Northern Hemisphere Alert: It’s Foxtail Season!
For those of you who live in foxtail territory, be careful! I just finished working a shift at an emergency hospital in northern California, where foxtails reign supreme. In a period of 12 hours, I was party to the removal of five foxtails from pets. Two were in ears, two were in noses, and one was in an eye.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with grass awns (colloquially called foxtails), I recommend that you check the link above. Foxtails aren’t present in every locale. But in areas where they grow, foxtails are public enemy number one as far as pets are concerned.
Foxtails occur where long grass (especially wild barley) has gone to seed and dried. They are sharp, irritating plant parts that can embed in the socks of hikers, or in virtually any body part of a pet. If a foxtail works its way into a pet’s ear, he may shake his head violently, rub the ear, or whine when the ear is touched. In the nose, foxtails cause violent sneezing. Foxtails embedded in eyes cause phenomenal pain, squinting, and swelling. In the skin, they cause bleeding, swelling, hair loss, and excessive licking.
Regardless of location, embedded foxtails are painful and have the potential to migrate to distant parts of the body. And once one is embedded, you’ll be looking at a costly vet bill to search for it. Removal is not guaranteed.
My advice: learn whether foxtails are present in your area. If they are, learn what they look like. And then, avoid them like the plague! If you let your pet roam through tall, dry seeded grass, you may end up in the waiting room of a veterinary emergency clinic–nobody’s favorite place to pass time.
Photo from great Dog Owner’s Guide to California Foxtail
You have questions. 
Is there any in south/east Georgi around the St. Marys/Kingsland area?
We have them in the Midwest. At our clinic, too, we’ve seen the same types of issues. As if ticks weren’t enough of a reason to be careful letting your dog run through the fields.
Last week my dog had a huge abcess under his right jaw. I took him in right away and they did emergency surgery. Along with a half a cup of pus, he had a foxtail burried in there. He was very sick with a 104 fever, close to sepsis. Today I am taking him in to have his stitches removed.
Thankfully I caught it in time.
They are very dangerous. Please check your pets carefully.
[…] Do you live in an area of North America with those pesky and dangerous plant pods known as Foxtails? If so, check out Dogster’s Vet Blog for info on Foxtail season. […]
It is easy to say, stay away, but here in California, they are everywhere. My 16 year old dog had one in a salivary gland and my 4 month old dog has retro bulbar abcess–possibly a fox tail, we do not know. I live on a farm, currently with acres and acres of fox tails. And it is not even June yet.
[…] Do you live in an area of North America with those pesky and dangerous plant pods known as Foxtails? If so, check out Dogster’s Vet Blog for info on Foxtail season. […]
Living on a ranch in Northern CA, we perform a daily foxtail check on all our pets (1 dog and 3 cats) and daily brushing, too. Even this is not enough to prevent foxtails… one of our cats picked up a foxtail in its eye on Saturday. We thought we removed it, but a visit to our vet today confirmed another foxtail and part of another in the eye-which were removed.
Another tactic we do is a short cut for all the long haired pets. The foxtail still grab onto the coat, but at least you can easily see it for removal.
My mom gives me garlic to fight the tics in the park. Are there Foxtails in New York City?
I need to stay healthy so I can BARK THE VOTE
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Oooops I hit enter too soon by mistake!
I meant to say:
Pooch Press Conference
I know all about these. They are pesky little things. We thought we had them all out but the groomer found some in my feet and warned us to be careful because they cause infections really easily. Good to know now the trick is how to avoid them here in California where they are EVERYWHERE!!!!
I have a field next to my house that my cat LOVES! I’m aware that there are foxtails out there and it is next to impossible to keep her out. She was out there on Sat and hasn since started sneezing on Sun morning. She has had 2 short waves of violent sneezing. My questions is: The vets closed today - is it going to be dangerous to wait until tomorrow to have her checked? What if they can’t find it? what happens to the foxtail at that point? If anyone has any insight it would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks!
Lisa
I’ve seen these grasses everywhere in the summer in the Uk, never knew they could be such a problem!
Luckily my cats are in an area where all grass is mown and NEVER goes to seed. However, my dads cat Barney had to have an eye removed from infection, and their garden is VERY overgrown. Its worth bearing in mind what plants can do to your pets.
Hi,
My dog is a malamute and she had been romping in an area in central oregon where ticks and foxtail are prevalent. I took her to a vet a 10 days after our trip because she was developing and lump around an area where it was red and a puncture wound existed. He thought it could be a foxtail barb and suggested antibiotics for a week and if that doesn’t make it better, a $700.00 surgery. I got a second opinion and this vet does not think it is foxtail because he said the hole would not cover over, that it would weep. Does anyone have experience with this?
thanks,