Grass Seed Removal

[Tanyakal1]

After some advice!! my border collie started licking his paw which became swollen, resulting in me seeing a grass seed sticking out of his foot. My dog will not let me touch his feet as he becomes very stressed and aggressive. He was taken to the vet whom muzzled him and were able to pull it out after much struggle. It later became swollen again and it is believed there is some still in his foot. I was able to quickly look at his other toes and have pulled another three out that had entered the skin and I'm unsure if they were all removed . My vet is reluctant to do surgery as last time he was sedated he fought the effects and would not go to sleep which required a higher and more dangerous dose. I am worried about getting surgery because of the danger involved in putting him to sleep. My vet said we can wait and see if they make there way out or get the surgery?? I will give it a couple of days. . Will soaking his feet in salt water every few hours have any benefit ?

[The Spotted Devil]

My Springer had this recently. Grass seeds have a nasty habit of migrating further up the leg which can be quite dangerous. I used a drawing salve on her paw (you can buy it from the chemist), pulled a toddler sock over it and put a doggy boot on it. What this does is soften the skin around the area of the grass allowing the body to use it's natural defences to expel the grass seed. In Em's case a nice little abscess formed and it burst when she was running around leaving the grass seed sticking out such that I could remove it easily. Chat to your vet about trying this if you're worried.

ETA - sorry just re-read your post. Not sure your dog would tolerate the above on his paw if he gets that aggressive.

Edited December 2, 2014 by The Spotted Devil

[persephone]

Not sure what you can do I would suggest though , if & when you can to find a vet who can sedate him - get his feet trimmed bare of hair ..and try & avoid the areas with dry grass have you practiced letting dog have feet handled - slowly and gently ? It may take weeks ...but start perhaps with one finger on his foot for a touch - give him a treat ... then, when that works OK - maybe one stroke ...treat - and so on. Then perhaps , you can put boots on him. if you are unsure- I suggest speaking with a professional trainer....

[Pjrt]

I have had huge success with hydrogen peroxide. You can buy it from the chemist cheaply. For a dog that struggles I would pour it into a sturdy bowl and grab the leg up high behind the elbow, then hol the foot in the solution for as long as possible. It does not appear to sting at all surprisingly. An old bush trick is actually to plunge a blunt syringe of peroxide into the entry point. It bubbles and fizzes and whala out pops your seed! Of course this isn't something everyone would see as acceptable, but that's how it was done in the old days, and it still works if veterinary care is not available for whatever reason. The peroxide has a drawing effect so just soaking the paw may help.

I do feel you will probably end up having to knock him out to fully resolve the issue. You might need antibiotics or analgesics as well.

[Airedaler]

Make up a super saturated solution of sugar and water. Soak some cotton wool in the solution and wrap around the foot. Cover with cling film and a plastic bag or something to hold in place and leave as long as you can. Overnight is good.

I've had great success with this method which was given to me by my vet years ago.

[persephone]

Make up a super saturated solution of sugar and water. Soak some cotton wool in the solution and wrap around the foot. Cover with cling film and a plastic bag or something to hold in place and leave as long as you can. Overnight is good.

I've had great success with this method which was given to me by my vet years ago.

sounds good, Airedaler - except for ....

My dog will not let me touch his feet as he becomes very stressed and aggressive.

[sheena]

It would be a good idea, as Pers said, to get him slowly conditioned to having his feet handled. Maybe someone has been rough with him in the past. Lots of yummy treats (I would use a clicker) & a little bit at a time. How are you going to trim his nails if you can't handle his feet I would be putting a soft muzzle on him if he gets that aggressive & it is absolutely necessary to handle his feet. Again introduce it slowly & in a positive manner :)

[cavNrott]

Grass seeds are wicked this year. I saw my Cavalier shaking his head and stopped our walk to see what was going on. He was squinting a little and on pulling his eyelid down, there was a barley grass seed inside his bottom lid. Same dog was on my bed and I was stroking his neck and felt something. Yep, another barley grass seed pointing directly inwards towards his skin. Successfully removed. The bindis are worse this year too.

Even in the garden. I've never seen weeds grow as prolifically as they have this year. Every morning there a hundreds of healthy looking young weeds that were not there yesterday because I'd pulled them all out.

[Florise]

If your dog is in areas where there are grass seeds you need to check them thoroughly every day, the same way you would for ticks. Best way to do it is invest in a forced air dryer, put them up in a table and blow the coat so you can visualise every bit of skin, with focus on between toes, between paw pads, underarms, genitals and ears. Put snoods on them when they are out to prevent longer ears picking up seeds which can then work their way down ear canals. You could also trim their feet closely.

[Tanyakal1]

Thanks for the advice everyone, very helpful. I have been soaking his feet in a warm bath of salt water and they are looking ok. I'm going to play it by ear and see how the swelling goes. He does let me touch his feet for a short time before he gets upset so I am slowly trying to cut the hair and clean them up, just a very unhappy boy. Nothing happened to him as a pup he just does not like to be touched in certain areas and lucky I have never had to trim his nails and he's 6 years old , I take him for lots of walks which keep them down. I have been reading a bit about silicea which is suppose to remove foreign objects from the body, a homeopathy remedy, may be the next option. I have now learnt my lesson and this will not happen again. Thanks everyone

[Dogsfevr]

I would say find another vet if he doesn't sedate well then they just knock him out & you pay more

Grass seeds don't always come out where they go in ,they can enter the feet & come out up the leg,on the body ,they travel so making sure the area has been fully cleaned is important .

I would suggest you buy a muzzle ,if your dog has a seed there then reality is you need to get it out or the wound tended to ,put a muzzle on and do the job well the first time ,

Grass seeds don't just appear in the feet they can enter any where & as a groomer i dread this time of the year ,you can smell dogs that have infected grass seeds wounds & often its more of a moment as the when pops .

Peroxide is great for cleaning out the wounds but if there is anything left inside it will keep festering & the dogs will often lick them & make it worse

[Steph M]

We have them popping up in the yard this year, and we never have before. WTF.

I am keeping a close eye on the dogs but Gus picks up loads of them, the jerk. :)

[newfsie]

It would be a good idea, as Pers said, to get him slowly conditioned to having his feet handled. Maybe someone has been rough with him in the past. Lots of yummy treats (I would use a clicker) & a little bit at a time. How are you going to trim his nails if you can't handle his feet I would be putting a soft muzzle on him if he gets that aggressive & it is absolutely necessary to handle his feet. Again introduce it slowly & in a positive manner :)

I do this with my newfie rescues, i could not get near their feet, but after some click and treat and slowly increasing what i do. i now get offered feet. i have six dogs, so that is 24 feet that need frequent checking. I can also pull ourt the seed and even pen it up more to get them out. I also use animal lintex which really helps if they have gone very deep. it is more like a poultice, We do daily check and also use the blower after each walk. A lot of work this year. But the dogs are so used to it now, they wait their turn....yummy treats is more important to them

Edited December 3, 2014 by newfsie

[cavNrott]

My dogs are walked only on paved footpaths and a well mown tiny walk through park at the end of my court. The only weeds we come across are those that are growing in neglected nature strips.

I go over my dogs thoroughly every night. However the barley seed I found in my dog's eye I saw instantly that he was shaking and blinking so was able to remove offending seed before any harm was done.

[mybilly]

I second the hydrogen peroxide but instead of soaking the foot in it, I poured it over the paw 3-4 times worked really well.