of creepy crawlies that could pose a risk to their health in other ways.
To demonstrate what can happen to your dog is I've got a foxtail here. And as soon as it comes into contact with their skin, it actually sticks. And I can't really pull that away very easily.
What will then happen is as your dog's running, especially if it's between their toes or maybe it's under there kind of around their head, underneath that ear flap, which has then kind of flapping around and moving is that foxtail, it starts to move.
And because of the way that the barbs are facing is it starts to burrow in. So, you can see that that point has already disappeared.
Now, as your dog moves more, it's going to work more and more and more and more through their skin, maybe into their ear where it can set up a really painful abscess. And you can see here that very quickly, it's working its way through the swabs and it's tracking. And this is why it can track kind of right the way into ear canals.
It can track all the way up legs despite entering in between the toes. And you can imagine just how painful that is. So, you can see it's going through all of these levels, all of these swabs, and it's burying really deep.
If you do find a foxtail poking into your dog's skin, then you can remove it with tweezers or if it's only just in there, with your fingertips. And then just keep that wound clean and there shouldn't be any kind of problem at all.
If you do find a painful swelling in between their toes, then you're going to need to take them to the veterinarian and do that quickly because it's pretty sore. Also, if they're shaking their head all of a sudden, and you can't see anything there, or their eyes squinting, and again, they won't let you have a good look. You're going to need to take them to your vet because there is a potential that the grass awns could be somewhere else. And that could be really painful.
And as for how many foxtails I've pulled out of a single dog's ear, well, it was five in one year and they had two in the other. So, no wonder they were pretty uncomfortable.
Overheating and heatstroke is another huge risk towards the end of summer. So, if you want to know how to keep your pet cool and avoid heatstroke, make sure you check out my video series linked on screen now.
And until next time, I'm Dr. Alex. This is Our Pets Health because they're family
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