Grass Awn Dog Treatment

How to protect your dog from grass awn injury.

Grass awn dog treatment.

Grass awns are deadly dangerous for your dog. Your vet may attempt to remove the grass awn if possible while your dog is still under sedation. In cases where the grass awn is suspected to have migrated through a body cavity imaging such as x rays or ultrasound may be required to located the foreign material. Tai s illness finally culminated in a pyothorax that required chest drains at the university of wisconsin madison veterinary hospital.

The problem with grass awns is that they are difficult to be located. The grass awn project started when i had a field bred english springer spaniel that suffered recurring bouts of unexplained illness approximately every three months for almost a year. Unfortunately owners can do only so much to protect their pets from the effects of grass awns. How to protect your dog from grass awn injury.

They get sniffed into dog noses work their way into dog ears and lodge between dog toes. Grass awns can be inhaled swallowed and even penetrate the dog s skin. Treatment typically is continued for a period of 6 12 months with long courses of medication required to clear infection. Simple awn or seed removal can be as little as 50.

The ultimate goal is successful removal of the foreign body debridement and drainage of infected tissue and long term antibiotic therapy to resolve infection. Once inside they start a relentless crawl forward traveling deeper into a dog. Stopping medication too early can allow the signs of discospondylitis to recur even in a dog that was showing dramatic signs of improvement. Your dog may need to be sedated if the grass awn is in an area like the mouth or nose or if the affected area is very painful.

Cost of treatment cost can vary greatly depending on the severity of the condition. The seeds of the nasty foxtail grass seem to have a special affinity for invading dogs bodies. Each of these sites is a mere port of entry for these sturdy seeds. For working dogs or for dogs that spend a lot of their time recreating outdoors in tall grass there are commercially available vests that cover the chest and abdomen as well as full head coverings.

Moderate cases may cost 200 to 500 to sedate a pet find and remove the awn and treat any infection or abscess. In some cases the abscess can be opened and the foreign body removed.