When Lily, our 12-year-old toy poodle combine, first began licking and chewing on her paw, I assumed she had some filth caught between her toes or just felt somewhat itchy. We cleaned her paws and gave her a medicated tub, hoping that will maintain any discomfort.
However just a few days later, she began to limp. And despite the fact that nothing was clearly incorrect together with her leg, I instantly suspected the potential wrongdoer. It’s one thing Marin Humane warns canine guardians about fairly ceaselessly: the dreaded foxtail.
Foxtail vegetation develop in fields, alongside the aspect of the highway and even in your yard. The difficulty begins when the foxtails dry out in spring and summer time, altering from inexperienced to beige and turning into stiff and sharp.
These pesky, bristly vegetation develop in abundance all through California and bought their title due to their foxlike tails created by the bristly awns of the plant. Due to their spikes, they will simply turn out to be entangled in pet fur — however that’s not almost the worst of it.
As soon as they’re embedded, foxtails can solely transfer ahead due to their barbed form. This implies they will migrate deeper and deeper into your canine’s pores and skin in the event that they aren’t discovered straight away. Additionally they don’t break down within the physique to allow them to result in abscesses and infections if lodged within the pores and skin or in a paw.
Staying away from grassy areas the place foxtails are in abundance is step one you'll be able to soak up protecting your canine protected. In case you discover foxtail vegetation in your personal yard, you should definitely pull them straight away. However since we all know foxtails are pretty unavoidable, there are different issues you are able to do to maintain your canine foxtail-free.
While you come dwelling from a hike, do a radical test of your canine’s physique, taking particular care to test their nostril, eyes, ears and paws. There are some telltale warning indicators that your pup’s being bothered by an errant foxtail, so preserve an eye fixed out for these:
• Licking or chewing their paw. This could imply a foxtail is lodged between their toes or in a pad.
• Pawing at their ears, eyes or nostril. Foxtails can get caught in all of those delicate spots.
• Frequent or intense sneezing, or discharge from the nostril. Foxtails are simply inhaled when your canine goes about their standard sniffing.
• Discharge and swelling across the eye. Even in case you can’t see a foxtail upon first look, it might have migrated into the attention.
• A head tilt or head shaking. This generally is a signal of a foxtail caught in an ear.
Some canines can profit from a mesh hood, such because the OutFox Area Guard. Whereas the hood could look a bit uncommon, it retains your canine’s eyes, nostril and ears safely foxtail-free whereas nonetheless permitting them to breathe, sniff, play and even drink like they usually would.
In case your canine does find yourself with an embedded foxtail, a visit to your veterinarian is so as. Ready will solely enable the foxtail to maneuver deeper into the pores and skin, so don’t delay. Your veterinarian will be capable of safely take away the pesky awn whereas additionally treating any attainable an infection.
As for our candy Lily, we had been fortunate to get her seen at her veterinarian the next day. And certainly, they extracted a bloody foxtail from her paw. A couple of days of the dreaded cone of disgrace and a course of antibiotics later, Lily has fully recovered from the ordeal. Whereas it was heartbreaking to see her endure earlier than (and after) her process, I’m grateful we acknowledged the hazard shortly.
Carina DeVera is the digital advertising supervisor for Marin Humane, which contributes Tails of Marin articles and welcomes animal-related questions and tales concerning the individuals and animals in our neighborhood. Go to marinhumane.org, discover us on social media @marinhumane, or e mail lbloch@marinhumane.org.