Sarahstaff Posted July 1, 2004 Posted July 1, 2004 I am a bad dog mom. :( My lawn had gotten way out of hand. I left my mower out last winter, and it was dead... I hadn't gotten around to replacing it. The lawn went to seed, and on the sunny side of the yard, the awns got dry, prickly and nasty. Danger! I found a lump on Tully's face on Sunday. Took her to the vet on Monday, the vet determined that it was a foreign body... she could see the entry wound inside Tully's mouth. We figured grass awn. I didn't want to do surgery, so took Tully home to heat packs and antibiotics. The nasty little grass awn came out Tuesday evening... I'm lucky, those little bastards can travel, this one just bored straight through her cheek and came out. This morning, I let the dogs out in the yard for a few minutes. When they came back in, Elmo was squinting, wiping his eye, and crying. I had some steroidal/antibiotic eye ointment around, I put some in. No help, so I called the vet and told them my dog was in pain and needed to be seen quickly. Half an hour later I was at the vet's office. The tech and I were holding Elmo while the vet looked in his eye, and we were discussing the fact that Elmo has always been a big baby, and this might not be much of anything. The vet wasn't finding anything. Suddenly, "What's that?" she said. She went and got another tech to help hold Elmo absolutely still while the vet fished in his eye with the forceps... and pulled a honkin' huge grass awn out from behind his 3rd eyelid! "He is not a baby, he's very brave!" the vet said. We were aghast with how painful that must have been. The vet couldn't believe she could get that out with Elmo not even tranquilized. Elmo was very happy to be rid of the nasty thing, and licked everyone. He always has so much trust that humans will make things better.... The vet thinks Elmo will even be able to compete in his obedience trials this weekend. I stopped at Home Depot on the way home, bought a new lawnmower, and attacked those nasty awns as soon as I got home. Beware the grass awns! They are evil! Quote
Guest Anonymous Posted July 1, 2004 Posted July 1, 2004 Aww poor Elmo! What a brave boy! I'm glad he is going to be okay. I have to ask though...what is a grass awn? When I read the subject I thought you were saying "grass lawn" but missed the "l". :-) Quote
imported_Kat Posted July 1, 2004 Posted July 1, 2004 awww poor baby, just give him a big huggle and he will certainly forgive you :fadein: Quote
drjeffrock Posted July 1, 2004 Posted July 1, 2004 I think a grass awn is the same thing as a fox tail? Quote
Sarahstaff Posted July 1, 2004 Author Posted July 1, 2004 A foxtail is a kind of grass awn. A grass awn is the prickly outside part of the seed... when they dry up, they are very dangerous, they can bore in and migrate through a dog's body. :o Scary! (and undoubtedly very painful to have in the eye) Quote
drjeffrock Posted July 1, 2004 Posted July 1, 2004 Good to know. Poor pooches, I hope they feel better quickly. And good boy Elmo!!! Dex has an ear infection, and is not trustful of any human to make it feel better. I will post up a thread later about my quest for a new vet. Quote
Sarahstaff Posted July 1, 2004 Author Posted July 1, 2004 Here's a good article about grass awns, BTW: http://www.sportingdogclinic.com/Articles/Pubs/awns/Pub_awns_T.htm For those unfamiliar with the nasty things. Quote
Lucky Chaos Posted July 1, 2004 Posted July 1, 2004 He had that in his eye?! :o What a awesome boy! I had no idea they could do that to dogs, I think I'll mow the lawn today. Again good boy and he definately deserves a big snuggle! Quote
Guest Anonymous Posted July 1, 2004 Posted July 1, 2004 That is good to know thank you. I don't believe I have any such plants in my yard. Considering that a quarter of it is unmowed due to it being swamp at this time of year I pray that I don't have any such things! Quote
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