Foxtails can pose quite a hazard to dogs and cats in Southern California. Prime season for this pesky, prickly grass is nearly upon us, so let’s discuss the risks, symptoms, treatments, and most importantly, prevention techniques.

Keeping your pets safe from foxtails is much easier than dealing with the dangerous – sometimes even life-threatening – complications they can cause.

What Are Foxtails?

Foxtail plants are grass-like weeds that thrive in the Western half of the U.S. When fresh and green, the blades of grass end in bushy groups of spiked seeds that resemble a fox’s tail. Hence the name. However, when the grass dries, the seed groups become hard and barbed. These needle-like protrusions easily latch onto your pet’s fur, or worse, burrow painfully under their skin.

Foxtails pose the greatest risk to California dogs and cats during the spring and early summer. During these drier months, the sharp barbs detach from the grass tip and search for a host to transport and disperse their seeds. Unfortunately, curious dogs and cats make excellent vehicles for these opportunistic weeds.

Why Are Foxtails A Risk To Pets?

Foxtails are painful and irritating to pets, but the potential secondary problems are even worse. If a foxtail enters the skin, respiratory tract, or urinary tract of your dog or cat, it can result in infection, inflammation, or worse.

Once inside, foxtails have the ability to migrate to different areas of an animal’s body. If swallowed or inhaled, they can travel from your pet’s nose to their brain or enter and perforate the digestive tract, airway, or even a lung.

Foxtails can be difficult to find inside a dog’s fur and even harder to pinpoint once they enter the body, making them especially dangerous.

Can Cats Get Foxtails?

Foxtails are typically a dog problem due to their tendency to spend more time outdoors, sniffing and exploring their environment. But while indoor cats are safe from foxtails, kitties that roam can and do suffer from the painful effects of foxtails. The spikes are most commonly found in cats’ toes, ears, and under their eyelids where they can cause swelling, pain, infections, and permanent damage, just like in dogs. Cats can even develop pneumonia if a foxtail is inhaled.

So, while foxtails are less common in cats, they are just as dangerous!

Signs Your Dog Or Cat Has A Foxtail

Pets that hike, camp, and explore wilderness areas are most likely to pick up foxtails, but that doesn’t mean that housepets are immune to the risks. Foxtails can be found growing along sidewalks and even in your own backyard.

With this in mind, it is important to recognize the signs and symptoms that your pet has a foxtail. These include:

Sneezing and snorting
Coughing or gagging
Difficulty breathing
Nose bleeds
Excessive licking in the area the foxtail is embedded
Swelling
Draining tracts and abscesses
Shaking head
Pawing at the ear, eye, or mouth
Head tilt
Pain when the affected area is touched
Redness and discharge from the affected area
Squinting
Limping

Which Areas Of The Body Are Most Affected By Foxtails?

Feet

Since dogs happily trample through grass and weeds with little thought to the hazards within, their feet and lower legs often pick up foxtails. When checking your pet for foxtails after a walk or outing, be sure to separate and look between their toes. Swelling, limping, and paw licking could be signs that your dog or cat has an embedded foxtail somewhere in their foot.

Ears

Floppy ears are especially good at hiding foxtails, and the signs of foxtails in the ears are very similar to the symptoms of an ear infection. Keep an eye out for head shaking, ear scratching, or tilting of the head to one side. Just because you don’t see a foxtail in your dog’s ear, doesn’t mean it’s not there. Barbs can make their way deep into the ear canal, requiring your vet to use a special scope and medical tools to locate and remove them.

Eyes

Your pet’s eyes are very delicate. If you notice redness, discharge, or swelling, or your dog or cat is squinting or pawing at their eyes, a foxtail could be the culprit. Do not try to remove it yourself. Call your vet right away.

Nose

An inhaled foxtail in your pet’s nose will likely cause intense bouts of sneezing, discharge, and pawing at the muzzle. Since foxtails can migrate from the nasal passage into the brain or lung, it is important to seek veterinary attention right away if your pet shows these symptoms.

Urogenital Area

If a foxtail enters your dog’s urogenital area it can be especially painful. Licking this area of the body often indicates a UTI, but if you live in a state affected by foxtails, they could also be the problem.

What If Your Pet Eats A Foxtail?

A swallowed foxtail is a veterinary emergency. The barbs can become lodged in the mouth or throat, causing retching, coughing, gagging, and drooling. If the foxtail makes its way through the esophagus into the digestive tract, it could perforate the intestine, leading to a serious infection or abscess.

This situation can be life-threatening. So if you notice your dog or cat displaying the above symptoms or stretching its neck to swallow, contact your vet immediately.

How To Check Your Dog Or Cat For Foxtails

After a summer walk or outing, give your dog or cat a thorough once-over. Looking for foxtails is similar to how you would check your pet for ticks. You want to run your hands or a brush all through their coat and along their limbs. Examine their face, ears, and inside their mouth, as well as under the tail, between the toes, and in the area where their legs meet their body.

In addition to this outer check, watch your pet for signs that a foxtail has been swallowed, inhaled, or entered the body through the skin or other orifice. These may include physical symptoms like discharge, swelling, or redness. Or behavioral symptoms like limping, head-shaking, licking, sneezing, or pawing at the head/face.

How To Remove Foxtails

If you find any foxtails in your pet’s coat or on the surface of the skin, carefully remove them with tweezers. However, if a foxtail is embedded, or if the area is red or swollen, leave it and call your veterinarian.

“If the foxtail has penetrated the skin or in the eye, ear, nose, or mouth, then it’s best to let your local veterinarian remove it because if it’s not removed completely then it can migrate to other areas of the body and cause further discomfort,” says Dr. Michelle Diener, DVM of BetterPet.com.

Attempting to remove an embedded foxtail yourself could lead to further pain or injury for your pet. Remember, foxtails do not break down in the body, so if you fail to remove the entire seed, it could cause an infection or migrate to a more dangerous area of the body.

Many foxtails require anesthesia and professional technique to remove. Dr. Kent and her staff at Elite Veterinary Care are skilled in removing most of these pesky seeds during house call visits for your convenience and your pet’s comfort.

How To Protect Dogs And Cats From Foxtails

Any dog or cat that goes outdoors in an area where foxtails grow is at risk. The best way to protect your cats is to keep them indoors, especially during peak foxtail season in the spring and summer. If your kitty does go outside, perform a daily check for foxtails when he or she returns home.

Since dogs must go outside to do their business, keep them on a leash so you can monitor and control where they go. Avoid overgrown, grassy areas, and be sure to explore and treat your immediate environment for foxtail grass. Foxtails can be killed with pesticides, but it is safer and more effective to remove the plants completely.

Dogs with long ears and pets with long or curly coats are more likely to pick up foxtails. Consider having your dog or cat’s hair coat trimmed short during foxtail season to help decrease the risk.

Foxtails are a frightening summer hazard for dogs and cats, but you can protect your pets by taking steps to avoid and remove these plants and by inspecting them frequently for signs and symptoms of foxtails. If you have any questions or concerns, contact Dr. Kent and her helpful staff at Elite Veterinary Care.

Foxtails: What Every Dog And Cat Parent Needs To Know