Grass Seeds! 11/17/2009
 
Picture
Picture
Grass Seeds are a problem to dogs

Grass seeds can cause severe problems for dogs, if they enter the nose, eye socket, ears or penetrate the skin. The area around the toes and feet are very vulnerable at all times, as your dog can pick up windblown seeds even when kept away from areas know to have grass seeds. Sometimes surgery is needed to remove these seeds and antibiotics and anti-inflammatory might be needed to treat the resulting infection and inflammation caused by penetrating grass seeds. Prevention, regular inspection and avoiding known problem areas are the best management tools.

Grass seeds.

Recently Indigo had a visit to the local vet in Mooroopna. Indigo had been for a walk and came back twisting her head to one side and panting. Te vet removed a grass seed from deep inside her ear and all was well.  If this had happened on one of our tours, I would not have had the tools on me to find the seed or retrieve it, an important reminder to me to keep her away from long grasses.  What with the risk of ticks and grass seeds in ears and in the skin as in my story below, country life for Indigo needs to be kept to lawns, paved areas or our own, cleared front and back yards, for her own safety.  This time of year, late spring, snakes are also emerging, and it is yet one more reason to exercise care and not just allow her to run through grassland off her lead.

WIRE GRASS(aristida spp) Also known as Shive, Spear Grass or Feathertop

Wire Gras, was a major problem for our dog.

Wire Grass is a long, thin grass seed. The head has a narrow groove and very fine barbs at the tip. It can be identified by its 3 awns, which no other major type has. The awns may be twisted into a long column rather than being separate as in the examples shown here.Wire Grass is one of the most troublesome. Its long, slender awns easily break off and, because of their fineness, are very difficult to remove. As much as I tried to protect her, when we were camped in an area where this grass grew, I kept her hair short, inspected her and brushed her after every walk, kept her away from long grass, these seed heads were everywhere and impossible to avoid.  The seeds went straight into our dog’s skin, the upper section then broke off, leaving nothing to grip to remove the grass seed and no way to tell, where they were until the area became infected. 

Our poor Indigo had festering sores all over, a week later and I spent a week, gradually removing the seed heads and treating her sores.  It was not a kind thing to have done to her. Some dogs get so many festering sores because of contact with these disappear into the skin, seeds, that they can become ill. Indigo was ‘off colour’, and remember there is a huge expanse of Australia, for thousands of kilometres on all sides in outback Australian, where veterinary care for domestic animals is hard to obtain and very expensive. The risk to our dog, from wiregrass was such a concern to us that as much as I love some places such as Barn Hill station in North Western Australia, I will not return there, with a dog.

 
Picture
 
Pilbara Pup 08/08/2009
 
This is my favourite camp and walks site at the Munjina East Gorge Lookout.  There is a wheel chair access walk off of a sealed road, making this lookout easy access for anyone and their dog plus there is a hill side with a gravel road, OK for 2 wheel drive vehicles and caravans in tow if you drive to the road conditions and it makes a good walk track for me. There are many private camping spots, along the edge of the cliff overlooking the gorge.  No grass areas to run and mum and dad still will not allow me to go off the walk track as this area of the Pilbara is still tick country.

Mum shampood me because she said I was a red dog, after my roll in the Pilbara red gravel, and she has clipped me again since this photo was taken last week; she is checking me after every walk for ticks, grass seeds and burrs. 

I made a new friend, I love children.  Mum thinks this is a lovely photo of me and dad and my new friend.  Mum loves taking pictures of me out giving dad his walks.

 
 
 

I am in hiding today.  I feel lovely and cool, but my mum doesn't recognise me and dad is mortified because I don't have any long ear hair. My mum rang my regular groomer and clipper Carla, to tell her I have been shorn a quarter of an inch long, all over in preparation for heading into western Australia in a day or so, into country, notorious for it's ticks, burrs and grass seeds.   My human mum wants to be able to see anything on me, fast.

I will be going in there, with my flee and tick protection, my skin easy to view through ultra short hair and kept on a very short lead as baits are commonly left about for dingos, wild dogs and foxes in much of the Northern area of Western Australia.  I had best do all my ground sniffing here as I am not even allowed to sniff Western Australian soil until I am 'down closer to Perth and that's not till September.  Mum says that the wild dogs sometimes regurgitate bait into areas not marked a having poison laid.

Also there will be no dogie walks by the rivers or lagoons.  My mum says I would be considered a snack for a salt water crocodile and she told me how she rescued a little dog last year, the dog's owners pulled up beside the river, crocodile warning signs and all, they tied a little toy dog on a lead, outside the caravan and went for a walk.  Common sense is not always common.  Mum saw a crocodile eying the little dog.  Fortunately crocodiles can not move as fast as my mum can, on dry land.  Mum carries me when we are near water courses in northern Australia, an does not go too near the edge herself.  My dad is kept in check too, I've heard my mum tell him to stay right away from the waters edge and she constantly reminds him that I am not allowed to walk in the grasses lest I pick up a tick or those horrid grass seeds that go straight in to the skin, they have a corkscrew spear head and they are terrible to remove, hence my short short coat for this trip.    Mum and dad love Western Australia.  I do to, I just have to be given extra special protection.

Anyhow, Carla, my 'when I am home' clipper and groomer was just lovely and told mum over the phone that she approved of my ultra short hair cut.  She said that hair would grow back but that I was irreplaceable and needed to be protected from nasty things like ticks and grass seeds that go into skin.   So Al's good and I know when i am home in Springtime a couple of sessions with Carla to put my poodle cut back into shape and I will not be looking like a cross between a poodle a greyhound and a papillon as mum thinks I do right now.

 

Happy safe travelling doggies and human pets.