3-4 hours ago my 5mo blf inhaled something when we were walking in the field. She had a sudden 15 minute sneezing bout, which resulted in a bloody nose and much slobber. We could not see anything inside her nostral, but it appeared to be the right side, possibly some puffyness in her right eye also. Not able to hold her still enough to really examine it deeply or probe. We gave her a dog tranquilzer to calm her down and her sneezing fits went down quickly to a couple sneezes every hour or so. She does not appear to be in distress, but the prolonged sneezing worries me. Don't know for sure what it is, just guessing it could be foxtail since there are some in the area, mostly very small. Any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated. Bud
Possibly inhailed foxtail, sneezing often
Bud Bass
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3-4 hours ago my 5mo blf inhaled something when we were walking in the field. She had a sudden 15 minute sneezing bout, which resulted in a bloody nose and much slobber. We could not see anything inside her nostral, but it appeared to be the right side, possibly some puffyness in her right eye also. Not able to hold her still enough to really examine it deeply or probe. We gave her a dog tranquilzer to calm her down and her sneezing fits went down quickly to a couple sneezes every hour or so. She does not appear to be in distress, but the prolonged sneezing worries me. Don't know for sure what it is, just guessing it could be foxtail since there are some in the area, mostly very small. Any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated. Bud
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My golden did this exact same thing last year at the local club's training day. She sneezed blood but did not slobber and her eye did not swell. By some miracle we saw her sneeze out the fox tail. A few minutes later things calmed down and she was fine. I would go to the vet since she has some symptoms that are a little worriesome though.
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Had this happen with my cocker spaniel out tracking.... by the time I got to the vet, her nostril had swollen - gave drugs to take down the swelling. Next morning, one more big sneeze... and that was it. They were going to scope her, but there was no need, after that. Need to have your vet take a peek..
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Get the dog looked at by a vet tomorrow. If it's a foxtail, it will travel, and not necessarily in the direction you'd like it to.
http://www.essfta.org/Health_Research/grass_awn.htm
(Dogs don't always show signs of 'distress'; the lack of which should not be a criteria used to rule out that there's a problem.)
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Get her to a vet as soon as you can-preferably one who can scope her nose. It'll be up in there by now. If she starts coughing, get her lungs scoped and pray they find it. I've dealt with an inhaled foxtail-fortunately it came out-as an abscess at the end of his rib cage. The thing migrated all the way through his lungs. Some dogs are not so lucky...
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Get her to the vet. I did not and it migrated to her spine. By the time we realized anything was wrong (months later), half of L1 was gone and moving into L2 due to bone infection. Thankfully, Clavamox has kept it under control. But a lifetime of Clavamox is not cheap!!! Jean
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He's doing great - thanks for asking. But I came frighteningly close to losing him from the awn he inhaled. (I'm assuming you read the RTF string.)
This is a very insidious process. Frankly, a dog sneezing that violently is a strange 'blessing' in that this is an indicator that there is possibly an invasive foreign body issue.
With Blaze, I never had that luxury. It was months later when he started to decline precipitously, in spite of all the tests and diagnostics that had already been performed.
I'm lucky he was finally diagnosed correctly; although at that point, the situation had become an emergency.
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Thanks to everybody for their help and advice, especially you "3blackdogs" and the additional reading material you posted. We got her to a emergency vet this afternoon and $350 later we have two 1" foxtails to show for it, that were found up her nose via a scope. Hope there arn't more up there. Thanks again, Bud
G
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·Awesome news!!! Wow, I'm so thankful that we don't have that stuff around here. When I was considering going to the MN in California, I asked Glenda Brown to send me some so I could see what it looked like. It really scared me to think about training anywhere near it...
I'm so glad your pup is ok. $350 sounds like a good deal!!!
I'm so glad your pup is ok. $350 sounds like a good deal!!!
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Good deal!
A couple of years ago, Daisy had two surgeries about three months apart to clear out weed seeds. The first time the swelling was very sudden and extensive, nothing was located. A few months later when the infection flared up again, they were found. We were lucky because the seeds were outside the rib cage. Internal migrations can be extremely serious.
She went through a lot of discomfort, and I was out about $1200.
Can't keep them in a padded room regards, Jim
"Daisy not having fun"
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A couple of years ago, Daisy had two surgeries about three months apart to clear out weed seeds. The first time the swelling was very sudden and extensive, nothing was located. A few months later when the infection flared up again, they were found. We were lucky because the seeds were outside the rib cage. Internal migrations can be extremely serious.
She went through a lot of discomfort, and I was out about $1200.
Can't keep them in a padded room regards, Jim
"Daisy not having fun"
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That's great news Bud, I'm very glad you got her into the doc and that they found the foxtails. I kept the grass awn they pulled out of Blaze after 4+ hours of major abdominal surgery. (I posted a photo on the Blaze thread.)
I still think I might have it bronzed. Trust me, that little piece of the biome cost me many many more times what you spent. And worth every last penny too.
So better to catch the foxtails early before they have a chance to migrate to parts unknown....and unreachable.
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Nancy, I'm starting to think that there aren't many places where a dog can't get into something. We don't really know where Blaze picked up that grass awn. Because the abscess was so long and encapsulated, the surgeon thought it had been going on for months. And in that time, he had been in Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, and I think Alabama.
There are a number of nasty grasses, and a prevalent one is Canada Wild Rye. It is frequently planted in prairie restorations as a cool season quick cover grass. The awns on that stuff are like velcro: one got into the back fur of the old Chessie/Lab I have, Chance, and burrowed into his back muscle, causing an abscess. It was relatively mild and took some time to discover since Chance sports that luxuriously dense coat of the Chesapeakes.
This is a helpful website:
http://plants.usda.gov/checklist.html
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Lydia, how would I use that chart to see what grass awns may be around us? You have to know the name of the plants in order to search right? Could you give me the names of the more common ones? Thanks a lot.
We are planning a cross country trip that will take us from SC to OR via GA, AL, AR, OK, NM, UT, CO, ID, MT and maybe a little of WY. I'd like to know what to look out for.
We are planning a cross country trip that will take us from SC to OR via GA, AL, AR, OK, NM, UT, CO, ID, MT and maybe a little of WY. I'd like to know what to look out for.
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Awhile ago there was a gal from Milwaukee that said both her Goldens had developed huge abcesses in their heads practically overnight. She was going out to the Southern Kettle Moraine with them. I told her to check for foxtail and her vet told her it wasn't around here, but luckily, he pursued it and it was foxtail they found. Both the dogs recovered. It does look like another native grass, but it is around SE Wisconsin.
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For that particular search tool, you can do a state search without specifying a name, either scientific or common, but you will get a list of every species of plant everywhere, so that's not going to be very helpful unless you're entertaining getting a botany degree on the side.
A few suggestions:
1. Search this forum (grass awn, foxtail, canada rye, abscess etc.) There have been threads on this specific subject and most of the time, you can tell what area the posters are from.
2. Perhaps start a new thread with your route of travel and ask for input from folks that live in those areas as to what to look out for. The RTF family is far-flung and alot of people are very knowledgeable on this subject.
3. Ask your vet. He/she may have more than local knowledge of problem plants or can point you in the right direction to find that information out.
4. I just found this website, it appears to be the formalized site for the Grass Awn Project - which is in development.
http://www.meanseeds.com/about/
The main culprits are listed (foxtail, rye) and have links to either state or USDA websites that have coverage maps and photos. There's also a section on diagnosis and treatment, complete with all the yuck photos you can stand showing what havoc grass awns can wreak. What I find interesting on this site is that the creator is starting a database of case histories. There is a form on the website for submission, and not just for English Springers. I don't know if the 'meanseeds' website is sponsored by the Springer group or is one person's crusade. But it's interesting, nonetheless. Here's the English Springer group's original website on the grass awn project:
http://www.essfta.org/Health_Research/grass_awn.htm
As someone posted earlier, you can't wrap your dog in a protective bubble, but I think the main message is awareness: know what to look for, and do a good once over on your dog with regularity, particularly after training/hunting. Look in eyes and ears, check the paw pads and between toes, run your hands through their coats to the extent you can. And if you see things like violent and repetitive sneezing or head-shaking, take it seriously.
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Yes, Blaze is the Poster Child and President-elect for the invasive foreign body/grass awn survival club.Hey Lydia,
Saw baby Blaze last week, he is looking great! Hard to believe all that bad stuff happened. So glad he's ok, what a sweetie.
Paulie is going to ask you to take Evan in, her teeth need looking at. I know, off topic....
Isn't he fun as heck? As Paul says, "Blaze thinks every day is a great day." He's the life of the party when he's home.
I'll send you a PM about Evan.
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