Beware of foxtails

[ratz]

Two weeks in a row, they got me.
The first weekend my dog chased a squirrel, and she came out of the thicket shaking he head a lot. I look in her ear and see nothing.
My wife took the dog to the vet the next day, and found that the dog had a foxtail between her eyeball, and her eye lid. we couldn't see it, but it was scratching her eye. he pulled it out just in time. $345.
A couple of days later she is still favoring that side, and he finds one deep in her ear.
His office has warnings about foxtails, and the dangers.
I went scouting in the mountains, and my socks, and hiking boots were so full of them it was amazing. It took me about 2 hours to clean out my boots, and I threw my socks away.
I suppose the good rain we got may have contributed to the large crop of foxtails.
Beware with your dogs!

 

[Larry Cochran]

Thanks for the info Ratz. I use to have an English Setter who would have foxtails stuck in her ears, its a money maker for the vets.

Thanks again,

 

[NBK]

Great post...Thanks for the info!

 

[Matagi]

This year seems really bad. I took my two hog dogs in to the vet last week after they both came out of thick brush shaking their heads. They caught a hog but ended up catching a foxtail in both ears... 800 dollars later I decided to keep them out of the woods for a while.

Last summer I didn't have any issues but seems like this summer, those nasty things are every where.