Pet owners, look out for foxtails (and flying slushies)

From April 20, 2005:

So it’s kind of a long story, but the other day I’m driving up 15th Avenue taking the chick magnet to the dog park for some exercise, and two kids pull up in the lane next to me, and the passenger leans out and throws a Slurpee through my driver side window.

It wasn’t even a real Slurpee. It was an off-brand,4 and it got all over me and my dog and it cost me $20 at the carwash to get the mess cleaned up.

I wasn’t so much angry about this as I was mystified. I still am. A drive-by slushy-drink throwing? What’s the point of that?

Ponder that while I take up today’s question.

My daughter’s cat recently became quite ill and needed surgery, and the veterinarian found the head of a foxtail in the cat’s urinary tract. How could a foxtail end up there?

Foxtails and many other wild grasses can be very, very nasty things. The seedpods have a protective cover called an awn, which is barbed and designed to burrow into the ground when the ripe seeds fall off the grass. They are very good at burrowing.

The problem comes when your dog or cat comes in contact with one of these seed heads. If it gets one of these things in its paws, nose, eyes or even genitals, you and the dog or cat have a problem.

These things use their barbs and the animal’s motion to burrow through the skin and into the pets’ insides.

That must be what happened to your daughter’s cat. It somehow came into contact with a foxtail seed that worked its way up the urinary tract. The obvious solution is to keep your pet away from weedy areas and to keep any grassy weeds on your property cut back.

But if you think your pet has been exposed to foxtails or weeds, and it is rubbing its eyes, nose or ears a lot, or if you see some discharge or maybe blood in the poop or urine, you need to get it to the vet as soon as possible. If you have to take 15th Avenue to get there, roll up your windows.