In the summer period we see many problems in dogs (and sometimes also in cats and rabbits) with grass spikes. Grass spikes are seeds of grasses with a sharp point on one side and a kind of hairs in the other direction. These come loose from the grass plant in the summer period and can end up in your dog’s fur or even in the ear. Especially with the curly coat, the double and the long coat types, these grass spikes easily get stuck in the coat. Because they have one sharp point and…
In the summer period we see many problems in dogs (and sometimes also in cats and rabbits) with grass spikes. Grass spikes are seeds of grasses with a sharp point on one side and a kind of hairs in the other direction. These come loose from the grass plant in the summer period and can end up in your dog’s fur or even in the ear.
Especially with the curly coat, the double and the long coat types, these grass spikes easily get stuck in the coat. Because they have one sharp point and “hairs” pointing the other way, they can only move in one direction. The sharp point can go through the skin and can even be pushed through the eardrum if one is in the ear. This causes a lot of pain and nasty infections and inflammations.
These grass spikes can also go through the skin between the cloves and sometimes these spikes “walk” under the skin. These then come out higher up the leg and cause a lot of inflammation, infections, lameness and pain along the way.
Check your dog for grass spikes
So check your dog carefully after a walk and remove grass spikes from the coat, near the ears and between the toes. You can possibly. Also shave off the fur on the lower foot to have a good view of it and to make it much less likely that grass spikes will get stuck in it. Unfortunately, we have seen more problems in recent years with animals with grass spikes because we mow the grasses on the verge less often to provide insects with a habitat. Of course this is also very important, but it does require dog owners to check better for grass ears.
If your dog suddenly starts limping, has an ear problem or is painful in one place on the skin and licks a lot there, for example, check that there is no grass ear involved and if in doubt, have your dog checked by your vet.