Grass seed injuries are a common problem for dogs during summer months. When examined closely, some grass seeds resemble tiny arrowheads which attach themselves easily to an animal’s fur and burrow into the skin. Breeds with hairy ears and hairy feet are more at risk if walked in fields where these grasses commonly grow in abundance.

The most common areas of a dog affected by grass seeds are the foot and the ear, although other places on your dog’s body can be at risk too, like eyes and noses.

Grass seeds commonly get in between the toes of the dog’s foot, referred to as the interdigital space. Once attached to the surrounding soft feathery fur, the grass seed then makes its way towards the foot itself, easily penetrating the thin skin before starting to burrow deep into – and through – highly sensitive tissues of the foot resulting in extreme pain, discomfort, infection and acute lameness.

The second most common place for these seeds to cause problems is down the ear canal. Their uni-directional nature and shape allows the grass seed to work its way from the fur around the ears down along the ear canal and come to rest right up against the delicate ear drum.

Having a grass seed caught in the eye can be extremely painful for your dog, symptoms often seen are; eyes that are swollen closed, discharge from eye, visible third eyelid and some pets may paw at their eye or rub their face on the ground/furniture.

Common signs of grass seeds affecting your dog include:

• Shaking of the head
• Scratching and crying in pain
• Rubbing the head on the floor/furniture
• Weeping, red and swollen eyes
• Sneezing, nasal discharge
• Persistent licking of the paws
• Lameness

If your dog is showing any of these signs, contact your vet immediately.

Treatment for grass seeds in the paw

Your vet may try fishing around through the entry hole with a long, specially designed pair of tweezers called ‘crocodile forceps’. As grass seeds are made from vegetable matter they’re invisible on x-ray (unlike bone or metal) so their exact location within the paw is usually a mystery. Sometimes a second hole is detected where the grass seed has already travelled through the entire foot and exited through the other side leaving a narrow empty tunnel, or ‘sinus’, connecting the two.

If it is the ear that is affected, your vet may examine the ear to confirm the diagnosis and remove the grass seed with tweezers. Your vet may prefer to sedate your dog as they may be in too much pain to allow your vet to examine and safely remove the grass seed.

The animal’s body is not able to break down a grass seed so when a grass seed is embedded it generally requires surgical removal. In the case of surgical removal your pet will usually have a general anaesthetic whilst we extract the offending grass seeds. General Anaesthesia allows the procedure to be painless for your pet and allows your vet to thoroughly investigate the area, usually more than one grass seed is found in any given case so it is important that the vet is able to have a really good look. Delaying the initial vet visit may result in more invasive (and more expensive) surgeries to find and remove the seed.